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C.C.A.D. Employees Could Face Furloughs
Posted: Feb 25, 2013 5:00 PM by Andrew Ellison - aellison@kristv.com
Updated: Feb 25, 2013 6:45 PM
CORPUS CHRISTI - If the budget fight in Washington isn't resolved by this Friday, deep, automatic spending cuts will go into effect for all government agencies across the board.
The Pentagon will have to cut $46 billion in spending in just seven months.
For the employees at the Corpus Christi Army Depot, that could result in serious pay cuts in the form of furloughs.
Joe Gonzales represents the C.C.A.D workers through the American Federation of Government Employees.
"Everybody's on edge. We're waiting on the final word as to whether or not it's going to move forward," he says.
Under a proposed plan from the army depot, each employee would be furloughed 22 days out of the year, or roughly one day a week.
That's 20% of each worker's annual income, meaning the average employee would lose $139 a day. That amounts to roughly $3,000 a year.
And C.C.A.D employees have already made efforts to save money. Their pay has been frozen for two years, and they've streamlined their operations to cut costs at every corner.
For example, they've been re-building wrecked blackhawk helicopters for $12 million less than it takes to buy a new one, and often times, the rebuilt helicopters are just as good, if not better than the new ones.
Travis Werner is a father of two, and has worked at C.C.A.D for five years. He says employees have already done their part to save money.
"They asked us to overproduce, keep producing with what you have. We've don't that. And now, they want to take 22 days worth of work away from us, (it's) money out of our pocket," he says.
While the furloughs would prevent layoffs, Werner says budgeting for that lost money is tough.
"These guys out here, they want they're job, they want to be able to feed their families, and pay their bills and everything else. But when you take 22 days away, it's hard," he says.
And as for whether or not the cuts will happen, Gonzales is not optimistic.
"I can tell you that all indications right now make me very nervous," he says.
If the furloughs do go through, they will begin on April 1st.
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