Starting on Oct. 7, Lockheed Martin will furlough approximately 3,000 employees from across all of its business areas due to the federal government’s shutdown, announced the company on Friday. In a separate memorandum for all US-based, non-union employees on Oct. 4, Lockheed Martin CEO and President Marillyn Hewson said the company believes that “a prolonged shutdown is possible” based on conversations with “our customers.” She said she expects the layoffs will “continue to grow” in coming days due to the furlough of government workers at the Defense Contract Management Agency. The layoffs mainly affect company employees “who are unable to work because the government facility where they perform their work is closed, or their work requires a government inspection that cannot be completed, or we’ve received a stop work order,” states the company’s press release. In the memo, Hewson said employees with vacation time and “floating holidays” may use them to mitigate the impact on their finances; others will be “advanced” up to 40 hours of pay, she said. If the shutdown continues beyond that, they’ll be “transitioned to unpaid furlough leave,” said Hewson. Company spokesman Gordon Johndroe said discussions continue with the government about how the shutdown will affect specific programs.
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…