Story ID: 
More Hawker Beechcraft Layoffs
By: David A. Lombardo
Caption: The employees of Hawker Beechcraft’s Little Rock operation are facing the company’s next round of layoffs.
Word Count: 148
The employees of Hawker Beechcraft’s Little Rock operation are facing the company’s next round of layoffs. Hawker Beechcraft employs about 8,000 workers company-wide, including approximately 800 at the Little Rock completion center. The company announced last February it planned to lay off 2,300 employees this year due to the down economy. Last May about 150 workers were released at the facility. Valerie Rodriguez, president of Lodge 463 of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) in Jacksonville, Ark., told AIN that the employees of the Little Rock facility, unlike those of the Salina, Kan. operation, were no longer unionized and hadn’t been for some years. Hawker Beechcraft has not specified how many workers will be released in the current reduction. Earlier this month the company announced it would be closing its Salina, Kan. facility. The timeline for closing that facility has not been announced, although Hawker Beechcraft’s lease ends Feb. 12, 2012.