Vought Aircraft Industries in Nashville, Tenn., has threatened to hire replacement workers if a labor agreement with striking Machinists can’t be ratified by midnight Friday.
The company also has threatened to move production work for Cessna’s Citation Columbus, scheduled for the Nashville plant, to another Vought facility.
Vought has begun the process to hire permanent replacement workers at the site, it said in a statement. That doesn’t mean any union workers will be terminated, the company said. But for every position filled with a new worker, there is one less position for workers on strike to fill ” when (or if) they return.”
Workers represented by the Machinists union have been on strike since September. Talks are being held today to try to resolve the dispute, according to the Tennessean.
Vought has had temporary replacement workers in place and have achieved close to pre-strike operating performance on programs which are “well down the learning curve,” the company said. “Still, we cannot risk launching a new program, such as (the) Cessna Citation Columbus, with one workforce and then re-launch it with a new workforce when and if the contract is resolved.”
