Federal employees are not the only workers being affected by the government shutdown. The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), which represents hundreds of aerospace and defense firms, warned Oct. 4 that its member companies will have to furlough tens of thousands of people if the shutdown continues.
Many of these furloughs will occur because inspectors from the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), a unit of the Department of Defense, are on furlough. If their inspections can’t occur, production lines will have to screech to a halt.
DCMA “inspectors are required to audit and approve parts and operations throughout the manufacturing process for military products,” AIA said. “The manufacturing process must stop if these inspections and certifications are not performed, choking off the flow of new equipment to our armed forces.”
Lockheed Martin announced Oct. 4 that it plans to furlough about 3,000 employees on Oct. 7, and it warned that the number will grow if the shutdown continues.
“This includes 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,” Lockheed Martin said.
United Technologies Corp. (UTC) said Oct. 2 that its Sikorsky Aircraft company, which produces the Black Hawk utility helicopter, expects to furlough nearly 2,000 workers on Oct. 7 in Stratford, Conn.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Troy, Ala.
“If the shutdown continues through next week, UTC’s Pratt & Whitney and UTC Aerospace Systems units would also be affected, and company-wide furloughs are expected to double to include 4,000 workers,” UTC said. “This number could exceed 5,000 employees if the government shutdown continues into next month.”
The shutdown impact will also be felt among companies that do business with the FAA and NASA, according to AIA. With most of its certification engineers and inspectors furloughed, the FAA will not take on any new certification projects. And with most of NASA’s employees off the job, research and development work has been curtailed and spacecraft launches could be delayed.
AIA urged Congress and President Obama to develop a bipartisan solution that reopens the government as soon as possible.
