ATK to cut Utah work force by 10%

Alliant Techsystems announced Thursday that it will reduce its Utah work force by about 10 percent by this fall.

Spokeswoman Trina Patterson said the defense contractor informed its employees through an internal memo Thursday that approximately 450 positions would be eliminated by October. The company employs about 4,500 workers at operations in Clearfield, Promontory and Magna, she said.

The cuts are a result of NASA's discontinuation of the space shuttle program and cuts to the Minuteman missile program, she said. The shuttle is slated to be scrubbed next year, while the Minuteman project is scheduled for discontinuation by the end of the year, Patterson said.

These layoffs follow a previous round of 300 job cuts in March and also come on the heels of a company spokesman denying that any more layoffs were being considered.

Last month, ATK spokesman George Torres told the Deseret News that he was unaware that the company was planning layoffs in Utah.

Torres was responding to comments made by a Utah lawmaker who said that he believed the company would be "laying off a tremendous amount of people."

During an Education Interim Committee discussion about the state's need for an educated work force, Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, a member of the committee, described Alliant as "a phenomenal company" but added, "I know ATK in Davis County is and ATK in general is going to be laying off a tremendous amount of people."

Wimmer said his brother-in-law was an ATK employee "looking to move to Idaho with his engineering degree because ATK in Davis County is laying people off and he's probably next on the chopping block or else getting closer because of seniority."

ATK announced in April that the company expected to add 120 high-paying technical jobs as it adds composite fiber placement machines to meet the needs of the Air Force's F-35 program.

Regarding the new round of layoffs, Patterson said ATK would provide a career placement workshop for all employees. She also said the company is "looking at ways to move employees to other programs."

She added that the difficulties facing ATK are affecting other aerospace agencies and defense contractors that are experiencing similar circumstances, including NASA.

"They are talking about laying off up to 4,000 people as the shuttle retires," she said.

Even so, Patterson said making the decision to eliminate jobs was not an easy one.

"We regret having to take these steps during this economically challenging time," Patterson said. "We hope by informing employees early, they will be better prepared in October when these layoffs take place."

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com