Lockheed reduces hours for employees to avoid layoffs amid COVID supply delays, reps say
About 2,500 employees at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth will soon work abbreviated schedules in order to make up for supply delays associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Greg Ulmer, vice president and general manager of the F-35 program.
Lockheed Martin and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers agreed to a temporary alternate work schedule for F-35 production line employees in order to avoid layoffs.
Ulmer told the Star-Telegram the company hopes to return to pre-COVID-19 production levels in the fall. The company will evaluate production every three weeks, with a goal to be back to normal by Sept. 4.
The company estimates being short 18 to 24 aircraft by the end of the year. The goal was to deliver 141, Ulmer said. Last year, they delivered 134 with a target of 131.
The new work schedules, which begin on Saturday, will allow production workers to keep their full pay and benefits, Ulmer said.
Each shift will be divided into three groups. On a rotation, each group will work for two weeks and then will have a week off. During the adjusted three-week work schedule, employees who work 96 hours or more will be compensated an additional 24 hours for their off week.
Ulmer said Lockheed Martin is working with the government to get financial relief through the CARES Act. The amount of assistance the company is requesting wasn’t immediately available.
Lockheed Martin said in its first quarter report that the pandemic has had some effect on sales growth, and that the “ultimate impact” of COVID-19 on its 2020 outlook for earnings was uncertain.
Mike Sarpu, vice president and general manager for Aeronautics Operations, said Lockheed worked closing with the IAM Union to find a way to “weather the pandemic without layoffs.”
Lockheed Martin and the IAM have also agreed to allow employees to volunteer to be furloughed for 30 days, where they forgo pay but maintain their benefits.
“We’ll go through a slowdown for two to three months … there’s a lot of variable that come to play in terms of the ability to deliver on that,” he said. “We’re monitoring our supplies and will know in late summer, early fall if there will be an impact on delivery.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
