The loss of a military communications contract and a lighter workload lead to the defense contractor's layoffs.
By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published October 20, 2004
Raytheon Co. in St. Petersburg has eliminated 130 engineering positions, or about 6 percent of its work force, after the loss of a major contract to competitor Lockheed Martin Corp.
A year ago, Raytheon's local offices were the epicenter of an effort to win a $6-billion contract to provide the next generation of mobile satellite communications for the U.S. military.
Raytheon's engineers in St. Petersburg led the team that developed the proposal for MUOS, or the Mobile User Objective System. The company was partnering with Honeywell in Clearwater and Loral Space & Communications in Palo Alto, Calif.
Raytheon estimated the contract would generate 3,000 jobs nationwide and 1,000 positions in the Tampa Bay area, paying an average of $55,000 a year. At the time, the company said 700 of those positions would be new hires, while 300 would be existing employees retained as a result of the new funding.
But on Sept. 24, the Navy selected a team led by Lockheed to produce the new satellite system. By Oct. 4, 130 engineers in Raytheon's St. Petersburg facilities were notified of the layoffs. They received salary and benefits based on length of service with the company.
After the layoffs, Raytheon had 1,045 workers at its two locations in St. Petersburg and about 900 employees at its plant in Largo.
Raytheon sponsored job fairs for workers affected by the cuts last week, with representatives from other Raytheon locations and employers from the Tampa Bay area. A Raytheon spokeswoman said 20 transfer offers were extended, but she had no information on how many of the dismissed workers landed positions.
"It's the largest layoff we've had in a while," said Maribeth Welch, manager of media relations for Raytheon.
Welch said a softness in the company's workload also recently led to a reassessment of employment levels on the production floor, with five to 10 jobs being eliminated. She said further cuts are not anticipated.
"Right now the outlook through 2005 is stable," she said. "Although we're always analyzing the workload and the number of employees needed."
