Another 115 union jobs, also in assembling valves and fabricating large heat exchangers, could be eliminated starting in late 2013 and through 2014 as phase two of cutbacks announced last year.
Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt collects samples during Apollo 17 mission in 1972 wearing a suit designed by Hamilton-Standard, now Hamilton Sundstrand, of Windsor Locks, Ct.WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — United Technologies announced last week that it plans to cut 150 salaried positions around the world, including 70 white-collar jobs at UTC Aerospace Systems, formerly Hamilton Sundstrand, here.
The company is cutting 150 salaried positions globally, according to a news release.
But locally, the 70 cuts will be on top of 130 blue collar machinist jobs the company is hoping to eliminate through buyouts and layoffs as part of job cuts first announced in 2011. The first 80 machinist jobs were already cut through attrition, according to a news release from the company.
Anthony J. Walter, president of Local Lodge 743 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said UTC is moving the aircraft engine work to factories in Singapore, Russia, Poland, Puerto Rico and Phoenix. Those cutbacks were announced in 2011.
Walter said UTC is also eliminating 55 blue-collar jobs at Windsor Locks because it is losing the contract to build NASA space suits and the backpack extravehicular unit astronauts wear on spacewalks.
The 130 jobs will be gone by the middle of October. The space-related jobs will last into 2013.
Walter said the aircraft-related layoffs are resulting in a negotiated buyout offer: $7,000 lump sum, a week’s pay for every year with the company and a year of medical. The space-related layoffs are also resulting in a buyout: $5,000 lump sum, a week’s pay for every year worked and a year of dental.
Walter said workers must be 55 years old or older to take the voluntary buyout.
He said another 115 union jobs, also in assembling valves and fabricating large heat exchangers, could be eliminated starting in late 2013 and through 2014 as phase two of cutbacks announced in 2011.
All told, the former Hamilton Sundstrand plant, which had 1,100 union employees in January, will be down to about 800. Back in the 1980s, it had 4,000 union production workers.
“It’s not just UTC employees,” Walter said. “When you have a union machinist making $35 an hour, that person supports four other jobs in the economy. But it is all about cheap labor.”