SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- The Boeing Co. aircraft parts plant in Spokane will be sold to Triumph Group Inc., to the relief of workers who feared the factory might be closed.þþThe deal announced Monday includes an eight-year ``sole source'' agreement by Boeing to continue buying parts from the Spokane plant, which employs about 400 people. Workers at the Spokane plant design and manufacture floor panels, air ducts and cockpit panels.þþThe sale price was not disclosed.þþThe deal hinges on Triumph and the Machinists union reaching agreement on a new contract, Triumph President Richard C. Ill said. The companies hope to complete the deal by Dec. 31, Ill said.þþHe predicted at least 90 percent of the current workers would remain.þþThe Spokane plant, located west of the city near Spokane International Airport, is the only Eastern Washington factory operated by Boeing, the state's largest private employer.þþMark Blondin, president of Machinists union District 751 in Seattle, which represents Boeing production workers, said the sale means Spokane workers will no longer face uncertainty about their jobs' future.þþTriumph, based in Wayne, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, designs, manufactures, repairs and overhauls aircraft components.þþChicago-based Boeing last March said it intended to sell the plant, part of its strategy of leaving the business of making small aircraft parts to focus on design, final assembly and sales of commercial airplanes.þþ
Source: NY Times
