Scientech lays off employees

An undisclosed number of Curtiss-Wright Scientech jobs in Idaho Falls were eliminated by the company Wednesday.

Curtiss-Wright Nuclear Group Vice President Scott Robuck said the employment adjustment was made based on current and projected business needs for the future.

He said it was against company policy to discuss the number or type of jobs that were affected.

In October, the company moved into a new $9 million building at Snake River Landing. Since then, the Idaho Department of Labor has heard of multiple layoffs.

Regional Economist Chris St. Jeor said laid-off Scientech employees had been trickling in throughout Wednesday.

“We don’t have any official numbers at all,” said St. Jeor. “Just simply word-of-mouth is about 30 people, or so.”

St. Jeor said if so, it could be the second significant layoff since September.

“If I remember correctly, it was around the same number the last time around,” said St. Jeor.

When Scientech broke ground in 2013 it employed about 200 people in Idaho Falls, with hopes of hiring many more. Even with the layoffs, St. Jeor said there’s no reason to believe they won’t grow.

“They even indicated that this wouldn’t be an overnight process, and that it’s going to be a slow gradual process,” said St. Jeor. “I wouldn’t be shocked to see them there sooner rather than later.”

Scientech has an Economic Incentive Agreement with Idaho Falls on the new building. The city’s Planning and Building Director Brad Cramer said the agreement could be voided if Scientech doesn’t come through on certain obligations. One of the requirements includes Scientech creating 100 jobs. Scientech has time to meet that requirement, if they haven’t already. Right now, it’s not clear how many, if any, jobs have been created by Scientech.

Scientech provides a variety of products and services for the nuclear utility industry.