Grumman Will Lay Off 700; Problems Cited : Defense Budget Cuts, Lost Competition Blamed
Grumman Corp., one of the nation’s leading aerospace concerns, said Wednesday that it will lay off about 700 employees due to defense budget cuts, funding uncertainties and the loss of a recent contest for a new aircraft program.
The Bethpage, N.Y.-based defense contractor said normal job attrition coupled with the reduction of part-time and temporary workers will decrease the company’s total employment by about 2,600 jobs during the year.
The reductions will be at facilities in Milledgeville, Ga., Stuart, Fla., and Long Island, N.Y. Current employment at Grumman is 33,700, with 23,500 workers located on Long Island.
The largest part of the layoff will occur by the middle of April, with the remainder spread over the rest of 1988.
Hiring has already been sharply curtailed and is now essentially limited to people with specialized skills, the company said.
Grumman has made carrier-based aircraft for the Navy since the 1930s. Most of the Navy’s best-known planes, such as the FGF Hellcat of World War II and the F-14 Tomcat are Grumman aircraft.
‘Backbone’ of Company
However, the Navy has selected McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics to develop the Advanced Tactical Aircraft, the attack plane that is supposed to start replacing Grumman’s A-6 on carriers sometime in the late 1990s.
Grumman had high hopes for the A-6F, the latest version of the A-6, the company’s 25-year-old attack plane. Last year, however, the Senate voted to kill the A-6F. Although New York’s congressional delegation applied enough pressure to get $500 million appropriated for the production of a dozen A-6Fs, the proposal appears to be dead. Instead, the Navy will probably purchase the current version, the A-6E, which will have some improved features.
In a letter to employees, Grumman President John O’Brien said the reductions are required by the loss of the competition for the Advanced Tactical Aircraft program, production delays caused by defense budget reductions and the A-6 aircraft funding uncertainty.
