Lockheed to Cut 115 Marietta Workers

Lockheed Martin is laying off about 115 workers from its Marietta plant, on top of 100 who took a voluntary buyout this summer.

The Bethesda, MD-based defense contractor today announced it is laying off 540 employees of its aeronautics unit to complete a plan it unveiled at the end of June to this year.

Some 370 of the layoffs are coming from Fort Worth, TX, the headquarters of the aeronautics division, which has about 28,000 employees in Marietta, Fort Worth, Palmdale, CA, and smaller sites in six other states.

Fort Worth also is losing 300 workers who took the buyout, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution put the number of Marietta layoffs at exactly 114, while the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Star-Telegram noted that 100 salaried employees in Marietta took the buyout.

The company is slashing its workforce to make its aircraft cheaper as Congress targets big-ticket Pentagon programs for deficit-reducing cuts.

In addition to the 540 layoffs and 450 voluntary buyouts, the company eliminated 300 vacant positions and cut 300 jobs this year at an aircraft maintenance facility in Greenville, SC, to meet its goal, according to an Associated Press report in the Sacramento Bee.

The layoff notices are going out this week, and the company said it expects all affected employees to be gone by the end of the year.

Laid-off employees, most of whom are salaried, will get 60 days’ notice and a severance package, the AJC said.

“These reductions are part of Aeronautics’ plan to realign the organization, enabling us to meet the requirements of our customers,” said Ralph D. Heath, an executive vice president with Lockheed. “While this is a difficult decision, we’re committed to conducting this process in a fair and responsible manner that treats affected individuals with respect and that does not disrupt the important business we do for our military service customers.”

The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee for the next decade, the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

The Marietta plant makes the center wing assembly for the F-35, whose final manufacturing occurs in Fort Worth. Lockheed Martin is counting on rising F-35 production to more than pick up the manufacturing slack left by the early end of the F-22 Raptor program.

Georgia lawmakers .

The Marietta plant, which the AJC says employs about 4,200 salaried and 3,800 hourly workers, also produces the C-130J Super Hercules and C-5M Super Galaxy cargo planes and the P-3 Orion patrol plane.

The company announced plans to hire 400 more Marietta workers in the spring, the Business Chronicle reported, because of strong demand for the C-130J. For example, the plant is completing .

The Lockheed Martin plant, adjacent to , has an annual economic impact of $40 million on Cobb County, the Business Chronicle said.