Letter of Support from LL 839

To the Sisters and Brothers at Local Lodge 735;

I am Kathy Petersen, President of Local Lodge 839 in Wichita, KS at Spirit AeroSystems. I write to forward the support of the members of our Local Lodge. We have received information that Vought Aircraft is demanding to freeze the pensions for employees with less than 16 years of service, and we urge you to reject these demands in the strongest terms possible. Every contract we fight to keep and improve our pensions, and Machinists in the aerospace industry have NOT been giving up pensions, and we should not start now.

Like your facility, we are a subcontractor, and we are in the same market as you are. Good wages and benefits at our facility and dependent upon BOTH contracts are strong contracts with good wages and benefits. We can lift each other up, on successive contracts. Our companies may be competitors, but we are in the boat together; we are sisters and brothers.

We went through a painful time three years ago when the Commercial Aircraft portion of Wichita's Boeing facility. During the sale, our Local fought hard for our pensions, and while our Boeing pensions were frozen, our Solidarity won us the IAM Pension Plan for the future, at $60 per month per year of service. We had a five-year contract with a economic opener this year, where we couldn't strike. The company essentially gave us nothing, and this was a valuable lesson, one we hope you will take to heart.

Companies will GIVE you nothing. You get ONLY what you are strong enough to TAKE. We are gearing up for what we consider will be a likely strike in 2010, and our local WILL NOT roll over for corporate greed.

If they are trying to sell you a 401(k) for giving away your pension, IT IS A SCAM, one that you shouldn't accept. We are all the Fighting Machinists, and if you need to fight, we will be standing with you. Good luck to you all.

Kathy Petersen,
President,
Local Lodge 839
Wichita, KS.