Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 29, 1994                   TAG: 9401290047
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PLANT WON'T IDLE 80

That's not the case, however, for 40 salaried workers who also got layoff notices from the night-vision goggles maker.

In July, the 120 employees at the ITT plant were put on notice they'd be laid off in 60 days. The company cited a continual decline in purchases by the Defense Department, historically the primary buyer of the company's products.

But in September, 110 workers who had not found other employment were told their jobs had been extended, at least through the end of last year because of international military orders the company hadn't expected before 1994.

A variety of factors - including increased sales of the company's commercial line of night-vision equipment, one-time military orders and employee departures - led to the decision to cancel the layoffs for the hourly workers, said Don Hershey, an ITT spokesman.

The company has declined to give the economic impact of the action, saying pay rates are confidential.

Employment at the plant stands at 650, Hershey said. Until 1990, when 400 workers were laid off, the plant employed 1,100 people.

The factory is on Plantation Road near Hollins. A portion of its work force is represented by the International Union of Electrical Workers.

The Army has been ITT's major customer for many years. But since the end of the Cold War, ITT has tried to shift some of the market for its night-vision technology to commercial users, especially the maritime industry.

The company has won the major portion of military contracts for night-vision goggles during the past decade, but the size of those contracts has fallen steadily. This summer, ITT introduced its latest effort to commercialize military technology when it put water-resistant, floating night-vision goggles on the market for boaters. Called Night Mariner, the civilian version of goggles used by American soldiers in the Persian Gulf war carries a price tag of $2,395.

The Roanoke County plant is a unit of a New York-based international company with international operations in nine major fields: automotive products, electronic components for aerospace and computer industries, technology for moving fluids, defense products, forest products, insurance, financial services, communications and hotels.