Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. believes it can avoid the labor strife it suffered three years ago and sign a new contract with a key labor union by a mid-February deadline, according to an executive at Sikorsky parent United Technologies Corp.
A 2006 strike by the National Brotherhood of Teamsters forced production cuts at the helicopter manufacturer, prompting a rebuke by a Pentagon auditor and prompting current UTC CEO Louis Chênevert to parachute into Sikorsky to oversee a return to normal operations.
“We are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to reach a settlement with the Teamsters before that and not go through another work stoppage,” said Greg Hayes, chief financial officer of UTC, in a conference call with investors last month.
Sikorsky is the largest employer in Fairfield County, with 8,300 employees at last report at its Stratford headquarters and nearby facilities, and Hartford-based UTC is the largest company in Connecticut.
If the strike was among the few black marks in Fairfield County”™s employment market in 2006, Sikorsky is a shining beacon in the local economy today. In the fourth quarter, Sikorsky sales hit a record $1.6 billion, up 25 percent from a year ago, as operating profits zoomed nearly 40 percent to $152 million. For all 2008, Sikorsky earned $478 million on $5.4 billion in revenue, up 28 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
The company delivered 64 helicopters in the fourth quarter ”“ 26 of them for commercial use ”“ and just more than 200 choppers for all 2008, up 17 percent from 2007 when it was still recovering from the 2006 strike.
Sikorsky”™s results helped UTC post an 8 percent gain in net income in the fourth quarter to $1.1 billion, despite a 2 percent drop in UTC revenue to just under $14.5 billion driven by sharp declines at its Carrier Corp. heating and cooling unit based in Farmington.
For the full year, UTC revenue increased 7 percent to $59 billion.
Hayes said Carrier is typically the first UTC unit to feel the impact of any consumer-driven recession, and so its eventual recovery can be seen as a bellwether for a broader recovery in the U.S. and world economies.
Sikorsky was the lone UTC division not to record a charge toward layoffs or other restructuring actions, with UTC executives promising to reveal this month details on accelerated cost cuts this quarter to “right size” the company”™s units, in Hayes”™ words, for the current environment.
“I can tell you we are looking actively at doing additional restructuring across most of the businesses,” Hayes said. “We want to be proactive as opposed to reactive with this restructuring.”
In separate Sikorsky news, the company promoted three executives last month, naming Stephen Estill vice president of strategic partnerships, a new position; Carey Bond as chief marketing officer, replacing Estill in the role; and Robert Kokorda vice president of corporate strategy.
Estill joined Sikorsky in 2002 from Textron Inc. to lead worldwide sales, and Bond is an alumnus of Textron”™s Bell Helicopter division, as is Sikorsky President Jeff Pino.
