42 Laid Off from United Technologies in Burnsville, Eagan

Just months after a much-publicized expansion project, United Technologies Corp. has announced that it will cut its workforce at sites in Burnsville and Eagan.

The cut is part of a larger effort to restructure the company's worldwide aerospace operations, which employ over 40,000 globally, according to the Charlotte Observer. All told, UTC will lay off 500 people from now until December, less than 2 percent of its total workforce. Various media sources are reporting that 42 workers will be cut from high tech facilities in Dakota County. Until Nov. 16, about 1,600 people worked at the Sensors and Integrated Systems facilities in Burnsville and Eagan.

"The cuts were across all 14 of our business units" that make up UTC Aerospace Systems, Spokesman Sol Mirelez told the Pioneer Press. "We have a softening in some of our markets."

The cut comes just months after a series of major shakeups at the 300,000-square-foot Burnsville facility, formerly a Goodrich property. In less than three months, Goodrich fired its top Minnesota exec, Brian Gora, completed a major expansion project at its Burnsville location, and was absorbed into the behemoth UTC, a deal that has been calle done of the largest acquisitions in aviation history.