A total of 237 of a total of just over 400 workers on the General Dynamics [GD] Stryker combat vehicle line at Anniston Army Depot (ANAD), Ala., are being laid off as the company contract with the Army comes to an end and Army program and federal budget uncertainties cloud further work.
General Dynamics works in a public-private partnership with ANAD to build and repair Stryker combat vehicles. The number of ANAD workers could drop farther to about 260 when all is said and done, company officials said.
Already, at the end of November, 98 workers learned of pending job losses, while Jan. 7 a further 139 learned of their layoffs under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining (WARN) Act. Layoffs for this group begin in early March.
As of the end of Fiscal Year 2012, General Dynamics delivered 4,318 new Stryker vehicles of the 4,466 under the Army contract, officials said. The remaining 58 will be completed this year.
The Army plans for a fleet of 4,735 Strykers, but that could change depending on Army plans and Congressional authorizations and appropriations.
The Anniston-General Dynamics partnership also is building double V-hull (DVH) Strykers from older flat-hull vehicles, under the Stryker exchange program (Defense Daily, Oct. 16). These vehicles with the double-V-hull are to provide additional security and protection against IEDs. Some 50 vehicles have been produced under that program, but again, additional Army plans are still unclear.
In mid-December, the ANAD Director of Plant Operations and the president of United Steel Workers Local 9506 wrote to Alabama’s Republican Senators Shelby and Sessions and Rep. Mike Rogers (R) urging their continued support and efforts to engage the Army and the Defense Department to continue the DVH Exchange program. The letter was backed by some 29 pages of employee signatures.