More than 5,000 to be furloughed at PA's Tobyhanna Army Depot

Photo by witf

(Tobyhanna) -- A northeastern Pennsylvania military base says it's moving forward with a plan to furlough more than 5,000 civilian employees in the face of automatic federal spending cuts.

Tobyhanna Army Depot in Monroe County says it faces a $309 million budget shortfall as a result of the across-the-board cuts, known as the sequester. The military installation says that without a budget deal, it will furlough all 5,136 of its civilian employees for 22 non-consecutive days between late April and Sept. 30.

The depot's commander, Colonel Gerhard Schroter, said in a message to workers that even though the sequester has been weighing on them, they should remain focused on their mission.

Tobyhanna is the military's largest electronics maintenance facility