Burbank, Palmdale Machinists OK 3-Year Lockheed Contract : Labor: ‘Skunk Works’ approves pact despite reduced cost-of-living raises. Sunnyvale votes today.

After months of acrimonious negotiations, Lockheed Corp. workers at plants in Palmdale and Burbank have ratified a three-year labor contract.

The contract, which calls for a reduction in cost-of-living pay increases, was approved Sunday by 73% of the 1,200 machinists at Lockheed’s Advanced Development Co. at the two facilities. The division, often called the “Skunk Works,” is well known for its innovative technology and development of specialized aircraft such as the F-117A stealth fighter.

Workers at Lockheed’s Aeronautical Systems Co. in Marietta, Ga., also approved the contract Sunday. A vote was scheduled for today at Lockheed’s Missiles & Space Co. in Sunnyvale, Calif. If ratified, the contract would cover 16,000 workers nationwide.

The company’s previous contract offer was overwhelmingly rejected at the three Lockheed divisions in March, and the workers authorized a strike if a deal could not be reached.

Keith Mordoff, a spokesman for the Calabasas-based aerospace concern, said Lockheed officials are pleased by the two weekend votes. He said workers at the Sunnyvale plant are also expected to ratify the contract.

Don Nakamoto, research director at the International Assn. of Machinists, District 727, which represents the Lockheed machinists in Palmdale and Burbank, said the district’s negotiating committee had initially opposed the contract. But it later agreed to go along with other union committees in Marietta and Sunnyvale, which recommended approval of the pact.

The new contract calls for a two-thirds reduction in annual cost-of-living adjustments, but offsets the lower rate with $1,200 in cash the first year of the contract, $500 the second year and $676 the third year. The workers covered by the pact now earn $9 to $21 an hour.

Nakamoto said workers will also pay a greater share of their medical expenses under the agreement. But a previous proposal by the company to pay a lower rate to laid-off workers who are recalled to their jobs was scrapped. Those workers will now be reinstated at their previous pay, he said.

Lockheed last month said it would lay off 400 Skunk Works employees over the next few months, reducing the total work force to about 4,000. The operation was previously thought to be among the few stable aerospace work forces in Southern California.

But Lockheed said the layoffs are necessary to hold down costs amid a drop in business during the first six months of this year and the dimming prospects for the new Navy AFX attack jet program.