LYNN, Mass. -- General Electric Co. said Wednesday its aircraft engine division will consolidate two Boston-area plants into the huge Lynn facility, a $50 million move hailed by union officials despite the loss of 200 jobs.
Plants in Medford and Everett will close during the next two years in the consolidation. The reduction of 200 jobs is in addition to a phased reduction of 2,000 Lynn-area aircraft engine jobs, including 800 in Everett and Medford, announced a year ago.
About 500 office jobs in West Lynn also will be consolidated into the main Lynn plant, although an advanced manufacturing facility will remain in West Lynn.
The consolidation stemmed from an agreement with Local 201 of the International Union of Electrical Workers, subject to union membership ratification.
'We're very pleased,' said Mike McManus, the union local's business agent. 'This was a litmus test as far as we're concerned that GE is committed to the Lynn area.
'We've watched General Electric throughout the country close some plants, and it was rumored this Everett and Medford work would leave Massachusetts, so we're happy the work is being shifted to Lynn,' he said.
McManus said he expected the agreement to be ratified at a membership meeting at 10 a.m. Sunday in Lynn. He said the 200 jobs being eliminated include 90 positions held by Local 201 members; the rest are held by guards and other workers related to the facilities slated to close.
'GE is in Lynn to stay, but it can't stay the same,' said Richard L. Burke, GE vice president and general manager of the Lynn Aircraft Engine Production Division.
'The $50 million expenditure required for this consolidation represents a very substantial investment in our Lynn facilities,' Burke said. 'I'm pleased that the company and the union were able to reach an agreement that will make it possible to bring this work to Lynn, and I'm confident it will be ratified.'
The aircraft engine division makes engines for helicopters and commercial aircraft.
GE Aircraft Engine now employs about 1,400 at the Everett and Medford facilities. The company said it leases the Medford facility and will not renew the lease when it expires in 1989; plans for the GE-owned Everett facility are uncertain.
GE said Lynn aircraft engine employment at the end of 1989, following the consolidations, is expected to total 7,500. The company's steam turbine business is expected to employ 700, bringing total Lynn plant employment to 8,200.
The 8,200 workers expected at the end of 1989 compares to 10,300 workers at the end of 1987 and 12,800 employees at the end of 1986, a company spokesman said.
In addition to the aircraft engine job reductions, the company last year announced the reduction of about 2,000 jobs in its steam turbine division in Lynn, through a consolidation with plants in Fitchburg, Mass., Bangor, Maine, and Schenectady, N.Y.
