Chief Phillip Martin signs deal to train 500 workers to make wire harnesses

The Mississippi Choctaws have signed an agreement with AgustaWetland to train 500 workers to make wire harnesses for their helicopters. Two manufacturing plants on the Choctaw reservation in Neshoba County may be converted for the project, according to Chief Phillip Martin.

One of the plants was previously producing wiring harnesses for the Ford Motor Company, but the tribe outsourced that work to Mexico over a year ago. The tribe also manufactured radio speakers but that work was also outsourced, to China.

"I believe in the near future most automotive manufacturing jobs will be outsourced," Martin said, in a story published by Forbes Magazine. "This is our chance to convert from low-tech to high-tech manufacturing, which I believe will be the better paying jobs of the future." 

AgustaWestland, the second largest helicopter maker in the world, is competing with Sikorski Aircraft for a contract from the Department of Defense in December for the manufacture of 23 presidential helicopters.

"Workers with automotive experience have the basic skills needed for far more complex aerospace harnesses that function as the helicopters' central nervous system," said AAI Corp. president Frederick Strader. AII signed another agreement with Chief Martin to train the Choctwas to make and use aerospace test equipment. "Frankly, we use so many components bought off-the-shelf that the any large facility can function as a plant once we find the right people."

"Getting qualified to work on aerospace contracts is an exacting process so we see this as a long term commitment, 10 or 15 years at least, to the Choctaws," AgustaWestland president Stpehen Moss said. "It's an entry point for the Choctaws into aerospace contracts."

FMI: www.agustawestland.com, http://www.choctaw.org