Trump tweets arent stopping ramp-up of F-35 production at Lockheed Martin
FORT WORTH -- Despite criticism and threats from President-elect Donald Trump that the F-35 jet fighter program is “out of control,” Lockheed Martin will shift the majority of its assembly line workers to a new work schedule as it prepares to ramp up toward full production of the stealth fighter.
The majority of the nearly 2,600 machinists who now work eight hours Monday through Friday will transition to a work schedule Jan. 2 where they get every other Friday off, said Ken Ross, a spokesman for Lockheed.
Under such a schedule, called a 9/80, employees work nine days and earn 80 hours over two weeks by working nine-hour days the first four days of the first week and eight hours on Friday. The second week, they work four nine-hour days and get Friday off.
About 11,000 of the Fort Worth plant’s 14,000 employees already work the 9/80 schedule, and the company uses this shift arrangement at its other facilities. Lockheed has been working on a transition plan for three months, a company spokesman said.
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