DynCorp begins laying off employees at Vance

ENID, Okla. (AP) _ DynCorp Technical Services has begun laying off some of its employees at Vance Air Force Base. <br/><br/>The defense contractor started handing out pink slips on Friday. How many people

Saturday, September 4th 2004, 10:13 am

By: News On 6

ENID, Okla. (AP) _ DynCorp Technical Services has begun laying off some of its employees at Vance Air Force Base.

The defense contractor started handing out pink slips on Friday. How many people will lose their jobs won't be released until Tuesday, Human Resource Manager Jay Merz said.

``It's very similar to what we were looking at a year ago,'' Merz said.

Twenty-nine employees were laid off Oct. 1 after the Air Force cut back on the number of pilots it trained. The same reason is being given for layoffs this year.

``We got some information ... that the Air Force is reducing the number of pilots required and the flying time at the base,'' Jerry McCune, president and directing business representative of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District Lodge 171, said last month.

Veteran Air Force pilots aren't leaving the service like they once were, in part because of the downturn in the airline industry. Therefore, the Air Force doesn't need to train as many pilots to replace them.

The plan was to use attrition and voluntary retirements to lessen the number of layoffs, McCune said.