Layoffs of 68 Collins Aerospace workers in Cedar Rapids take effect Friday, Oct. 13, after being announced as part of company-wide cuts earlier this month.
Specific layoff numbers in Cedar Rapids were reported in an Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filing Sept. 12.
Collins Aerospace officials said Sept. 12 they were moving to cut costs in the face of financial headwinds buffeting the industry.
“Collins Aerospace is implementing actions to align its cost structure with the ongoing aerospace recovery,” a company spokesperson said.
According to reports, Collins Aerospace cut about 800 jobs company-wide, which would amount to about 1% of its 80,000 workers. The move was termed a “minor workforce reduction.”
Collins Aerospace has nearly 9,000 employees in Iowa, most in Cedar Rapids, where two of the company’s divisions – Mission Systems and Avionics – are based. The company has laid off an estimated 180 employees statewide since September 2020, most recently cutting 37 positions in Cedar Rapids in September 2021.
In May 2021, Collins Aerospace CEO Stephen Timm told investors the company hoped to cut $1 billion in expenses by 2025.
Collins Aerospace is a division of RTX, which was formed from the merger of Raytheon and United Technologies in 2020, creating one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense companies in a $135 billion deal. As a result of that deal, RTX became the parent company of Collins Aerospace, including its operations in Cedar Rapids.
