Local News in Brief : Board Wants Ship Worked On in Harbor
Attempting to save about 1,000 jobs at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, the county Board of Supervisors is urging the Navy to assign the cruiser Halsey to the shipyard for overhaul in 1989.
The supervisors voted also to request support from Gov. George Deukmejian and California’s congressional delegation in the lobbying effort.
The Navy decided in March to refit the Halsey and two other cruisers at the Long Beach yard despite a provision in the 1988 federal defense appropriations act that requires open bidding among government and private shipyards for the contracts.
Since then, however, the Navy has said it will allow open bidding on all three contracts, each worth about $100 million.
Supervisor Deane Dana, who represents Long Beach, said loss of the contract would cost the shipyard at least 1,000 jobs and $3.4 million it had spent preparing for the overhaul.
The shipyard, which is Long Beach’s second-largest employer behind McDonnell Douglas Corp., has been the target of an aggressive campaign by private shipbuilders who contend that it is unnecessary and does work that could be performed better in the private sector.
The shipyard is one of only two Navy yards that are not qualified to work on the Navy’s nuclear-powered ships, which make up 26% of the U.S. fleet.
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