Government Shutdown Prevents Natick Labs Employees from Getting Paid

How is the government shutdown affecting the Town of Natick?

Just ask the employees of the Natick Soldiers Systems Center.

According to a CBS report, there is no money to pay the 1,300 to 1,400 civilian employees of the Center, also known as the Natick Labs, who received furlough notices on Oct. 1.

“We’re not going to get paid, we’re not going to come to work,” Labs spokesman John Harlowe told CBS. “That’s $445,000 not in the Metrowest and Boston economy. So people like me that might take my wife out to dinner tonight will instead be sitting home eating spaghetti.”

The Labs website mentions the affect of the shutdown.

"Due to the Government shutdown, the NSSC homepage will not be updated
until further notice," it reads. "The next update will have instructions for NSSC employees to return to work."

Around 100 military personnel and about that many civilians will remain on the job, but for the most part, work at the Labs won’t be completed, Harlowe told CBS.

“A lot of the research is going to stop,” he said. “Most everything we are doing for research and development on behalf of the soldiers is going to stop cold in its tracks.”

The Labs is responsible for researching, developing, fielding, and managing food, clothing, shelters, airdrop systems, and soldier support items.

The last shutdown lasted three weeks in 1995 to 1996.