PICO RIVERA : 750 Northrop Workers Take Early Retirement

About 750 employees at the Northrop Grumman Corp. B-2 Division took early retirement in December as part of the company’s plan to close the facility.

Northrop officials announced in August, 1993, that they would close the 200-acre plant in 1997, when the last B-2 is expected to be completed.

The company laid off 500 people last year, and officials plan to eliminate several hundred of the remaining 4,900 positions this year through buyouts, retirements and additional layoffs, spokesman Ed Smith said. The Pico Rivera plant, which opened in 1982, has helped produce 20 bombers, Smith said.