NO LOVE AT NORTHROP GRUMMAN (08/16/24)

AUGUST 16, 2024 — 550 CALIFORNIANS TARGETED

In another round of layoffs, the company is targeting up to 550 employees in its aerospace facilities in Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach, California.

JUNE 10, 2024 — 543 EMPLOYEES IN CHANDLER, ARIZONA

According to a company spokesperson, "We have provided all potentially impacted employees with advanced notice and have begun the process of working to match them with existing opportunities across the company. These efforts are ongoing and we expect a higher number of employees will receive WARN notices than may ultimately be impacted."

MAY 13, 2024 —1,000 EMPLOYEES IN REDONDO BEACH

Northrop Grumman plans to lay off up to 1,000 employees at its facilities in Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Azusa, California.

It has been rumored that the personnel realignment may be linked to a recently canceled multibillion-dollar U.S. Space Force program to develop a classified military communications satellite after cost overruns, a schedule delay, and development difficulties.

APRIL 23, 2022 — 120 WORKERS IN LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA

According to a company spokesperson, “the company notified the 120 workers on Tuesday that May 5, 2022, will be their last day. The layoffs are a result of the U.S. Air Force’s decision to retire the Joint STARS fleet which was a pretty big chunk of the work we did here. The fleet will be in service through 2024.”

JUNE 29, 2018 — Original post…

Northrop Grumman will be laying off 350 employees at the Commonwealth of Virginia’s data center in Chester, Virginia.

The layoff decision is based on the Commonwealth of Virginia’s decision to terminate Northrop Grumman’s multi-year, multi-billion, sole-source contract one year early due to a contentious relationship between Northrop Grumman and the Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA) which oversees the provision of IT services to the state’s 63 agencies. 

It is not known how many of these employees may be rehired by SAIC (Science Applications International Corp.) who will serve as one of Virginia’s new contractors for supplying and coordinating IT services. 

According to Northrop Grumman’s spokeswoman, Jenna Gregory, the layoffs were due to the VITA’s decision to terminate the contract. “As a result of VITA’s decision to issue on May 18, 2018 an early termination notice of the contract between Northrop Grumman and the Commonwealth of Virginia, Northrop Grumman issued a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice (WARN) to state officials on Thursday, June 14. ,” noting that Northrop Grumman is “undertaking efforts to place impacted employees in other positions.”

The contract, legally contentious at times, was terminated one-year prior to its expiration. It appears that Northrop Grumman sued VITA for $10 million for an alleged breach of contract and VITA countersues with a $300 million claim for alleged poor performance. The case is still pending and is most likely to be solved at the expense of Virginia’s taxpayers who are expected to pick up the approximately $67 million costs to wind-down contracted operations. Optimistically,VITA believes that these costs may be recaptured from its new vendors. Unlikely since any such recovery is simply added to the taxpayer’s tab.
 

NO LOVE AT THE LASH GROUP

The South Carolina-based Lash Group, a subsidiary of AmerisourceBergen, has announced the layoff of 202 employees at their Monroeville, Pennsylvania which offers pharmacy and support services to individual patients.  According to a company spokesperson, the layoffs are part of “an effort to evaluate and align company capabilities to meet customer needs.”

Additionally, up to 300 employees will be permanently laid off when the company closes their Rockville, Maryland facility. According to company spokesperson, Lauren Esposito, "These decisions are not made lightly, but are implemented to strengthen the company’s long-term prospects for continued growth. Employees at this location are involved with clinical care, business management and technical support.

It is unknown how the company’s patient self-service portals, increasing automation, and state of the art CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system may be contributing to the reduction in call center employees.  

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

NO LOVE AT BAKER HUGHES GE (05/24/23)

MAY 24, 2023 — 183 LAYOFFS IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

The company has announced that it will be closing its Industrial Valves, Pumps, and Gears subdivision located in Jacksonville, Florida, next year — with separations phased between January 8, 2024, and December 31, 2024.

According to a company spokesperson, Simplifying structure and driving cost out are necessary actions to enable Baker Hughes to invest in the growth and development that is critical to the company’s continued success. As such, the decision has been made to close the Jacksonville site at the end of 2024. These decisions are always difficult, and we make them with the utmost sensitivity to how they affect our employees, customers, and communities.”

JUNE 27, 2018 — Original Post

Houston, Texas-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes, a subsidiary of the troubled General Electric Company, has announced that it will close its Schertz, Texas Turbomachinery & Process Solutions facility and lay off 266 employees.

According to Baker Hughes spokesperson Melanie Kania, the decision to close the facility was made “This decision comes after a careful review of how best to adjust our operations to best align where future business and opportunity exists. These decisions are never easy because it affects our colleagues and friends. We are committed to working closely with our employees through this transition, providing assistance and resources to those affected." Only four years ago, in February 2014, GE Oil & Gas Inc. had announced that the company will invest $8 million and add 175 jobs at its manufacturing facility in Schertz by next year. 

But it gets worse as General Electric has announced that they will divest its ownership in Baker Hughes as it restructures the iconic company over the next two to three years. General Electric itself has announced major restructuring plans that will pare its headquarters operations, probably at the expense of a thousand or more employees throughout the enterprise. 

In announcing the results of their strategic review ...

“GE plans to fully separate its 62.5% interest in BHGE in an orderly manner over the next two to three years. BHGE’s full stream offering brings together equipment, services, and digital solutions to help its customers be more productive—a unique and powerful value proposition in a changing market. The separation will provide BHGE with enhanced agility and the ability to focus on leading in the oil and gas industry.”

“Oil & Gas was separated from GE in July of 2017 when we made the strategic decision to combine it with Baker Hughes. There's strong industrial logic for the transaction, the companies are much stronger together and shareholders are getting the benefit of significant synergies both on the revenue and cost side as well as benefiting from substantial combined technology. We expect to pursue an orderly separation of the company within 2 to 3 years with a focus on maximizing value for BHGE and GE.”

Are you wondering, Am I Next?