Posted on 05/26/2005 11:09:23 AM PDT by Righty_McRight
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian buyout firm Onex Corp. (Toronto:OCXSV.TO - news) said on Thursday it still plans to purchase several Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) commercial airplane manufacturing plants in the United States after a key labor union at the plants rejected its contract offer.
Onex announced in February it would buy Boeing facilities in Wichita, Kansas, and Tulsa and McAlester, Oklahoma, estimating the overall value of the transaction at about C$1.5 billion ($1.2 billion).
But members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted earlier this week to reject a contract offer from Onex, fueling speculation the Toronto-based firm might walk away from the deal.
Onex said on Thursday that while it was disappointed with the outcome of the union vote, it expects to complete the transaction by mid-June.
"We feel the IAM-represented workforce missed a real opportunity to have a contract in place. In light of this, we will evaluate our staffing needs and extend revised offer letters with new employment terms to that work force over the next two weeks," Onex managing director Nigel Wright said in a statement.
"We plan to continue discussions with the remaining bargaining units ... for non-union employees, we'll be extending job offers within the next three weeks."
($1=$1.27 Canadian)
I believe that is a warning to the union.
Yes and Oklahoma IS a right to work state now!!
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