Sat, Jul 03, 2004
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."
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