BOSTON (Reuters) - About 2,500 aircraft engine workers at a General Electric Co. (GE.N) plant in Massachusetts plan to strike late Thursday night for four days in an effort to maintain their jobs, a union official said on Wednesday.þþThe strike would affect more than half of the GE plant's work force in Lynn, Massachusetts, where union employees build and test engines used in jets and helicopters. GE's aircraft engine business employs about 26,000 worldwide.þþRic Casilli, chief negotiator for Local 201 of the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communication Workers of America, said the strike would begin at 11 p.m. EST on Thursday (0400 GMT Friday) and last until 11 p.m. EST on Monday (0400 GMT Tuesday).þþGE, which employs about 310,000 people worldwide, was not immediately available for comment.þþCasilli said workers at the Lynn plant would strike as a protest over GE's outsourcing of their jobs without notification. He said about 4,400 people work at the plant.þþ``I think this will be disruptive,'' Casilli told Reuters.þþ``We're trying to keep the (union) jobs in the plant,'' he added.þþEarlier this month, GE Aircraft Engines announced that it would eliminate 1,000 jobs this year and as many as 1,800 jobs next year because of a slump in the airline industry. The reductions in 2003 are expected to involve 1,200 to 1,800 jobs. þþ
Source: NY Times
