ENSTROM

Aerospace outsourcing batters U.S. workers

The battering of U.S. aerospace workers is hitting all levels of the industry — large and small. Of particular concern is the loss of market share to Airbus, a subsidiary of European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), a consortium of French and German companies, that enjoys government subsidies to stay competitive. Boeing recently lost a contract bid to Airbus that resulted in the American company shutting down its 717 short-haul airliner program.

Enstrom Helicopter Corp., a small company in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, recently took a hit from another EADS subsidiary.

Eurocopter won a bid to provide 55 single-engine light observation helicopters to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — a contract Enstrom, where members of UAW Local 2183 work, bid on.

“My honest reaction? It’s about jobs,” said Local 2183 President John Davis. “It’s a lot of money that our government is spending on a foreign product when we’re having a hard enough time keeping jobs in America.”

What really sticks in the workers’ craws is that the Enstrom bid was $23 million less than Eurocopter’s.

Correspondence indicates that DHS found the Enstrom helicopter did not meet specs. But the company says the changes would have been minor, and they were not allowed to address those issues before the bid process continued.

“It goes further, into Boeing, with the Airbus contract,” Davis said. “If something isn’t done, there won’t be any U.S.-built helicopters or anything built in the United States. They’re shutting plants down all around us and people are out of jobs and we could put them to work. We didn’t get a shot.”