GE Will Lay Off 2,150 in New York, Massachusetts

General Electric Co. is laying off 1,950 steam turbine and generator production workers in Lynn, Mass., and 200 here in six months, the company said Monday.

Spokesman Pat Rocchi said GE planned to hire 350 additional workers in Schenectady in 1988 to replace some of the workers in Lynn.

Rocchi said GE would stop making components for commercial turbines and generators at Lynn and would make Schenectady the primary manufacturing center for the parts.

Rocchi said 750 jobs would remain at Lynn, where GE would continue manufacturing turbine parts and generators for Navy ships.

Schenectady will lose 200 jobs with the closing of a foundry also used in the manufacture of turbine parts, Rocchi said.

Demand has fallen sharply in recent years for steam turbines and generators, which are used primarily by utility companies to generate power, Rocchi said.

The layoffs were the latest in a series of cutbacks announced by GE in the past year.

Separately, GE said it hoped to persuade 500 workers to accept early retirement at its Evendale, Ohio, jet engine plant in a cost-cutting move.

Last week, GE announced the layoff of about 1,000 workers in its aircraft engine business in Lynn.

Early last year, GE said 1,500 workers would lose their jobs in Schenectady. In July, 1,200 more job cuts were announced and in October an additional 236 were lost. In November, GE said it would lay off another 825 to 900 workers in Schenectady.