United Technologies Corp. said it has canceled plans to furlough thousands of aerospace manufacturing workers because the Pentagon has allowed federal defense inspectors to return to their jobs in the midst of a government shutdown.
UTC said last week that it would be forced to furlough 5,000 workers if inspectors were held out until November.
The Pentagon is bringing the workers back under a law President Obama signed ensuring that 1.4 million military members would continue to get paid, as well as anyone who contributes to the “morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Pentagon told the WSJ over the weekend that most of its 350,000 furloughed employees would be returning to work, including inspectors from the U.S. Defense Contract Management Agency.
Those inspectors ensure quality of UTC’s helicopters and jet engines made in Stratford, and Middletown, respectively, Connecticut’s Congressional delegation wrote in a letter Friday to U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urging the department to allow inspectors to return to work.
