Shipyard Officials Turn to Senate as Ally in Fight for Jobs : Economy: Legislation prohibiting the facility from bidding for repair work on San Diego ships could force layoffs of thousands.

By ROXANA KOPETMAN

June 14, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LONG BEACH — Long Beach Naval Shipyard, after losing a late-night skirmish in the House, has turned to the Senate for help in its battle to be allowed to compete for repairs of San Diego-based ships.

Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) gives the shipyard a slightly better than 50-50 chance. “I don’t want to promise a slam-dunk deal,” he said.

Seymour said that support from Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) would significantly improve chances of allowing Long Beach to compete for repair work. Cranston could not be reached for comment, and his aides said late last week they were unsure where he stood on the issue.

Seymour called the Long Beach facility the most cost-effective and efficient naval shipyard in the country.

But Seymour and shipyard representatives are concerned about the future of the yard and its 4,100 employees.

“I don’t feel too optimistic at this point,” said Louis Rodriguez, a shipyard union president.

An effort to keep work flowing to the shipyard took a severe hit recently when congressmen voted for an amendment that would keep most repair jobs out of the naval and private yards in the Long Beach area.

With the Long Beach Naval Station scheduled to close in 1996, the workload at the shipyard will dramatically decrease. To survive, the local naval yard will have to bring in work from San Diego, Rodriguez said. But a San Diego-area congressman attached an amendment to a key bill that would keep Long Beach from bidding for short-term repair work on San Diego ships.

Local congressmen worked to defeat the amendment by Rep. Duncan L. Hunter (R-Coronado) by supporting an opposing amendment by Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton). But when it came down to a late-night vote June 4, the delegation was not present.

The lawmakers said a little-used House rule was invoked while they were absent, and the vote was taken without them.

If Seymour fails in the attempt to lure shipyard work to the Long Beach area, local officials warn that the local yard, where minorities compose 59% of the work force, is likely to lose thousands of jobs and could close down.

“Eventually, it means less work and it’s just another nail on the coffin for the shipyard,” said Rodriguez, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 174.

Workers at Long Beach-area private shipyards affected by Hunter’s amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill also are upset.

“Our jobs are definitely at stake,” said James W. Conrad, a mechanical engineer at Al Larson Boat Shop, one of several local private shipyards.

Supporters said that allowing the Long Beach shipyard to bid for repair jobs promotes competition and results in savings.

“This isn’t just to save the shipyard. This would save taxpayers money,” Rodriguez said.

But Hunter argued that repairing ships at their home base is simpler and makes the lives of sailors easier.

“You will see servicemen and (service)women going out and doing six months at sea, coming home, going through the door, being able to kiss their wife or husband hello, (and) they are then told they are going to have to drive 250 miles a day at all hours of the day and night to go up to the Long Beach area to attend their ship while it is being repaired,” Hunter said during the House debate.

Until recently, the arguments seemed to be on the side of Long Beach shipyard supporters, who felt fairly optimistic that area congressmen would kill Hunter’s amendment. But nothing seemed to go right that Thursday night.

First, Dymally, the author of the amendment aimed at nullifying Hunter’s legislation, had left for a meeting in New York.

“He had to be at a meeting for another committee,” said Marwan Burgan, Dymally’s legislative director. The congressman turned the issue over to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach.)

But while Rohrabacher and others were working to persuade their colleagues to support the amendment, a voice vote was taken and the San Diego contingency won, Rohrabacher said.

Rohrabacher said he was about to pass out leaflets in support of Dymally’s amendment when he missed the vote.

“I looked over and started listening. They were going to other business. I ran down and said, “You can’t do this. Where’s our vote?’ ” Rohrabacher recalled.

Larry S. Taub, a lobbyist for the city and the Long Beach Naval Shipyard Employees Assn., called it a misunderstanding.

“It caught us completely off guard. This is something nobody remembers happening before.”

Rohrabacher said he wasn’t the only one who was surprised. Rep. Esteban E. Torres (D-Pico Rivera) was in the cloakroom. Not far away were Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and Glenn M. