Speakers Threaten Boycotts, Lawsuits to Keep Lockheed

Nearly 2,000 Lockheed Corp. workers rallied at a Burbank union hall Saturday to kick off a campaign aimed at persuading officials of the aerospace company not to leave Southern California.

A steady parade of union leaders and politicians--including Mayor Tom Bradley and state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles)--urged Lockheed employees to stick together and threatened the company with boycotts and lawsuits if it follows through on plans to relocate.

“We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it any longer,” Roberti said. “If Lockheed leaves we’re going to make sure it’s the bitter end of that company.”

Saturday’s rally marked the beginning of a community campaign to prevent Lockheed from leaving.

“This is not just a labor movement. This is a community movement as well,” said Charlie Brown, president of Aeronautical District Lodge 727 of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union that represents many Lockheed employees.

Mayor Tom Bradley told the workers he would “be in this fight until the bitter, bitter end.”

The aerospace company announced on May 8 that it was pulling much of its operation out of Burbank and selling nearly all of its 320 acres there. Lockheed also announced that two major aircraft it had been proposing to build at its Palmdale facility--the Advanced Tactical Fighter and the P-7A--will instead be built at its plant in Marietta, Ga.

As many as 4,500 workers are expected to lose their jobs in the cost-cutting reorganization. Lockheed officials have not said what will happen to those employees.

“Lockheed may think they’ll make a profit by moving to Georgia, but someday that’s going to come back and bite them--and you know where,” said Pete Beltran of United Auto Workers Local 645.

The crowd, many of whom wore red to symbolize their anger at Lockheed, roared with approval. It was not an event at which Lockheed officials were entirely welcome.

Several crowd members wore T-shirts emblazoned with a skunk and the slogan “Lockheed Stinks,” in a reference to the company’s super-secret Advanced Development Co., nicknamed the “Skunk Works.”

Monico Zamora, 31, a Lockheed maintenance supervisor, said his job is uncertain from month to month. He remained optimistic, however, that workers could convince the company not to pull out.

“We can still save something here,” he said.

Eric Mann, international representative for the United Auto Workers urged the audience to fight for one goal.

“You have a right to your job,” he said. “I don’t want to hear for a year. I don’t want to hear retraining. I don’t want to hear severance. I want to hear Lockheed must stay. . . . You should have only one demand: Stay in L.A.”