Layoff Update

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off 45, AP
“JPL spokesperson Veronical McGregor tells the Pasadena Star-News the layoffs will affect less than two percent of the total workforce of about 5,000 employees. McGregor says there was no single area or departments selected for workforce reductions. A JPL contractor tells the newspaper so far people have been let go in the acquisition, housekeeping and travel accounting departments.”
Amid layoffs, NASA charts a new direction, space.com
“With the end of that program, scores of jobs at NASA and its contractors will be lost. On Friday, nearly 1,400 shuttle workers were laid off at NASA contractor United Space Alliance, a joint venture by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.”
NASA Workers Join Unemployed, My Fox Houston
“Houston’s space community found little to celebrate on Friday. We’ve known for months, but today reality set in when 333 NASA contract workers in the Houston area got pink slips. In all, the main supporter of NASA’s space shuttle program, United Space Alliance, announced it will layoff about 15% of its workforce or 1,200 employees.”
NASA still expects Huntsville layoffs, but says jobs may come back, Huntsville times
“Marshall Director Robert Lightfoot warned NASA and contract workers in an “all hands” meeting Tuesday that the layoffs were likely if Congress ordered NASA to start the new fiscal year under a continuing budget resolution. Until it gets a new appropriation, NASA must work on the new program with the current budget, meaning a so-called “ramp down” of Constellation was inevitable before it ends completely. NASA expects to be under the continuing resolution until early December, at the earliest.”
Marshall Center Director Robert Lightfoot to Meet With Media to Discuss Impact of NASA Authorization Bill
“On Oct. 5, Robert Lightfoot, director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be available to discuss the significance and impact on Marshall Center of the NASA authorization bill recently passed by Congress.”