Written by John Boyle, Asheville Watchdog.
Along with death and taxes being certainties in life, I’d like to add this one: Readers will always remind you to check up on previous stories, especially if the topic is controversial.
I was actually pleased to get an email last week reminding me that Pratt & Whitney opened its gigantic south Buncombe factory a year ago, and it would probably be a good time to see if the jet engine parts plant is meeting its much vaunted promises on jobs and pay, commitments that were part of an overall $100 million incentives package.
The email was from a familiar name, Ken Jones, an anti-war activist and member of the local Reject Raytheon AVL group. (Defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp. is the parent company of Pratt & Whitney.) Jones, a staunch critic of Pratt & Whitney, was among those protesting when the plant opened a year ago. More recently, including Friday, protests centered on the use of warplanes in Gaza in the Israel-Hamas war, as those planes include Pratt & Whitney parts.
Jones and I have debated about the plant, the incentives, and Pratt & Whitney’s connection to the military — it supplies parts for the F-35 fighter jet, among other military aircraft. In a nutshell, I think we simply have to have a military (and military suppliers) to maintain our sovereignty and freedom, and as part of that, we will sell military equipment to our allies, who sometimes use the equipment in ways we may not approve of.
I do have reservations about the taxpayer-fueled $100 million incentives package that brought Pratt & Whitney here, but I’m also a pragmatist. That’s how the game is played, and if you don’t want the jobs to go to South Carolina, you’ve got to cough up the dough.
“I know you and I don’t see eye-to-eye about the Pratt & Whitney plant,” Jones wrote. “But are you aware of how far behind their tax incentive agreement schedule they are? Still not in production and not that many people hired. I’ve heard also that the working conditions are terrible and the salaries (are) not up to the levels advertised. Seems worth a story, don’t you think?”
Indeed. While Jones’ assertions appear to be overblown, it’s definitely worth checking in to see where the company is as far as its promises.
To recap, Pratt & Whitney makes jet engines and parts for the civilian aviation industry and for the U.S. military. Local and state economic development officials, politicians, and the Biltmore Farms Co. wooed the company for a couple of years, largely in secret, to locate the $650 million, 1.2 million square foot plant on 100 acres donated by Biltmore Farms for a symbolic $1.
As part of the deal, Pratt & Whitney promised to ultimately employ 800 people here, with an average annual salary of $68,400, although that average includes white collar workers. Politicians billed the project as “transformative” for the region, and Gov. Roy Cooper termed it “the largest economic development project for western North Carolina in its history.”
The plant manufactures high-tech jet engine airfoils, a component that goes deep inside a jet engine. Pratt & Whitney noted its airfoils help improve jet engine efficiency by up to 50 percent, so they’re in high demand.
They’re also used in the F-35 fighter jet, so the plant has generated protests among those critical of what they see as America’s excessive defense spending, as well as deals with foreign countries who also buy and use our military jets in various conflicts.
So, where do things stand at the plant?
Pratt & Whitney spokesperson Jennifer Dervin told me via email the company’s “hiring efforts are continuously ongoing.
“Year-to-date, we’ve added 235 new hires to our employee population, bringing our total count up to 385 and growing,” Dervin said. “We have a strong candidate flow and many local candidates with a strong desire to attain employment with Pratt & Whitney Asheville and build a promising career with us.”
Pratt & Whitney had to have at least 350 employees on board locally by the end of 2023 to meet its economic incentive goals, according to a presentation made to Buncombe County in 2020. It must hit 750 by the end of 2029.
Some were skeptical that Pratt & Whitney would hire a lot of locals, but Dervin said that has been the case, although she didn’t have specifics.
“I don’t have a breakdown, but I can confirm that the vast majority of hires are local to western North Carolina, and our recruiting efforts are focused on the region,” Dervin told me.
Dervin also said the company has been using strategically placed billboards this month “to continue attracting interested applicants to our open jobs.
“We are offering entry-level positions through highly-skilled positions within our business and welcome all interested candidates to apply,” Dervin said. “We will build a stronger Asheville community through employment of over 800 individuals through 2027.”
The starting pay for machine operators with no manufacturing experience is $20 an hour, and that rose in October from $19. The average pay for all machine operators at the Asheville facility as of this month is $22.35, and for all hourly positions the average is $25.62.
The average hourly wage for a machine operator in the United States is $18 an hour, according to Indeed.com, while Payscale.com reported it at $17.84, Dervin noted.
“Our entry level positions start at $20 an hour, placing us at approximately 11 percent higher than the national hourly average pay for machine operator positions,” Dervin said.
I’ll note, though, that Indeed.com puts the average wage for a machine operator in Asheville at $20.11.
