Council Urges Rejection of Fluor for Job

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday strongly urged that the giant Fluor Corp. be stripped of its tentative selection as manager of the Convention Center’s $310-million expansion because of the firm’s business ties to South Africa.

The council’s 11-0 vote, though technically only an advisory procedure, paves the way for the quasi-independent Convention and Exhibition Center Authority’s commission to reverse its initial selection of Fluor.

Sandra Gordon, commission president, said she expects the panel to heed the will of the council and Mayor Tom Bradley, who also has come out against awarding the formal contract to Irvine-based Fluor.

Gordon has called a special meeting of the 15-member commission--10 of whom were appointed by Bradley--for today. On the agenda will be consideration of a resolution, modeled after the council ordinance, barring contracts with companies that do business with South Africa.

Not Covered

Because the Convention Center is governed by the quasi-independent commission, it is not covered under the council’s ordinance.

Passage of such a resolution would effectively bar the commission from giving Fluor the contract, because the international corporation did an estimated $40 million in business in South Africa last year and its operations there continue.

“It would be my feeling at this time that they (the commission members) would be cooperative and the resolution would go through,” Gordon said.

The contract to oversee the Convention Center’s expansion will probably be opened up to new bidders, Gordon said.

The dispute over the Fluor contract marks the first major test of a council policy, adopted July 2, that bans city purchases from firms doing business in racially segregated South Africa.

Latest Feature

The ban is the latest feature of an anti-apartheid policy developed by the council over the past year, which also includes restrictions on doing business with banks operating in South Africa and urging managers of city employee pension funds to withdraw investments in that country.

Fluor officials indicated that they, like Gordon, expect the commission to disqualify the firm from receiving the contract.

“We’re disappointed in the decision, and we’re disappointed that the City of Los Angeles will not be getting the contractor that was rated the most technically superior for the job,” said Rick Maslin, a Fluor Corp. spokesman.

Fluor officials had earlier hinted that the corporation might consider suing to retain the contract. Maslin said Wednesday that option was still under consideration.

Won Approval

The council vote came despite arguments by Fluor that the company should not be subject to the city’s anti-apartheid policy, because the policy was not in effect when the firm made its bid and won tentative approval earlier this year.

“I don’t know anything about South Africa. I’ve never worked there. All I know about it is what I read in the newspapers,” said James Zilli, Fluor’s general manager for construction. “I don’t understand if we were selected why, after the selection, the rules were changed.”

But council members said Fluor’s continued presence in South Africa made awarding the contract impossible.

“I too would be disappointed if I bid on a particular bid not knowing all the rules of the game,” Councilman Hal Bernson told Zilli. “So you have my sympathy, but you’re not going to have my vote.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky produced a letter from Fluor’s president and chief operating officer, John A. Wright, in which Wright said the firm’s management considers apartheid to be “morally repugnant.”

“If you don’t want to put your money where your mouth is, then from the City of L.A.’s standpoint, you don’t find it morally repugnant enough,” Yaroslavsky said.