Abex Workers Find Themselves Victims of Layoffs : Economy: Sons and daughters at one time followed their parents to the Oxnard aerospace firm. Its closure this year will cost hundreds of jobs.

Shawn Vanlandingham figures that he’s got about three months to find a job.

That’s how long the Abex Aerospace worker said it will take to spend his final paychecks from the manufacturing giant--once Oxnard’s largest private employer, but now the victim of dark economic times.

Vanlandingham is a victim, too. The highly skilled machinist, laid off Friday after 13 years at Abex, finds himself out of work and, in this tough job market, out of luck.

In three months, he figures, all his bills will pile up and force him out of his rental home in Oxnard.

“When the end finally comes, you’re never ready for it,” said Vanlandingham, a 34-year-old father of two. “It’s like watching your family being ripped apart and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”

Vanlandingham is one of 235 employees who have been let go since Abex/NWL Aerospace Division announced late last year that it would close its Oxnard plant.

These days, work at the 5th Street facility mainly consists of tearing down machinery in preparation to move the manufacturing operation to an Abex plant in Kalamazoo, Mich.

And company officials are staying a steady course of layoffs that will clear the plant of the remaining 380 workers by the end of the year.

“We just feel that developments in the military and commercial aerospace market since last year’s announcement are further proof that we had no choice but to consolidate operations,” Abex spokesman Norman Ritter said from the company’s headquarters in New Hampshire.

“We regret it very much,” Ritter added. “But it’s the reality of where we are today.”

The plant closure was brought on by recession, Defense Department cuts and a declining aerospace industry, company officials said. At the time of the announcement, officials said some employees would be offered work at other Abex facilities. The parent company has 15 plants in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Ritter said 35 Oxnard employees have been offered and have accepted jobs at Abex plants in Michigan, South Carolina and Georgia. He said no other transfers will be offered.

That leaves more than 500 employees hunting for work and often competing with each other for the same positions.

“These days, it’s an employer’s market; they can offer you any kind of money they want,” said Louis Carrizales, union president and one of a group of 100 employees who were given pink slips Friday. “The old days of Abex, where people could find work and make good money, just aren’t out there anymore.”

The green-glass Abex office building has been rooted in the shadow of Oxnard Airport for 30 years.

Sons and daughters followed their parents to the Oxnard plant, a defense contractor that manufactured hydraulic pumps and valves. Abex employees celebrated births together and mourned the loss of family together. Workers long ago separated by pink slips still embrace when they run into each other now.

Rumors had swirled for years that the plant would one day shut its doors.

The formal announcement was preceded by a series of layoffs that saw the Abex work force drop from 940 in 1990 to 600 at the start of last year.

In the summer of 1992, Abex officials announced a restructuring at the plant that resulted in the loss of 200 jobs but was said to ensure the survival of the facility.

Then in October, company officials announced that they would close the plant for good.

“It was like losing family,” said Maria Collier, a 12-year technician and union representative who left Abex before her scheduled layoff date last week. “You do grieve because this place means so much to you.”

When the closure was announced, Oxnard and Ventura County officials met with Abex representatives about the possibility of keeping the plant open. And when that fell through, local officials tried to recruit another business to move into the facility.

“The effort lasted about three months, but we simply did not get the cooperation from Abex to make that happen,” said county Supervisor John K. Flynn, whose district includes Oxnard. “They said they had made up their minds, that it was just a business decision.”

So at a time when the county’s unemployment rate is hovering at about 9%, the effort has turned toward helping former Abex employees find jobs.

Abex and the local union have staged a series of workshops on resume writing and job counseling.

And last week, the Job Training Policy Council of Ventura County opened a job-training center for laid-off Abex workers. The council, which used a $380,000 federal grant to hire staff and operate the center, has contracted with the Labor Employment and Training Corp. to offer free career assessments, job-search assistance and training in other professions.

“It’s a tough market,” job counselor Ken Francis told a former Abex employee last week. “We’re here to help you penetrate that tough market.”

Neither company nor union officials were able to say how many former Abex employees had been able to find work elsewhere. But many of the 80 workers released when the company made its announcement in October know just how tough it is away from Abex.

Former hydraulic technician Manuel Herrera beat out 80 applicants for a shipping and receiving position in Ojai that pays about half of the $15 per hour he was making at Abex.

After enduring dozens of interviews throughout Ventura County, he landed the Ojai job earlier this month.

“I just thought I had to start working; I wasn’t in a position to be choosy,” said Herrera, who made $230 a week on unemployment. “This is probably better than any job I will be able to find for a while.”

The 34-year-old Oxnard native worked 10 years for the company.

“I remember when I got the job it was the happiest day of my life,” he said. “The thinking was that if you could get a job at Abex, you were set for life.”

That’s also what Rosie Walsh used to think.

The 44-year-old single mother was also laid off in October, but despite going on about 10 interviews and making dozens of phone calls, she has been unable to find work.

“My kids like me staying home,” she said. “But they don’t know that I sit here and I’m worried about what’s going to happen next.”

Walsh said her father started working for Abex in 1961. He died of a heart attack while on the job in 1982.

Abex laid her off three times--including the final blow in October--in the 14 years that she was with the company. But she said she knew that the end was near last year when she lost her machinist job and was hired back a few months later as a janitor.

Walsh said she needs to find work before April, when her unemployment benefits and company-sponsored insurance plan are scheduled to expire.

“I’ve been able to keep a pretty positive attitude,” she said. “But in the back of your mind, you wonder, ‘God, is it really going to be OK?’ ”