Wichita ? Debbie Logsdon, a systems analyst for Boeing Co. for the past 25 years, asked her husband Friday to read over the phone the letter she had received from the Canadian buyer of the aerospace giant.

“You are just holding your breath – waiting to hear what the words are,” Logsdon said.

She got an offer. She made him read it to her again just to make sure she understood.

In March, Boeing issued pink slips to 9,300 workers at its commercial aircraft plants in Wichita, Tulsa and McAlester, Okla. Those workers were told to apply for their old jobs with Onex Corp., which bought Boeing’s commercial aircraft operations in Kansas and Oklahoma.

On Friday, those workers went home to check their mail to see if they have a job to return to Monday.

About 1,100 other workers at Boeing’s Wichita plant will not find out until today – in a separate letter delivered by courier – that they do not have jobs with Onex’s newly formed subsidiary, Mid-Western Aircraft Systems, said Bob Brewer, Midwest director for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.

On Thursday, Mid-Western mailed letters to workers at the aerospace giant’s plants in the two states, informing those that still have a job. The letters came a week after Onex said it would go through with its purchase, despite a vote by Wichita machinists rejecting Onex’s final contract offer.

About 800 machinists in Wichita already have learned that they would not be hired, but the ranks of their unemployed are expected to go even higher with the next round of letters.

They include layoffs for 230 workers represented by SPEEA, the second largest union at the plant after the machinists, Brewer said. Others not getting job offers include some management and non-represented employees.

“Onex came to town saying they(‘ve) got a great business plan, more jobs, a better future, growth potential, opportunity,” Brewer said. “Some of that is true – for the company, for the investors, for the stockholders, for the owners. It is not true for the employees and for the Wichita community.”

The 1,100 layoffs will cost the Wichita economy $88 million in lost wages, not including other cuts after contract negotiations, Brewer said.

Onex spokesman Ted Glickman said the company was committed to not negotiating through the media, and would not comment on the union’s statements.

Union leaders also chided the company for resorting to letters, rather than having management tell employees personally at work.