Story ID: 
Bell Announces Layoffs
By: Bill Wagstaff
Caption: Bell Helicopter Textron last month announced plans to lay off 270 workers at its Fort Worth-area plants.
Word Count: 105
Bell Helicopter Textron last month announced plans to lay off 270 workers at its Fort Worth-area plants. The job cuts will affect both union-represented hourly workers and salaried employees. A spokesman for the rotorcraft builder said further cutbacks were possible as the company reevaluated its position in the slumping world helicopter market and as the effects of investigations and slowdowns in the U.S. military’s tiltrotor program became felt. According to sources within the union representing the greatest number of Bell workers, the heaviest layoffs were among aircraft assemblers and composite materials bonders working on the V-22 and the Bell/Agusta BA609 civilian tiltrotor aircraft.