Spirit union employee strike could hurt local economy, aviation industry

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — It is still unknown whether a strike will happen for Machinists Union employees at Spirit AeroSystems. If it does happen, it could hurt the aviation industry and the regional economy, depending on how long it lasts.

“If it’s a fairly short strike, less than three weeks, probably not such a bad deal,” Associate professor at Newman University Dr. Larry Straub said. “Starts going on for much longer than that. Yeah, you’re gonna start feeling a lot of different sectors.” 

The Local Lodge 839 of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers represents 7,500 employees out of Spirit’s total Wichita employees of 11,500.

“Eventually, as many folks as spirit employees in Wichita, it’s going to start rippling out into the general economies,” Dr. Straub said.

Although they would be getting pay from through the union, their paychecks will likely not be the same, thus less spending in Wichita.

“If our paychecks are disrupted, even if we still have money in the bank, and even if we still have funds available, it impacts our psyche because suddenly we don’t know what the future holds,” Dr. Straub says. “So what do we normally do? We’re going to we’re gonna pull out our wings, and we’re going to start tightening our belts some.”

Dr. Straub says the businesses around Spirit could also take a hit.

“The restaurants, and think about the folks that are up there close to the plant that live and die off. Those folks every day coming in there to eat lunch and after work for drinks or whatever,” Dr. Straub said. “It just starts hitting a lot of different folks.”

It also includes subcontractors of Spirit and a lack of demand for the products they make.

“There will be subcontractors that do a lot of the smaller components of that, and they feed into what Spirit Aerosystems does every day. So when Spirit gets shut down, then it can start impacting the subcontractors pretty quickly,” Dr. Straub said.

His biggest concern is the high amounts of people who voted against the contract and to strike.

“That’s a pretty lopsided vote,” Dr. Straub said. “So that’s what gives me a little bit of concern that maybe we could be in this for a little bit longer stretch. I don’t know, I hope not. I certainly hope not.”

Dr. Straub says it wouldn’t hurt only Wichita.

“There are folks that are probably driving from an hour away to work in this plant there,” Dr. Straub said. “Matter of fact, I know there are, so there’s even a ripple effect just within the small communities that even surrounded Wichita in every direction.”

The aviation industry could also see a disruption if the strike lasts a while.  

“Even if you take one week out of a production schedule, that’s 1/4 of a month of deliveries that you don’t have out there,” managing editor for Business Aviation Week Network Molly McMillin said.

She says the biggest impact will be on their largest supplier, Boeing.

“It’s a huge program, and they’re a huge supplier for the 737, which is a very popular airplane,” McMillin said. “If it’s a short strike, they’ll get on beyond it. If it’s a prolonged strike, though, it can be a nightmare. The longer it takes, the more impact there will be. Because each week there’s a strike means there’s a week of deliveries that didn’t get made.”

McMillin says right now, all of the aerospace aviation companies are having supply chain issues after COVID, so keeping a supply chain going is very important for the aviation industry.

“Supply chain is key right now,” McMillin said. “And if you miss just one widget, your line is shut down, or it’s it’s held up even if there’s a one little part in a big airplane.”