Anxiety Felt on Rockwell Future Plans
From Anaheim to Simi Valley, Rockwell International Corp. employees, union representatives and civic leaders were scrambling for hard information, even as top executives at the industrial giant closed ranks and tersely declined to comment on the possible sale of its defense and aerospace unit.
“I just drove back from Rockwell’s corporate headquarters, and either those people are real good actors or they knew nothing about what’s being talked about,” said Frank Souza, a Paramount-based United Auto Workers official whose local represents about 2,000 Rockwell workers.
Rockwell employees around the Southland were understandably anxious in the wake of reports that Rockwell might have placed its aerospace and defense assets on the sales block.
Civic and business leaders in Southern California who have watched the economic pain created by past defense and aerospace industry restructuring seemed resigned to the fact that yet another billion-dollar consolidation might be in the wings.
“We’re a bedroom community, so, of course, Rockwell is very, very important to our tax base,” said Marilyn Bruce Hastings, mayor of Seal Beach, home of Rockwell’s corporate headquarters. “But we also know that nothing can remain static in this world.”
In Anaheim, where Rockwell has 2,800 employees, local businessman Mike Margolies was philosophical about possible cuts. Given ongoing consolidations in the aerospace and defense industries, Margolies said, Rockwell might end up with no choice other than to sell operations in niches where the company might not be able to remain competitive.
“In business, everything’s for sale, especially given the peace dividend and the changing role of Rockwell’s [aerospace] competitors,” said Margolies, who chairs a Chamber of Commerce group that studies industrial issues in Anaheim.
During the mid-1960s, Rockwell was the dominant employer in Anaheim, with nearly 30,000 people working on the ICBM program and other missile components. But employment in Orange County has continued to tumble since that peak, as it has throughout Southern California.
“At one point we represented 38,000 Rockwell employees” in Southern California, said Souza, who worked for the company when it played key roles in the space shuttle and Apollo spacecraft programs.
While Rockwell is still a significant employer, it’s no longer the dominant company in Anaheim. It remains one of the city’s 10 largest employers and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce’s single largest dues-payer. But the largest industrial employer is now Kwikset Corp., the lock manufacturer.
As Rockwell has gradually pared down employment at its 180-acre tract in Anaheim, the city’s redevelopment team has scrambled to find replacements for abandoned Rockwell properties.
One old building soon will reopen as a Fry Electronics store, while another is home to Compact Disc Inc., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of compact discs.
“Rockwell has a substantial amount of buildings in the area,” said Richard Bruckner, Anaheim’s redevelopment director. “And in the last couple of years we’ve actively been working with Rockwell’s real estate people to find new uses for these buildings.
“You don’t want to see layoffs or closings, but if it happens, you have to try and turn it into a plus,” Bruckner said. “The alternative is having those buildings just sit there and deteriorate.”
Souza, whose UAW local represents about 2,000 Rockwell employees in Southern California, said that union employees wouldn’t necessarily lose jobs if Rockwell sells its aerospace and electronics plants to a competitor.
If another company buys Rockwell’s Southern California plants and continues to operate them, Souza said, the current employment contract guarantees jobs for union members. “Our biggest concern would be if the jobs leave the state. If that happens, we’d have big troubles.”
Times staff writers Barry Stavro and Mack Reed contributed to this report.
