PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Thousands of workers at a Delaware County production plant are in danger of losing their jobs if a government contract with Boeing is not renewed. Local lawmakers are working to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Boeing’s Ridley Park plant on Industrial Highway, which builds tandem-rotor Chinook helicopters, has 3,700 workers, making it one of the county’s largest employers.
Chinook helicopters have been produced at that factory since the 1960s, but currently, there is no money for it in the White House’s proposed budget.
“The White House submitted a budget for this upcoming fiscal year that would eliminate funding for the CH-47 Block II program, which is the Chinook program,” said Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon.
She said this is a program that Congress has historically been committed to, and it’s one lawmakers are fighting to keep.
“We have a coalition of folks who understand how important this program is. Bipartisan, both houses, and we fight to keep the Chinook in the budget,” she said.
“We’re not just pushing through with people from this region, but Chinook has a whole supply chain across the country. We’re working with members of Congress in more than 30 different districts — of course the senators in those areas as well — in order to make sure this is successful.”
Scanlon said they have to get two bills passed in the House and Senate to keep the program funded, but she said it’s been an “unusually chaotic Congress,” and it’s unclear how the situation will proceed.
Officials said if it does not receive more funding, production at the plant would end in 2030.
The Ridley Park plant has been producing Chinook helicopters since the 1960s
The Ridley Park plant has been producing Chinook helicopters since the 1960s
