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In wake of sequester, Tobyhanna Army Depot preparing unpaid furloughs for 5,136 workers

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The workers would be furloughed on 22 days between late April and Sept. 30.

If sequestration continues the Tobyhanna Army Depot will have to institute unpaid furloughs of its 5,136 civilian employees to make up for a $309 million funding cut.

The workers would be furloughed on 22 days between late April and Sept. 30 and union negotiations are under way to determine how the furloughs will be implemented at the Monroe County base, according to a news release.

Depot commander Col. Gerhard Schroeter encourages workers in a message to stay focused.

"I know this issue has been weighing on all of us," Schroeter said. "Our war fighters continue to rely upon Tobyhanna and they deserve our finest efforts every day."

The Army has cancelled its 2013 fiscal year third and fourth quarter depot maintenance programs, which means work performed by several hundred workers at the installation and forward repair locations will be impacted, the depot release says.

Depot officials have already started several initiatives to balance its workforce with a declining workload. Thus far, the depot's frozen hiring, limited supply purchases and travel and deferred modernization and upgrades. Also 150 employees opted for early retirement, taking advantage of two programs.

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, whose district includes portions of Northampton and Lehigh counties, said the depot's announcement is a reminder of the consequences of Congressional inaction.

"We can all agree that, as we transition to a peace-time military, spending will have to decrease," Cartwright said. "However, the severity and the suddenness of these cuts will impair our warfighters' ability to carry out their missions."

Cartwright is a co-sponsor of a bill to end the sequester, on which he hopes the Republican majority allows a vote.

In Washington, D.C., today, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff committee painted a dire picture of construction projects on hold, limits on battleships patrolling the waters and even a delay in the expansion of Arlington National Cemetery due to the $43 billion in across-the-board cuts that kicked in Friday.
A massive House Republican measure to keep the government operating would ease some of the pain of automatic spending cuts slamming the Defense Department, the nation’s senior military leaders told Congress.  

Problematic for the Pentagon has been the combination of the automatic cuts and the government still operating at last year’s spending levels. The GOP measure unveiled on Monday would give the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments their detailed 2013 budgets, and sought-after flexibility, while other agencies would be frozen at 2012 spending levels.

The military leaders embraced that prospect, a political boost for the GOP measure just days before the House votes.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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