UPDATE 1-Toronto workers reject Bombardier bid to build plane parts offshore -union

(Adds high cost of moving manufacturing offshore and "union" to
headline)
By Allison Lampert
MONTREAL, Oct 28 (Reuters) - A Bombardier BBDb.TO plan to
move manufacturing of cockpits and wings for its Q400 turboprop
plane to a lower cost supplier in China or Mexico was rejected
by its Toronto workers despite backing from union leaders, a
union representative said on Wednesday.
Union leaders at the Toronto manufacturing facility had
supported a deal to offer retirement packages to 200 workers
whose positions would be cut, enabling Bombardier to shift the
work offshore. Workers rejected the plan on Saturday, said Merv
Gray, a union plant chair.
The plane and train maker is under pressure to lower costs
because of fierce competition from turboprop rival ATR, co-owned
by Airbus Group AIR.PA and Italy's Finmeccanica SIFI.MI .
ATR had a backlog of 280 aircraft sold and waiting to be
produced at the end of 2014. The Q400 had 51 aircraft in its
production pipeline.
Gray said he supported the proposal because it would save
the majority of the 1,100 jobs at the plant. He said he was not
aware whether a final decision had been taken by the company.
"I'm eagerly awaiting a call from Montreal (Bombardier's
head office) on this," Gray said. "We want to save the program
because if the program goes down then that's 1,100 jobs."
But aerospace industry analysts have said moving vital
pieces of assembly like wing production and cockpit integration
is a costly and time-consuming venture and is unlikely to be
attempted except as a last resort.
A Bombardier aerospace spokeswoman declined to comment on
Wednesday.
The pushback by workers over the Q400 comes at a time when
Bombardier has been looking at a wide range of options to help
fund its long over-budget CSeries program of narrow-body jets.
Bombardier, which will report third-quarter earnings on
Thursday, will announce a deal with the Quebec government to
invest in the CSeries and write down the value of that project
and the mothballed Learjet 85 program by more than $4 billion,
sources familiar with the matter said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12S1JA