Personnel cut at Pittsfield’s General Dynamics

PITTSFIELD – General Dynamics laid off 48 personnel this month in part due to budget cuts, The Berkshire Beacon learned Wednesday.

One source indicated there were more layoffs, but this could not be confirmed.

According to Jennifer Ann Montesano, director of marketing and public relations for General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Fairfax, Va., “The positions spanned the engineering, manufacturing and quality organizations.”

When asked by The Beacon if there was any kind of a golden parachute, Ms. Montesano said: “Depending on individual eligibility criteria, employees may receive benefits that include severance, an employee transition program, outplacement assistance and benefit extension for a period.”

A reduction in force, layoff or firings of 48 of an estimated 1,166, is just over four percent.

“Any time someone loses their job it is an unfortunate and traumatic experience,” said Congressman Richard E. Neal. “That is why I was disappointed to learn that General Dynamics has laid off 48 employees from their Pittsfield workforce due to changing skill requirements.

“While the company still employs roughly 1,000 men and women in The Berkshires, and remains committed to the region, the job announcement is regrettable for those families effected.”

Gerald M. Lee, former city council president, said he was not surprised by the layoffs given the impasse of the federal budget, noting the defense contract is worth millions if not billions of dollars.

“It would impact any community doing defense work due to the Sequester issue,” Mr. Lee said.

“It is a terrible impact on personnel and their families.  The ripple effect to the community is devastating,” he added.

Figuring the average salary, not including benefits, is about $85,000, the impact of lost wages on the community reaches $4 million. That’s probably even more in terms of purchasing power within Berkshire County, Mr. Lee noted.

Pittsfield Mayor Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi was in Boston Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

General Dynamics’ Pittsfield facility makes components for a new class of Navy warships designed to operate close to shore.

According to The Boston Globe, the Pentagon is expected to inform Congress soon that it plans to strip the money from the Army communications contract and use it instead for war funding, to help replace $7 billion lost to the automatic cuts.

According to The Boston Globe, “General Dynamics last month could not estimate the number of layoffs that would result in Massachusetts, or the timing. But the defense contractor said it would affect ‘hundreds’ at its various locations in Taunton, Needham and Pittsfield.

Massachusetts congressmen are reportedly pushing to try to avert the cut in communications spending, either by persuading the Pentagon to slash elsewhere or by getting Congress to restore the money, according to The Globe.

In its May 13 edition, The Globe reported “The proposed cut in Massachusetts is contained in a $7 billion request to shift funding out of dozens of weapons projects to pay for current operations.

“The shift, which was first reported by InsideDefense.com, gives precedence to the daily needs of forces. In exchange, the Army’s plan to outfit brigades with new communications equipment is placed on the back burner.

As to what caused this development, Ms. Montesano said, “As part of our normal business practice, we constantly monitor program requirements and adjust resources to ensure we continue to deliver relevant services and solutions and remain cost competitive.

“Our workforce needs to reflect the needs of the current programs we support.”

In her statement, Ms. Montesano wrote: “General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems’ Pittsfield facility provides manufacturing and mission systems integration for customers including the U.S. Navy, DHS and TSA.

“We’ve been a proud member of the Berkshire community for more than 50 years.

“Programs that we support include the Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), Joint High Speed Vessel, Air and Missile Defense Radar, U.S. and U.K. Trident II submarine strategic weapons systems, including the SSBN fire-control system, the SSGN attack weapon-control system, the U.S. SSBN-replacement and the U.K. SSBN-successor common missile compartment.

“Our 1,000-plus employees support these programs by providing a wide range of capabilities including system engineering, software engineering, electrical/mechanical hardware design, and training, logistics and field support.

“As part of our normal business practice, we constantly monitor program requirements and adjust resources to ensure we continue to deliver relevant services and solutions and remain cost competitive.

“In early June, we notified 48 employees that their positions were being eliminated.  These are a result of aligning the skill sets required to best support our current programs.

“We regret the impact this decision will have on employees and we have arranged a variety of programs to assist these workers with their transition from General Dynamics.”

Posted by George C. Jordan III on June 27, 2013. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry