About 575 employees of Pratt & Whitney accepted buyouts offered by the company in May as part of an effort by the aerospace firm and its parent company, United Technologies Corp., to trim staff over a two-year consolidation effort.ÂÂ
UTC expects to reduce its workforce by about 3,000 through layoffs, buyouts and normal attrition over the course of 2013, according to regulatory filings. That comes after the company, which employs more than 210,000 people in 71 countries, cut 4,000 or so positions last year.
Pratt & Whitney, based in East Hartford, accounts for about 10,000 of the company’s employees. David Hess, president of the UTC unit, revealed the buyout totals in a memo that was distributed to employees, according to published reports.
Hess is reported to have said in the memo that they buyouts “reflect our ongoing effort to respond to global economic challenges that affect our business. Although our future is genuinely bright, we face near-term financial challenges as we ramp up to deliver on customer commitments.”
It was not revealed how many, if any, of the firm’s Connecticut employees accepted the buyout offer.
