Wednesday, March 31, 2010
ITT Night Vision in Roanoke Co. cuts 'less than 45' workers
A company spokesman would not disclose the exact number of employees who lost their jobs today, but said it was fewer than 45.
ITT Corp. terminated today "less than 45" salaried employees at its ITT Night Vision division in Roanoke County and attributed the job cuts to a realignment of defense segment divisions first announced earlier this year.
Steve Brecken, a company spokesman, would not disclose the exact number of employees who lost their jobs, but said it was fewer than 45.
The workers affected heard the bad news today, which was also their last day of employment.
On. Jan. 5, ITT Corp., an international corporation based in White Plains, N.Y., announced the merger of its night vision and space systems divisions to form Geospatial Systems, based in Rochester, N.Y.
At the time, ITT Night Vision had about 1,500 employees — with about 1,000 as members of a union representing hourly workers and about 500 as salaried employees. Brecken acknowledged in January that the realignment might identify "some redundancies and overlap of skills" — not only at ITT Night Vision but at other ITT facilities impacted by the merger.
ITT Night Vision manufactures night vision goggles, monoculars and related gear and is a major supplier for the U.S. armed forces. In recent years, it has landed multi-million dollar military contracts associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the needs of homeland security and law enforcement agencies.
In January, ITT Corp. said consolidation of the night vision and space systems divisions could, in addition to cutting costs, yield products that might, for example, establish communication between a reconnaissance satellite and a soldier’s night vision equipment to alert him or her to what lurk around a corner.
Steve Brecken, a company spokesman, would not disclose the exact number of employees who lost their jobs, but said it was fewer than 45.
The workers affected heard the bad news today, which was also their last day of employment.
On. Jan. 5, ITT Corp., an international corporation based in White Plains, N.Y., announced the merger of its night vision and space systems divisions to form Geospatial Systems, based in Rochester, N.Y.
At the time, ITT Night Vision had about 1,500 employees — with about 1,000 as members of a union representing hourly workers and about 500 as salaried employees. Brecken acknowledged in January that the realignment might identify "some redundancies and overlap of skills" — not only at ITT Night Vision but at other ITT facilities impacted by the merger.
ITT Night Vision manufactures night vision goggles, monoculars and related gear and is a major supplier for the U.S. armed forces. In recent years, it has landed multi-million dollar military contracts associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the needs of homeland security and law enforcement agencies.
In January, ITT Corp. said consolidation of the night vision and space systems divisions could, in addition to cutting costs, yield products that might, for example, establish communication between a reconnaissance satellite and a soldier’s night vision equipment to alert him or her to what lurk around a corner.
