Cites Lower Demand In Oil And Gas Sector, Other Factors For The Job Cuts

While the recent drop in oil prices has been welcomed by drivers and other users of petroleum products, it has also suppressed the market for support equipment, such as helicopters used in offshore exploration for oil.

That, along with a softer market for international military products, has prompted Sikorski to send layoff notices to some 1,400 workers, over 700 from its Coatesville, PA facility alone, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Company spokesman Paul Jackson said that the majority of those let go at Coatesville, where the VH-92 "Marine One" helicopters are built, are contractors. The jobs will be phased out over the next 12 months, he said.

The Coatesville plant had experienced rapid job growth over the past five years, with the labor force swelling from 700 in 2010 to over 1,800 last summer. Sikorsky had purchased the Coatesville facility to increase production of the S-76D and S-92 helicopters. The S-92 is the platform for the presidential aircraft.

Television station WVIT reports that the company will be closing its Bridgeport, CT location, where about 180 people are employed, entirely. Those who don't lose their jobs at Bridgeport will be offered jobs at the company's Stratford operation.

"These actions affect Sikorsky’s facilities in Poland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut and will take place over the next twelve months starting immediately," Jackson said in a statement. "As part of this activity, the company will vacate smaller satellite facilities and consolidate remaining production volume into larger campuses in Poland, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut to include exiting its current facility in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and relocating employees to the Stratford, Connecticut facility. It is important to note that none of these announced layoffs are a result of the facility consolidation."

(Image from file)

FMI: www.sikorski.com