With Shipyard’s Future at Stake Again, Defenders Rally : Military cuts: As it did in 1991, a federal panel considers shutdown. But the community mobilizes in effort to save the facility.

It only took a matter of minutes for word to spread from a windowless Washington boardroom to the bustling Long Beach Naval Shipyard: The yard was back on “The List.”

“Here we go again,” sighed Louis Rodriguez, the president of the local chapter of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.

As it did in 1991, an independent federal commission has voted to consider closing the Long Beach shipyard. And as they did two years ago, the commissioners voted to add the shipyard to the list even though neither the Navy nor the Department of Defense had recommended that it be closed. In fact, the Navy ranked it the third highest in military value to the nation.

On Wednesday, one member of the seven-member commission will tour the shipyard, and on Thursday, six members will gather in San Diego to hear Long Beach make its case. The panel must submit its recommendations to President Clinton on July 1.

The reaction to the commission’s decision was not surprising. “It’s 1991 all over again,” said Long Beach Councilman Ray Grabinski, shaking his head. “Ridiculous.”

“It’s a slap in the face of all shipyard employees,” Rodriguez protested.

“Why?” one worker asked.

“Politics,” another spat in reply.

But if shipyard employees and city leaders have become increasingly frustrated by these on-again, off-again times, they have also become increasingly savvy in the battle against base closure. Within hours of the announcement, meetings were called, conference calls made and strategies hashed out.

In fact, city officials and some congressional representatives have been preparing for three months for the possibility that the shipyard would be added to the closure list. They are hoping that, as they did in 1991, they can persuade the commission to take it back off.

“We’ve been fighting for two years to keep the shipyard off the closure list, and we’ll continue to fight,” said Mayor Ernie Kell in a written statement.

Dave Elder, assistant to the city manager, said officials have been gathering data about the shipyard to prove its value, including an independent study by a national accounting firm. They have also been poring over testimony presented to the commission from other shipyards, looking for mistakes and successful techniques.

Last week, the Save Our Shipyard committee, a coalition of shipyard employees, union, city and business leaders, began drawing up a list of witnesses, including both California senators and a handful of Congress members.

In Washington, Rep. Steve Horn (R-Long Beach) has met with some of the base commissioners and is recruiting other area representatives to come with him to Long Beach for the hearings.

Last week, shipyard employees hit area malls, passing out about 2,000 form letters to congressional representatives and Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, urging them to fight for the shipyard’s survival. Union leaders also plan to bus hundreds of shipyard employees to the hearing Thursday.

“Every year it gets harder for us to fight this battle,” said Archie Barksdale, vice president of the Federal Metal Trades Council, which represents 2,500 of the shipyard’s 4,200 employees. “Before, all we did was picket and send letters. Now we are gathering facts to counterattack some of the attacks made against us. . . . I don’t understand why we are on the list, but we are going to let those people know that we are serious about saving our jobs.”

Shipyard and city officials believe they can prove that closing Long Beach Naval Shipyard would be a mistake, and they can recite the key arguments in their sleep:

* The Long Beach Naval Shipyard has never been recommended for closure by the Navy or the Department of Defense.

* The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Colin L. Powell, argued two years ago that the shipyard was too important militarily to be closed.

* The Navy has ranked the shipyard as the third highest in military value since 1991.

* The shipyard is fully capable of docking any vessel in the Navy, including nuclear vessels, and is one of only two major dry-dock naval shipyards on the West Coast.

* It has consistently finished programs on time and under cost, saving the government millions of dollars.

With all these things going for it, the question remains: Why was Long Beach Naval Shipyard put on the list?

Some members of the Save Our Shipyard Committee say Long Beach was ganged up on by private shipyards to the south and another naval shipyard to the north.

Representatives from Oakland’s Mare Island Naval Shipyard gave what city and congressional leaders call “erroneous” testimony about the Long Beach yard. Elder said that in testimony to the base closure commission Mare Island representatives claimed that Long Beach cannot dry-dock and repair nuclear ships. While the shipyard cannot repair nuclear engines, it does dry-dock nuclear ships to repair other systems.

Meanwhile the Port of San Diego Ship Repair Assn. argued that its shipyards need more work, and if the Long Beach shipyard stays open it could put them out of business.

Long Beach officials and shipyard employees say it’s not the job of the base closure commission to bail out private shipyards.

“The decision has to be made on military value, not economic impact,” Rep. Horn said.

If economic impact is relevant, city officials said, Long Beach has a compelling argument. More than 4,000 people would lose their jobs at the shipyard, and the city’s economy could see an annual loss of more than $300 million.

“A lot of things are being said that are just plain inaccurate,” Horn said. “(But) once you have a lot of contending facilities complaining about the others, there is really very little the commission can do but say, ‘Hey, to make sure we are perceived as being fair, let’s take a look at all of them.’ ”

If logic prevails, said retired Rear Adm. John Higginson, chairman of Save Our Shipyard, Long Beach Naval Shipyard will receive another reprieve.

Still, shipyard workers are tired of putting their lives on hold every two years, waiting for the commission to decide whether their jobs are safe, whether they start a family or buy a home.

Said sheet metal technician Joanne McCaughey: “If I knew that fighting for my job was going to be a prerequisite for working at the shipyard, I would have kept my old job at the lumberyard.”