Shutting Down Its Composite Department In Missouri

GKN Aerospace in Hazelwood, Missouri has announced that it is closing its composites department, which will result in the loss of 300 jobs at the company.

The St. Louis Business Journal reports that the company is expected to move those jobs to Alabama, but did not specify a timetable for the move.

IAM District 837 President and Directing Business Representative Steve McDerman said in a statement that “GKN gathered its employees, some of the highest-skilled aerospace workers in the country, and informed them that the company planned to kick its more than 300 bonding mechanics to the curb and ship their jobs to plants where workers are paid nearly half their wages,” said IAM District 837 Directing Business Representative Stephen McDerman.

“In true corporate fashion, GKN has decided to turn its back on middle-class workers in an attempt to turn a few extra bucks on the backs of other workers who don’t have a union and a means to demand fair wages and a safe work environment. When you ask who is destroying American manufacturing? It’s companies like GKN and the likes, whose collective actions are impoverishing our entire country as we speak.”

(Additional information from IAM news release)

FMI: www.gkn.com