“New guidance from the Pentagon admonishes Defense managers not to attempt to blunt the impact of impending civilian furloughs by shifting their workload onto military members or to contractor employees,” Federal News Radio reports.

“Beginning July 8, roughly 680,000 DoD civilians will begin mandatory, one-day-per-week unpaid furloughs — one of several steps the department says it’s being forced to take to offset the steep, across-the-board budget cuts under sequestration in 2013. Most civilians will be furloughed for a total of 11 work days between next week and the end of the fiscal year, saving DoD an estimated $1.8 billion.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports a coalition of federal employee unions launched a campaign to stop the furloughs.