S.D. Council Denounces Douglas Sale : Aviation: City fears aerospace firm’s planned sale of part of its commercial aircraft business to a Taiwan firm might result in the loss of jobs in San Diego.

Hoping to block the potential loss of local manufacturing jobs, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday unanimously opposed McDonnell Douglas Corp.’s planned sale of nearly half of its commercial aircraft business to a Taiwan-based consortium.

While McDonnell Douglas has no employees in San Diego, San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor said that the planned deal “threatens” the jobs of about 3,000 local employees of General Dynamics’ Convair Division, which builds fuselages for the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 jetliner.

McDonnell Douglas’ commercial aircraft operation has about 36,000 employees clustered around its plants in Long Beach, Torrance and Carson.

Bellflower City Council unanimously passed a similar resolution on Jan. 13, but Long Beach Vice Mayor Jeff Kellogg on Tuesday failed to gain support on that city’s council for a resolution that would have opposed the planned sale.

With Tuesday’s 9-0 vote, San Diego City Council called for federal legislation that would delay McDonnell Douglas’ planned deal with Taiwan Aerospace Co. until a domestic buyer can be found. Similarly, Bellflower’s resolution demanded that Congress force McDonnell Douglas to find an “American solution” to its capital needs.

McDonnell Douglas has described the Taiwan deal as necessary if its commercial aircraft business is to remain competitive in the international aerospace market. McDonnell Douglas intends to use capital contributed by its Taiwan partners to help finance construction of the MD-12, its next-generation airliner.

General Dynamics officials, who have remained neutral on McDonnell Douglas’ proposed deal with Taiwan Aerospace Co., foresee no job losses in San Diego if McDonnell Douglas completes the deal. The Convair Division, which has delivered 61 fuselages, has a firm order for a total of 200 fuselages from McDonnell Douglas, according to Convair executives.

But O’Connor maintained that “there is real fear” among General Dynamics employees that “their jobs will be lost to workers in Taiwan” if the sale is completed.

The resolutions approved in San Diego and Bellflower were prompted by a labor-led group that includes the International Assn. of Machinists and the United Automobile Workers, two unions that represent several thousand aerospace workers in Southern California.

Kellogg, who described himself as the “most pro-business person on (Long Beach City) Council,” withdrew his resolution “because I knew that the votes were not there.” Kellogg said most council members “don’t want to give the impression to McDonnell Douglas that they’re not supporting” the cash-strapped company.

Kellogg said that the proposed sale would eliminate jobs in Southern California and result in the transfer of aerospace technology that could one day be used against U.S. soldiers. The proposed deal “could come back to haunt the U.S. on some future battlefield,” Kellogg said.