ENDICOTT - Huron Real Estate Associates has laid off 21 workers in its engineering and distribution departments due to decreased demand for its services and "skyrocketing" energy costs, Huron Vice President Jay Simonis said.

The cutbacks, which occurred March 3, affected engineers, planners, job coordinators and distribution workers, he said.

"Demand's changed generally from downsizing on our customers' part and some restructuring," said Simonis, who declined to specify which customers have contributed to the change in demand at Huron.

Tenants at the Huron campus include Endicott Interconnect Technologies, IBM, Fidelity Investments, Lockheed Martin, Stantec, Ensco, The McKinley and On Target Technology Development, he said.

"We're hearing that business has been slow for EI, and the ripple effect goes to Huron, especially in the warehouse," said Lee Conrad, an organizer at Alliance@IBM in Endicott, an effort to unionize IBM and EI workers. "If EI was building, there would be no need to get rid of the Huron people."

In January, Alliance@IBM received reports from EI workers that an undetermined number of engineers and managers in the company's complex assemblies unit experienced reduced work weeks due to lack of business. EI had declined comment when questioned about the cutbacks.

EI also could face a fine for falling short of an employment goal established in a 2002 agreement that garnered $4 million in state money to help local investors buy the microelectronics plant from IBM. As of December, EI employed 1,760 people, or about 91 percent of its original work force.

Huron, which now employs about 200 people, is a real estate services company that also provides maintenance, janitorial and distribution support to its customers.

Despite efforts to reduce energy usage, Huron saw its electric and natural gas costs increase about $4 million in 2005, compared to the previous year, Simonis said.

The 150-acre Huron campus offers a total of about 1.5 million square feet of office space, Simonis said. About 80,000 square feet of office space is vacant and available, he said.

"We're aggressively marketing our space," Simonis said.

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