By Robbyn Brooks

The Messenger

 

Employees at Sikorsky Troy Operations will no longer be furloughed, according to the company. However, those who work at the Lockheed Martin facility in Pike County could still be at risk.

Changes to furlough plans for both companies came after the announcement that almost 400,000 civilian Department of Defense employees were deemed essential for national security.

Among those deemed essential were Defense Contract Management Agency inspectors responsible for auditing and approving operations throughout the manufacturing of military products.

On Saturday, Sikorsky parent company United Technologies Corp. canceled plans to furlough employees after the recall of DCMA inspectors.

“United Technologies greatly appreciates the efforts of those in the Administration of Congress who facilitated the recall of the furloughed civilian employees in the U.S. Department of Defense,” the company said on its website.

Lockheed Martin had originally planned to furlough about 3,000 workers beginning Monday due to the government shutdown, but has since cut that number by 600, the company reported Monday.

“The Department of Defense’s decision will not eliminate the impact of the government shutdown on the company’s employees and the business,” Lockheed said in a statement on its website.

Lockheed has not officially released how big of an impact the government shutdown will have in Pike County – only that of the 2,400 out of work nationwide, 2,100 employees work on civilian agency programs and 300 on Department of Defense programs.

“The affected employees are located in 27 states, with the majority based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area,” the company reported on its website.