50 more laid off at Sullair in Michigan City

Laurie Wink, The News-Dispatch

lwink@thenewsdispatch.com

MICHIGAN CITY - Sullair Corp., 3700 E. Michigan Blvd., laid off 50 workers on Tuesday as the economic downtown has continued to shrink market demand for air compressors.

The local company has experienced a series of layoffs since last November, when 41 employees were let go, and December, when another 54 jobs were cut. Additional employee layoffs occurred in April and May this year.

Dan Coulom, director of communication at Hamilton Sundstrand, Sullair's parent company, said the local layoffs were across all sectors of the manufacturing company. Coulom said Sullair still has approximately 500 employees.

Sullair and Hamilton Sundstrand are subsidiaries of United Technologies Corp., a diverse corporation that has been adversely affected in all of its divisions, Coulom said. UTC announced in March it would reduce its worldwide workforce by 5 percent this year.

"The recession in general is affecting all of us," he said. "We continue to reduce the work force to try to remain competitive."