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March 17, 2023

Sikorsky starts layoffs of salaried workers in Stratford

PHOTOS | GARY LEWIS Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo speaks at a January event commemorating the 5,000th Black Hawk helicopter to roll off the company's Stratford production line.

Sikorsky Aircraft started laying off salaried workers at its Stratford plant last week as part of cutbacks related to the company’s loss of a key contract with the U.S. Army.

A company spokesperson declined to specify how many employees had lost their jobs at Sikorsky’s Stratford plant, but said the layoffs were part of an announced elimination of 800 jobs in the Rotary and Mission Systems division of Sikorsky’s parent company, Lockheed Martin.

The job cuts will take the form of “redeployments to other parts of the business, natural attrition and a limited reduction in force,” according to the spokesperson. The cuts are being made “to improve efficiencies, position the business to remain cost-competitive and address changes in program lifecycles,” the spokesperson said. 

Lockheed hopes to limit layoffs, the spokesperson said. “We intend to retain as many as possible who can fill our open business-critical positions in our Rotary and Mission Systems business segment and across Lockheed Martin and will continue to hire for roles that are required to support our customers’ urgent national security missions.”

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who advocated for Sikorsky as House Appropriations Chair, said on Friday, “It is always disappointing to see layoffs, and my heart goes out to those who have lost their job in the last week.” 

“Sikorsky and its employees are the lifeblood of our community, and I will continue to do all I can to ensure Sikorsky has the necessary resources to remain competitive and continue to create jobs in our community,” DeLauro added.

Most of the job cuts across Lockheed Martin will take place in the U.S., and laid off employees will get severance benefits, according to the company. 

Sikorsky makes up much of Lockheed Martin’s Rotary and Mission Systems workforce, with both salaried and union workers at locations across Connecticut. 

No unionized Sikorsky workers lost their jobs, according to Rocco Calo, secretary-treasurer and principal officer of Teamsters Local 1150. But the union had agreed to the retirement of 250 members this year, along with 150 members next year and 100 members the following year.

“This will avoid any involuntary layoffs and actually create a situation where we will be hiring more union workers,” Calo said. 

Sikorsky CEO Paul Lemmo said last month that the company hoped to avoid major layoffs, even though it lost a joint bid with Boeing last year for the Army’s Future Long Range Air Assault program, seen as a successor to the Black Hawk. Lawmakers and Sikorsky have challenged the loss, but parent company Lockheed Martin soon announced layoffs in its helicopter division. 

At the time of the bid loss, Sikorsky employed 7,900 at its Stratford facility and about 13,000 people company-wide. 

Even with the Army bid loss, union leader Calo said the Stratford workforce is likely to grow in coming years due to ongoing Black Hawk support and production of rescue helicopters and the CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopter, 

“Our headcount is stable through 2023 and should start increasing again in 2024,” Calo said. “As always, we will monitor the defense budget.”

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.

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