Northrop to Pay Back Wages to 50 Ex-Workers

Northrop Grumman Corp. agreed to pay $2.15 million in back wages to about 50 workers who were fired from its Avondale shipyard in Louisiana for trying to organize a union.

The settlement is in response to complaints filed by the New Orleans Metal Trades Council between 1993 and 1999, said Bill Lurye, an attorney representing the union. Avondale targeted workers for union organizing or testifying before the National Labor Relations Board, which upheld the complaints, he said.

Northrop plans to notify the workers covered under the settlement that they will be recalled in the next few weeks, said Den Knecht, a company spokesman. The agreement recognizes that the company properly terminated and took other actions against other employees involved in union activity during that period, he said.

Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman will become the largest military shipbuilder after the completion of its $2.6-billion acquisition of Newport News Shipbuilding Inc.