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Tyco Electronics is laying off workers at all four of its Triad plants as it slashes 20 percent of its worldwide work force.

The company would not say Wednesday how many workers here will be laid off during the process, said Mike Ratcliffe, the company's communications manager in Pennsylvania. The reductions are likely to continue through September, the company said.

Tyco's 100,000 workers make electronic connectors used in cars, appliances, telecommunications equipment and other goods. But durable goods makers - and their suppliers - have been hit especially hard as consumers wait out the worst recession in decades.

"By the end of the fiscal year we will have reduced employment globally by 20,000 positions," Ratcliff said.

Tyco had not notified the mayors of High Point and Greensboro of any layoffs by Wednesday. Ben Barnwell, manager of Greensboro's Employment Security Commission office, said the company has not notified him of any cuts.

The company operates three Greensboro plants on Pegg Road, Piedmont Triad Parkway and Burgess Road. Its Winston-Salem plant is on Reidsville Road.

Ratcliffe would not say how many people work in the plants, but he said the Triad's work force makes up the vast majority of the company's 3,000 workers in North Carolina.

Full-time workers will not bear the brunt of the cuts, he said. Tyco will also cut jobs through attrition, will reduce its force of temporary workers and will end deals with contract workers.

The company said in January it would cut 2,500 workers by closing plants in Pennsylvania and moving some of that production to Greensboro.

But it eliminated a few local jobs at the time, and it would not say whether it would hire more workers here to handle the Pennsylvania production.

"It's totally dependent upon the market," Ratcliff said Wednesday. "If we're closing a plant (in Pennsylvania) and moving it to North Carolina, that means those plants have capacity ... to accept that work. Certainly it's a very challenging economy. We've got to right-size the business. Whether that move is preserving jobs I can't say."

 Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com