More than 1M defense workers could receive layoff notices
More than one million defense workers will receive layoff notices this fall if the plan for dramatic cuts to Pentagon spending under sequestration goes into effect next year, defense industry executives told Congress.
Lawmakers continue to struggle for solutions for how to avert $500 billion in defense-spending reductions beginning Jan. 2. These cuts — characterized as a meat-ax approach — come on top of the recently approved $487 billion in cuts to the Defense Department and threaten to deplete the highly skilled workforce in the aerospace industry.
A recent study by the Aerospace Industries Association estimated that sequestration will result in the loss of more than 1 million defense-industry jobs.
The heads of Lockheed Martin, EADS North America, Pratt and Whitney and Williams-Pyro testified at a July 18 hearing before the House Armed Services Committee that most large defense companies are bound by law to give employees 60 days’ notice if their jobs are likely to be terminated as a result of sequestration.