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Pratt & Whitney cut jobs
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January 21, 2000: 6:11 p.m. ET
Jet engine maker reducing work force by about 5.5 percent as orders slump
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp., said Friday it will cut about 1,700 jobs, or about 5.5 percent of its total work force, as a result of lower new engine deliveries over the next two to three years.
About 1,500 hourly jobs, mostly line workers in the company's East Hartford and North Haven, Conn., plants, are targeted, with the remaining 200 cuts coming from salaried workers who support those line operations, Pratt spokesman Mark Sullivan said.
There will also be a "small impact" on workers in Georgia and Maine, Sullivan said.
Pratt & Whitney, which is based in East Hartford, employs about 31,000 people worldwide, including 20,000 in the United States and about 13,000 in Connecticut.
The company blamed the job cuts on a big drop-off in demand for jet engines. Pratt & Whitney expects to deliver fewer than 600 engines in 2000, compared to 800 in 1998 and 700 in 1999.
Work also is being transferred to partner facilities in other countries to fulfill existing contracts.
The cuts are in addition to 3,500 positions Pratt & Whitney has been eliminating since it launched a restructuring plan in 1998. The latest reductions will occur throughout 2000.
"This announcement stinks," said Jim Parent, a chief spokesman for the Machinists union, adding that he had not expected 400 positions would be moved overseas. "We knew we had a volume problem, but the worst part is that they're going to move some of the work to Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, Norway and Israel."
He said the union will meet with the company next week to see if any of the jobs can be saved.
While the cuts will hurt workers, analysts say they'll help the company.
"Any time you have people that you don't need, you're going to lose money," said Paul Nisbet, an analyst at Newport, R.I.-based JSA Research Inc. "I suspect they're adjusting their workforce to the work they do. If they don't, they can't survive."
Dean Pagani, a spokesman for Gov. John G. Rowland, said Connecticut officials have been talking to union and Pratt officials about ways to preserve jobs. He said those talks will continue.
And state Rep. Melody Currey, D-East Hartford, said she'd push for job retraining programs in the legislature and encourage other area employers to hire laid off Pratt workers.
"It's going to be difficult for some of these people to find jobs, but hopefully the businesses that are looking for help will be able to hire these qualified workers," she said.
East Hartford Mayor Tim Larson called the cuts "a difficult pill to swallow."
"Luckily, the economy is strong and there seem to be jobs out there," he said. "We'll see what we could do to help people find jobs."
Pratt's Sullivan said the company has no plans to close any manufacturing facilities. The company previously announced it would be moving its military jet engine business and 2,800 jobs to Connecticut from Florida as part of its restructuring.
Sullivan said the company also plans to hire technical staff in Connecticut. Once the restructuring is complete, Sullivan said the net workforce in Connecticut will remain at about 13,000.
The 75-year-old Pratt & Whitney, designs, manufactures and services jet engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. It is the exclusive engine supplier for the F-22 and initial supplier for the Joint Strike Fighter.
Pratt's 1999 revenues declined to $7.67 billion from $7.88 billion in 1998. Its operating profit fell to $634 million last year, including $201 million in restructuring and other costs, from $1.02 billion in 1998.
Pratt's 1999 operating profit margin declined to 8.3 percent from 13.0 percent in 1998.
Stock in United Technologies (UTX), a Dow industrials component, gained 1-5/16 Friday to close at 60-5/8 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was 2.02 million shares. 
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United Technologies
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