Grants Could Save 600 Jobs in Aerospace
A $3.7-million infusion of state and federal money could save about 600 aerospace jobs in the Antelope Valley and help stabilize the area’s economy, which is sensitive to the ups and downs of defense spending, experts said.
The government grants earmarked for Antelope Valley College would be used to retrain those laid off from local Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Fiberset plants, officials said this week.
“This whole community has prospered and suffered because of ups and downs in defense,” said Stephen Contreras, the college’s director of corporate and community education.
When contracts to build fighter jets and space shuttles dwindled in 1995, Palmdale homeowners led the nation in mortgage loan defaults, although home prices were among the least expensive in Los Angeles County. Now, with defense spending on the rise, the area leads the county in increased median home value.
But the training funds will help guard against a future slide by encouraging companies to bring more defense contracts to an area with a skilled labor force, Contreras said. The college plans to teach potential employees the trade and update the skills of those already working in the industry.
“They won’t bring the jobs here if they don’t have the skilled work force to do the work,” he said.
A $2.8-million federal grant will pay for classes for 450 skilled workers to cross-train for future aerospace projects. A worker who once outfitted B-2 bombers with modern warheads, for example, could learn how to fit heat-resistant tile to a space shuttle.
The training--which is to begin in September--also may encourage some of the 40,000 workers who commute to Los Angeles to stay in the High Desert for work, said David Foy, spokesman for Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita).
“A lot of those commuters are technically skilled aerospace workers,” Foy said. “There’s going to be increased defense work coming up, no question. We want to have the skilled work force here to make sure that that work comes to Palmdale.”
McKeon, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, urging him to back an unmanned surveillance plane that would be partially assembled at Palmdale’s Plant 42. Rumsfeld has not made his budget proposal public, but he has said the armed forces needs to re-equip aging aircraft as well as build new ones.
A $760,000 federal grant will help low-income students in the Antelope Valley pay for college. A $100,000 state grant will buy an airplane for the college to use as a lab for budding aircraft mechanics.
Northrop Grumman spokesman James Hart said increased education funding may help head off a gap between the supply and demand of factory workers as the nation beefs up its military.
