Following the Pentagon's announcement on Saturday that almost all of its 350,000 furloughed civilian employees would be ordered back to work this week, United Technologies (UTX +0.67%) and Lockheed Martin (LMT 1.31%) announced separately they would cancel (United Technologies) or reduce (Lockheed) their own planned furloughs resulting from the government shutdown.
United Technologies noted it canceled the furlough plans for employees in its aerospace businesses after the Defense Department inspectors who are responsible for auditing and approving military manufacturing operations were recalled to work. The company had announced that the government shutdown that began last week could result in up to 5,000 of its employees being furloughed, 2,000 beginning this week.
United Technologies stated in the press release that it "greatly appreciates the efforts of those in the Administration and Congress who facilitated the recall of the furloughed civilian employees in the U.S. Department of Defense."
Lockheed Martin announced that approximately 600 of its 3,000 employees who were scheduled to be placed on furlough today would be able to stay at work following the Pentagon's announcement. It will still have approximately 2,400 employees unable to work because Lockheed Martin has received an explicit stop-work order on the program they work on, or the government building where they work is closed. Those affected work in 27 states, with the majority located in Washington, D.C. Of the still-furloughed workers, 2,100 employees work on civilian programs and 300 work on Department of Defense programs.
Lockheed concluded its announcement stating it will "continue to urge Congress and the Administration to come to an agreement that funds the government as soon as possible."
The government shutdown began its second week today with both parties seemingly far apart on a potential resolution to the fiscal 2014 budget dispute.
