Chromalloy cuts 80 jobs

Carson City's biggest manufacturer, Chromalloy Nevada, laid off 80 of its 540 employees because of a slow down in business, a representative with the business' parent company said Friday.

The workers laid off Thursday and Friday at the engine parts company were mostly hourly technicians, said Andrew Farrant of New York-based Sequa Corp.

He said the "trickle-down effect" of problems in the airline business caused Sequa to cut the jobs.

"There's just not enough work now," he said.

Sequa, at this time, doesn't plan to lay off any more employees at the two locations in Carson City and thinks it can make it through the slow economy, Farrant said.

Chromalloy Nevada's Industrial Park Drive location opened in 1990 and the Arrowhead Drive location opened in 1991.

The business referred questions to Sequa.

Dave Woods left work with his tool box Friday after four years at Chromalloy repairing engine parts.

He said he's not sure how the company chose who to lay off, but the cuts weren't a surprise.

"We knew it was coming," he said. "The work was diminishing. You can only run a company so long without orders."

Vince Nittiskie, a 28-year-old repairman, said the company gave him his "separation packet" Friday morning.

"When you hear the supervisor say, 'We need to go to (human resources),' you know you're in trouble," he said.

Laid-off employees will probably have to look outside of Carson City for work, he said, but, after about a year at Chromalloy, he isn't worried about finding work.

"If you got to move," he said, "you got to move."

Woods said the company gave severance pay, so he isn't worried about problems supporting his family while he looks for a new job.

The Chromalloy cuts come after the most recent unemployment rate report of 7.4 percent in Carson City and 7.6 percent in Nevada, the highest rate since early 1985. The most recent national report shows the U.S. unemployment rate at 6.7 percent, the highest in 15 years.

Employers cut more jobs in November than any month since December 1974, according to the federal government.

Sequa has Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corporation plants in 21 U.S. cities and in nine countries. The Carlyle Group, an international equity firm, owns Sequa.

- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.