Outgoing Secretary of Labor Tours Newbury Park Company

Outgoing Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin spent part of her last full day in office Monday touring a Newbury Park aerospace contracting firm, fielding the concerns of company officials and making small talk with some of the employees.

The tour of SMTEK Inc. was originally set for last spring, but was canceled when the Los Angeles riots broke out.

Company executives figured that the rioting had cost them the visit until Martin called last week and rescheduled.

After a brief discussion with company President Gregory Horton and Vice President Stuart Siegel Monday morning, Martin donned a blue lab coat and walked through the plant, where electronic equipment is manufactured for the defense, aerospace and medical industries.

The company, founded seven years ago by four engineers, now employs 110 people and was ranked 100 on Inc. Magazine’s 1992 listing of the country’s 500 fastest-growing private companies.

“My name’s Lynn Martin; I’m the secretary of labor,” Martin said to Denise Fog, an assembly worker working on a circuit board. “Now what are you doing here?”

“Bonding,” Fog responded.

“I do it with my children on a regular basis,” Martin joked.

The secretary also tried her hand at soldering and inspecting some of the company’s products, including a hand-held directional device used by Navy SEALs to pinpoint their exact location.

After the tour, Martin chatted with company executives and reporters about her immediate plans and the

incoming Democratic administration.

“It’s part of what we do very well, as a nation, the transfer of power,” she said. “I don’t lose my children. All my worldly goods aren’t put in a box.”

Martin said she plans to teach after officially resigning from the Cabinet today.

She has already accepted a temporary position as a fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Horton said later that the visit gave him the chance to familiarize Martin with the unique challenges facing small business.

“I was really impressed with her,” Siegel said. “For somebody whose as lame-duck as you can get, it appeared to me that she had a sincere interest in what we’re doing.”