Military Budget Cuts Means Job Losses for 1,800 Texans

Texas Instruments Inc. and General Dynamics Corp., a pair of major defense contractors, plan to lay off up to 1,800 people in Texas because of anticipated military budget cuts.

Texas Instruments said Friday that it will trim its Defense Systems & Electronics Group by about 1,000 employees in the next year.

The announcement came one day after General Dynamics announced planned cuts of 500 to 800 over the next few months at its Ft. Worth division.

Both companies said their decisions were influenced by shrinking U.S. defense spending. Improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union have resulted in a series of arms reductions, and lawmakers are showing increasing reluctance to buy new military hardware.

“It’s unfortunate that our industry and employees must bear the brunt of these changes; it is the price we in this industry will pay for enhanced world peace and stability,” said Charles A. Anderson, a division vice president and general manager for General Dynamics.

William B. Mitchell, DSEG president for Texas Instruments, said his company doesn’t expect things to get better soon.

“As we told stockholders at our annual meeting in April, we expect defense markets to decline for at least the first half of the 1990s as the U.S. Department of Defense adjusts to the changing world political environment,” Mitchell said.

TI employs about 22,000 people at its DSEG Texas plants in Abilene, Austin, Lewisville, McKinney and Sherman, and at facilities in Ridgecrest, Calif., and Colorado Springs, Colo.

The TI cuts are the third in two years. Last year, 230 people were laid off, then 240 more were cut earlier this year. Others also took advantage of an early retirement program aimed at decreasing staff numbers, but TI spokeswoman Terri West said the number of DSEG employees involved was not available.

Some of the TI employees may be given jobs elsewhere in the Dallas-based company, which makes semiconductors, defense electronics systems, software, computer systems and consumer electronics products.

“We’ll do several things to try to lessen the impact,” West said. “That includes severance pay.”