Lockheed Martin to Cut 4,000 Jobs, Close Sites

[tammywammy]

Source: WSJ

Lockheed Martin Corp. said it would cut its workforce by about 4,000 positions as it closes and consolidates several U.S. facilities, saying it needs to lower costs in response to continued declines in U.S. government spending.

Lockheed had expected sales in 2013 to decline as military contractors absorb defense cuts by Western governments and across-the-board sequestration cuts by the federal government. As budget cuts continue to ripple through the defense industry, the company recently said its sales were likely to decline again in 2014.

"In the face of government budget cuts and an increasingly complex global security landscape, these actions are necessary for the future of our business and will position Lockheed Martin to better serve our customers," Chief Executive Marillyn Hewson said.

By mid-2015, the company plans to close operations in Newtown, Pa.; Akron, Ohio; Goodyear, Ariz.; and Horizon City, Texas, as well as four buildings on its Sunnyvale, Calif., campus. The closures will result in the elimination of 2,000 positions.

Operational efficiency efforts will result in another 2,000 positions being cut in the information systems and global solutions, mission system and training, and space systems businesses by the end of 2014.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303289904579197643781636608

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Cutting 4,000 jobs in the next 18 months.

[sharp_stick]

1. You know this is gonna piss off the pukes

gotta keep that defense spending up. All those Republicans that were so fast to say the sequester didn't actually hurt anybody are going to be changing their tune PDQ now that it might start hitting them in the donations.

[tammywammy]

2. I just wonder what else is in the pipeline.

At least LM gave an 18-month notice to employees, so they have time to prepare.

[Dopers_Greed]

3. Poor death companies

If only we had gone to war with Syria...

[tammywammy]

6. LM does quite a variety of things

Most of these closures are from their Space Systems unit. Going to war with Syria would not have increased the NASA budget.

[DavidDvorkin]

10. Indeed. I worked for then Martin Marietta on the Viking Mars lander

in the early 1970s.

[Blue_Tires]

12. For real??

What was your job??

[DavidDvorkin]

13. For real

I was part of a three-man team that wrote the deorbit burn targeting software. We then used our program to describe the area the lander would probably land in (an error ellipse) based on various scenarios.

The last thing we did was take the program to JPL and get it running on their computer, where it was used in the actual mission.

Not long after which, I was laid off. Ah, the aerospace biz!

I found work as a computer programmer and never did anything aerospaceish again, except for writing fiction about it.

[Cirque du So-What]

16. I worked at a different Martin Marietta operation for 18 years

I'll draw a pension if I live that long.

On edit: or unless they screw me out of it beforehand.

[DavidDvorkin]

17. I was there for only three years

When I called to ask if anything at all was vested, they told me that it required a minimum of ten years.

Based on that, you should be okay. But of course, if they can screw you out of it, they will.

[Cirque du So-What]

18. It became five years instead of ten

during the time I worked for them. Federal law changed it for all workers at companies with pension plans. I'm definitely OK where length of service is concerned, but so many companies have weaseled out of their obligations by declaring bankruptcy that I'll be surprised to get anything at all.

[sweetapogee]

8. the Newtown PA

site is Space Systems

[bigdarryl]

4. DAMN!! that's fucked up they pay good to

There is a Lockheed Martin plant 9 miles from me in South Jersey Morristown NJ. I wonder if they are affected.There are a couple of guys who workout at the LA Fitness I workout at that work there.

[tammywammy]

5. NJ is not included in this

It's plants in Ohio, Arizona, Texas and Pennsylvania.

[OhioChick]

7. I feel for those losing their jobs n/t

[Ace Acme]

15. They fed at the public trough for too long.

Let them learn to do something to make the world a better place.

[Myrina]

9. Hmmm but I suppose their shareholders and Execs aren't going to take a hit ...

[Brigid]

11. No, I'm sure they get bonuses.

Poor underpaid fatcats.

[Populist_Prole]

14. I know I'm being hyperbolic here but,

Why is it that when employees of the MIC get hacked, we get crocodile tears from conservatives or shrill bleating about national security; But when private sector industrial employees get hacked, the same conservatives call it "creative destruction" and cheerily tell those displaced to "adapt"?