Chris Isidore
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Lockheed Martin became the latest government contractor to announce furloughs due to the federal government shutdown.
After earlier saying the defense contractor would furlough 3,000 workers starting Monday, Oct. 7, the company later said only 2,400 workers would be furloughed. The Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor did not say where the furloughs would take place. Lockheed has major opertations in Fort Worth. But most of the furloughs will take place in the Washington, D.C. area.Â
“I’m disappointed that we must take these actions, and we continue to encourage our lawmakers to come together to pass a funding bill that will end this shutdown,” said CEO Marillyn A. Hewson. She said that workers would be allowed to use vacation time if they have it available so that their pay and benefits would not be affected.
Lockheed Martin has 120,000 employees, 95% of whom are based in the United States. Its contracts with the federal government accounted for nearly $39 billion in 2012, which represented more than 80% of its overall revenue.
Earlier this week United Technologies announced 2,000 of its workers will likely be furloughed starting next week. Those affected make Black Hawk helicopters through its Sikorsky Aircraft subsidiary, as well as aircraft control systems and a variety of other high-tech products. United Technologies said furloughs could grow to 4,000 if the shutdown continues through next week, and 5,000 if it goes into next month.
The price of government contractors’ stock have also taken a hit during the shutdown.
The furloughs at contractors come on top of the roughly 800,000 federal employees who have been furloughed since Tuesday. Those government employees are losing about $1 billion a week in pay during the shutdown.
Other businesses are also being affected because the government agencies that they deal with are not on the job.
Aircraft maker Boeing said this week it is preparing for disruptions to its delivery schedule because some of its aircraft need the approval of furloughed Federal Aviation Administration inspectors before they can be delivered to customers. But Boeing intends to keep its assembly lines working at normal levels even if they have to park rather than deliver the aircraft when they’re done. – Additional reporting by Robert Francis, Fort Worth Business Press