Rockwell to Replace 145 Security Guards

Aerospace giant Rockwell said Monday that it is laying off 145 uniformed security guards and contracting with private guard companies in a move to save money.

The change, effective Monday, is being made at Rockwell’s headquarters in Seal Beach and at divisions in El Segundo, Anaheim, Palmdale, Downey, Thousand Oaks and Palmdale, spokesman Bill Blanning said.

The telecommunications division in Newport Beach, which already uses an outside security force, and the Rocketdyne division in Canoga Park, where guards double as firefighters, are not affected.

A benefits package was offered to the guards being laid off, Blanning said, but was rejected in a vote by the union, the United Plant Guard Workers of America. The union could not be reached Monday for comment.

Montgomery Maxwell, a protective services officer for nine years at Rockwell before being laid off, said that guards have made several concessions to the company over the past few years, such as accepting part-time workers and reduced benefits.

“We are not being laid off. We are being locked out,” Maxwell said. “We want to bargain. We want to work for Rockwell.”

Blanning said the company made clear to the guards’ union that layoffs were pending.