Marietta to Lose Lockheed Martin Jobs

Some number of white-collar workers at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta operations will be out of work by the fall, the world’s largest defense contractor announced Thursday.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics plans to eliminate about 1,500 of its 28,000 jobs to cut costs and increase efficiency, making aircraft such as the F-35 Lightning II more affordable, the world’s largest defense contractor announced.

The Fort Worth, TX-based aircraft unit employs all of Lockheed Martin’s Marietta workers, a total of about 8,400 people, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The announcement comes as the federal government looks at reining in defense spending and after years of criticism about the F-35 program, whose costs have rise 26 percent while it has fallen five years behind schedule, the Associated Press reported in an article carried by the Marietta Daily Journal.

“Bold and responsible action is necessary to meet customer expectations and reduce our costs,” Executive Vice President Ralph Heath said in the company’s announcement.

Lockheed Martin Chairman and CEO Bob Stevens focused on more than $500 million in costs cuts companywide during Media Day in May.

Bethesda, MD-based Lockheed Martin has announced 2,500 job cuts since Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicated in 2009 that defense spending had to slow down, Bloomberg News reported. Those cuts include 1,200 jobs from the space business, announced June 14, and the retirement buyout of 600 senior executives last year.

The bad news in Marietta is that company spokesman Joe Stout told the Star-Telegram most of the 1,500 new cuts will come at the aeronautics unit’s three biggest locations: Fort Worth, with about 15,000 workers; Marietta, with 8,400; and Palmdale, CA, with about 3,000.

The good news for many Marietta workers, however, is that the company does not expect to eliminate manufacturing and repair jobs.

In fact, Lockheed Martin this spring announced it was adding 400 such “touch labor” jobs in Marietta, and local company spokeswoman Erica Crosling told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Atlanta Business Chronicle that those plans have not changed. Those jobs will help the plant's .

Instead, the new job cuts are likely to hit hardest in higher-paid jobs in areas such as management, administration and engineering, Stout told the Star-Telegram.

The company said it will review the entire 28,000-employee aeronautics unit to decide which jobs can be cut. It first will try to meet the reduction goals through voluntary buyouts and will notify employees eligible for buyouts in August.

Any needed layoffs will begin in mid-September.

Employees losing their jobs will get two weeks’ pay plus a week of pay for every year working with Lockheed Martin, up to a total of 26 weeks of salary, the MDJ reported.

Overall, Lockheed Martin employs 126,000 people worldwide. Shares of Lockheed Martin stock rose 60 cents Thursday to close at $80.97.