MX Cancellation Prompts Rockwell to Lay Off 400

Rockwell International Corp. will lay off 400 employees in San Bernardino and Anaheim on account of President Bush’s recent decision to cancel a program to field nuclear missiles on mobile railroad cars, the company said Friday.

The layoffs, which include 100 employees in Anaheim and 300 in San Bernardino, represent 6% of the 6,500 employees at Rockwell’s Defense Electronics subsidiary. The layoffs will begin next week, said spokeswoman Christine Rodriguez.

Rockwell, based in El Segundo, announced the job cuts after receiving a cancellation order Friday from the Air Force. The action comes two weeks after the President ordered deep cuts in the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal, reflecting improved U.S.-Soviet relations.

The cuts included cancellation of both the mobile MX missile and the small intercontinental ballistic missile.

Other contractors affected by cancellations are Logicon Systems Inc. in San Pedro, Westinghouse Electric Corp.’s Marine division in Sunnyvale, Calif., and Boeing Co.’s Defense & Space group in Seattle. The California firms will lose contracts worth $229.3 million.

A Logicon spokesman said fewer than 10 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the cancellation. Officials at Westinghouse and Boeing said they were uncertain how many layoffs might result.

Termination of the small ICBM program will cost Boeing $737.1 million, the largest of the cancellations announced Friday.

“We expect to have more information next week, and our employees know it is imminent,” said Susan Bradley, a Boeing spokeswoman. The company employs 2,500 people on three programs that were canceled by Bush.

Rockwell tried to find jobs elsewhere in the company for some workers but was unable to relocate the 400 people who will be laid off, Rodriguez said. Employees with five years or less experience will get two weeks’ severance pay, while those with five or more years of service will get four weeks’ pay, Rodriguez said.

Rockwell will assist laid-off workers through a job counseling program and job fairs scheduled for Oct. 23 and Oct. 30.

After the layoffs, the San Bernardino plant will employ 300 people working on other defense programs. Employment in Anaheim will drop to about 5,800 employees, Rodriguez said.