At White House Request, Lockheed Martin Drops Plan to Issue Layoff Notices

ABCNews.com ^ | October 2, 2012 | Mary Bruce and Jake Tapper

[castowell]

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin heeded a request from the White House today — one with political overtones — and announced it will not issue layoff notices to thousands of employees just days before the November presidential election.

Lockheed, one of the biggest employers in the key battleground state of Virginia, previously warned it would have to issue notices to employees, required by law, due to looming defense cuts set to begin to take effect after Jan. 2 because of the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction — the so-called Super-committee, which was created to find a way to cut $1.5 trillion from the federal deficit over the next decade.

[cardinal4]

I was out of steady work for two years. This is unconscionable..

[DoughtyOne]

So, you have to vote for Obama before you can find out what’s in it. (the second term) I guess that’s about it.

It’s another Nancy Pelosi move...

[Ranger Warrior]

Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex. Now we have the military-corporation-government complex. The public has no knowledge of the backroom threats and cajoling that precipitated this matter. The major military contractors’ CEOs were before a Congressional committee in July, pleading the situation. The CEOs all hinted that they would issue WARN notices which would occur just days prior to the election. Now, Obama promises to cover the contractors’ losses and behinds, redefining the Federal WARN Act, which would otherwise would have been violated by not issuing WARN notices... what an absolute sham. Obama speaks, Lockheed Martin’s CEO becomes an absolute wimp! The CEO just washed his hands of the whole thing, much like someone else who washed his hands and abrogated responsibility. It’s shameful, and the ethics are being swept aside for political expediency.

[Personal Responsibility]

You're missing the point. There's a law (The WARN Act, I think) that requires notices to go out no less than days before these layoffs would take place. Obama / Obama Admin recognize this would be politically toxic in Virgina and told L-M they'd get a waiver or something to that effect if L-M decided to break that law. The administration is using its political power to encourage law breaking because such law breaking is politically beneficial to them. That's the problem here.

[combat_boots]

Who’s the NAZI/Fascist now?

[4Liberty]

Isn’t this corruption?

s /

[null and void]

Don’t be silly, he’s a democrat.

[jusduat]

Bingo....LM workers know (hourly have senority lists, and
know exactly where they will go or when they go out the
door). Salried not so much, but they see.

Big wigs may think that they are covered by Obama’s law
breaking, but what about the stockholders? Somebody told
me they can sue the board of directors personally for this
and it may be violating RICO.