Raytheon Technologies cutting as many as 450 jobs in CT

Raytheon Technologies is cutting as many as 450 jobs in Connecticut this week amid the continuing slump in air travel, the majority of them at its Pratt & Whitney facility in East Hartford that sells jet engines.

A Pratt & Whitney spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that the jet engine manufacturer is cutting salaried worker jobs, without specifying a number. East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc indicated her office was told about 380 Pratt & Whitney workers in her city will lose their jobs, along with nearly 75 more people at other Connecticut facilities.

The cuts arrive six months after Raytheon absorbed Farmingtonbased United Technologies and its Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace divisions. Raytheon is led by former UTC CEO Greg Hayes, who told investors in mid-September of plans to cut 15,000 jobs across Raytheon.

In advance of the merger, UTC spun off Otis Elevator and Carrier as independent companies, with Raytheon then finding a buyer for a Collins Aerospace research facility in Danbury that develops satellite and imaging technologies.

In addition to its East Hartford headquarters facility, Pratt & Whitney has a large engine assembly and maintenance plant in Middletown. The cities reported Pratt & Whitney job counts last year of 8,000 and 3,130 people respectively.

Pratt & Whitney spokesperson Jenny Dervin did not provide additional details such as affected job locations and roles. A corporate statement forwarded by Dervin attributed the action to the forecasts for a continued slump in the airline industry, with Raytheon having cited expectations for as much as a 60 percent decline this year in “revenue passenger miles.”

“We have made the extremely difficult but necessary decision to implement an involuntary separation program for our salaried workforce,” the Pratt & Whitney statement read. “These actions are consistent with steps taken by our customers and competitors. Out of respect for the impacted employees who are being informed today, we are not providing any additional information at this time.”

Hayes is targeting $ 1 billion in annual savings by 2024 in hooking up UTC to Raytheon. The company lost $4.7 billion in the second quarter, with the companies generating $ 1.6 billion in profits on a consolidated basis the year before. Raytheon is scheduled to provide an update in two weeks as part of an overview of its third-quarter results.

Raytheon inherited a UTC contract that runs through the spring of 2022 with the Local 1746 affiliate of the United Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. In an October newsletter, the union’s president Brad Chase cited health insurance as a major focus for the upcoming negotiations.

Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim said in September he spoke with managers at Pratt about the announced layoffs.

“They said that the impact is likely to be less on the machinists and the unionized workforce at the Middletown plant,” Florsheim said. He believed the union contracts contained some job protections.

Florsheim said he was told the impact would be in the commercial side, not military. He questioned by the giant federal bailout of the airlines did not filter down to contractors such as Pratt.

“What’s crazy about it is, everybody whose job is funded by a government contract is keeping their job on the defense side of things,” Florsheim said. “On the commercial side of things, all those workers are not going to be getting anything.”