Mass layoffs abating - Westfair Communications

Mass layoffs involving at least 50 workers appear to be abating in Connecticut, as employers executed just a half-dozen such actions in January for a total of 400 jobs lost.

That was the lowest figure since last August and September, when mass layoffs averaged just one occurrence a week for two months, giving hope that the recession had finally abated. The jobs picture would prove to be a roller coaster throughout the fall, however, as mass layoffs increased again to a total of nearly 900 jobs lost in December.

While passenger counts on the New Haven Line of Metro-North dropped 4 percent last year, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said those numbers appeared to be leveling off in December, a possible sign that Gold Coast businesses are through the worst of job cuts.

As public companies in Fairfield County and elsewhere file their annual reports, the depth of the cuts is becoming fully apparent. Even as some employers continue to cut, as evidenced by the new mass-layoff data, others are weighing rehiring some workers as they attempt to get a read on future demand.

On a net basis, General Electric Co. cut a stunning 35,000 jobs last year through a variety of means, including layoffs, attrition and divestments, totaling 11 percent of its worldwide work force. By virtue of Fairfield-based GE acquiring a majority stake in a unit in which it previously had a minority interest, GE added 16,000 workers to its payroll to give it 304,000 at year end.

Subject to the timing of any future acquisitions and the extent of its hiring this year, GE”™s payroll could be in for a sharp drop again this year due to the pending divestment of its majority stake in NBC Universal to Comcast Corp., and its upcoming sale of GE Security to United Technologies Corp.

Despite a vow last spring by CEO Jeff Immelt for U.S. companies to renew investments in their domestic operations, any such commitment by GE did not show up on the books this year ”“ GE cut jobs at a slightly higher rate in the U.S. than it did overseas.

For its part, Hartford-based UTC similarly aggressively cut jobs at every division save its Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. helicopter manufacturing unit in Stratford, which had more than 9,000 jobs at last count. UTC closed the year with a judge”™s ruling that its attempts to move more than 1,000 Pratt & Whitney jobs to other locations would violate labor contract terms with its union.
UTC recently disclosed it now has 19,000 employees in China, including at an aircraft engine center in the Shanghai area it recently opened.

“We took out almost 18,000 of our employees during the course of last year ”“ almost 13,000 as a result of restructuring and the remainder through attrition and jobs that were not filled,” said Greg Hayes, chief financial officer of UTC, speaking last month at a Cowen & Co. conference in New York City. “We think about two thirds of the restructuring programs took out structural costs ”“ that is those costs will not come back. The other third were volume related, and people will come back when volume returns. It hasn”™t happened yet, but we will bring some of those people back.”

UTC had 206,700 employees entering 2010, with its Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. continuing to operate at near-capacity due to continuing government demand for its helicopters and spare parts. Sikorsky helicopter demand has in turn fueled business for smaller suppliers in Connecticut that produce engineered parts for its helicopters. With UTC”™s acquisition of wind-turbine maker Clipper Windpower, Sikorsky engineers could in time receive work from a new industry.

“Clipper is a good example of basically leveraging the skill set at UTC,” said UTC CEO Louis Chenevert, speaking in Miami last month at an investment conference sponsored by Barclays Capital. “This is an opportunity to enter a high growth market ”¦ UTC can leverage its gear-box expertise, blade expertise and strong management in traditional power generation.”