I also reached out to Nathan Ramsey, the director of the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board, part of the Land of Sky Regional Council. It serves Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, and Transylvania counties.
Ramsey didn’t have data on Pratt & Whitney’s local hiring practices, but he did say it’s logical that it would be hiring locally.
“It makes sense that many of their hires would be local, as the wage to encourage someone to relocate is normally very high,” Ramsey said. “For example, you probably aren’t going to move to a new community for a job paying less than $60,000 per year unless there are other factors beyond economics involved.”
For positions paying over $100,000, that likely would attract candidates from out of the region.
“But that salary number is increasing as we hear repeated stories about employers trying to attract talent from out of the area with jobs paying over $100,000, and when candidates research housing options, they may decline offers of employment,” Ramsey said.
Meanwhile, Pratt & Whitney is in production locally, albeit with a caveat.
“We achieved initial operating capability in the first half of this year,” Dervin said. “We are not yet at production maturity — that will still take some time.”
I wasn’t sure what those terms actually meant, so I asked for clarification.
“Initial operating capability means we have started producing parts in Asheville,” Dervin said. “‘Mature’ capability means we are producing at the volume needed for the business — which takes time to reach.”
A lot of incentives in play
The Pratt & Whitney package included $27 million from Buncombe County and $15.5 million from the state, as well as a new bridge and road leading to the plant from the North Carolina Department of Transportation, among other enticements.
The project was announced in November 2020.
“Our most recent confirmation report is from April 2023 which reported on data from the prior year (calendar year 2021),” Buncombe County spokesperson Lillian Govus said via email. “Pratt met all milestones based on that report. We anticipate the next confirmation letter will arrive in April 2024 (for calendar year 2022) to report on the latest milestones.”
The Buncombe County deal runs for 14 years, according to that presentation made in 2020.
The North Carolina Department of Commerce, naturally, was heavily involved with the recruitment process, but information isn’t available yet on the incentives package, according to David Rhoades, communications director for the department.
“Although Pratt & Whitney’s grant was announced in October of 2020, the first active year for that grant is this year (2023) — and so, the company’s first required annual report to us is not due until March of next year,” Rhoades said via email. “Following our normal due diligence period, we’ll likely not be able to report results of that process until sometime next autumn (Fall of 2024).”
Rhoades added, “Perhaps it goes without saying given the above, but no state payments have yet been made on this grant.”
The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, a nonprofit, public-private partnership among the Department of Commerce and private companies, noted that the Pratt & Whitney project was facilitated in part by a Job Development Investment Grant, or JDIG, approved by the state.
“Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $15,543,000, paid over 12 years,” the partnership states on its website. “State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets.”
That site also noted that Commerce department economists estimated the Pratt & Whitney facility could grow the state’s economy by $7.4 billion. It also notes that JDIG projects result in “positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company.”
A lot of North Carolina entities were involved in the Pratt & Whitney project, according to the partnership. They include the partnership and the Department of Commerce, of course, as well as the General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the Appalachian Regional Commission, Duke Energy Carolinas, the Golden LEAF Foundation, Buncombe County, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce Community Betterment Foundation, and the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville and Buncombe County.
Clark Duncan, executive director of the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County, said via email he’s pleased with Pratt & Whitney’s progress.
“From my 15-year perspective in regional economic development, it’s rare and pretty exciting to see a project in active production in a state-of-the-art 1.2 million square foot building no less, just three years after announcement,” Duncan said.
Duncan said he went out to the plant the week before last when Pratt & Whitney hosted a peer group of 30 local manufacturers for a meeting and walking tour for the EDC’s Sustainability Council. He said the plant is a “showplace for advanced technologies, ‘industry 4.0’ practices and sustainability, and is in the final certification process to earn LEED Silver Status (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the global standard for healthy, efficient and green building practices.”
Pratt & Whitney and A-B Tech Community College are supposed to partner on a new $10 million training center near the plant, with about half that space dedicated to training Pratt & Whitney workers. But that hasn’t happened yet.
“Construction hasn’t yet begun on A-B Tech’s new facility, but we hope to know more in early 2024,” college spokesperson Kerri Glover said via email.
A-B Tech is training all of Pratt & Whitney’s new hires as planned, Glover said, but that’s taking place at the college’s Advanced Manufacturing Center.
All righty, then. That’s a whole lot of words to say it looks like Pratt & Whitney is on track so far.
I do appreciate readers like Jones keeping us on our toes, because it is important to see that these companies follow through on their promises.
If I hear anything more about working conditions out there, or any other details, I’ll pass them on. Maybe even without a gentle prodding.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at [email protected]. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/donate.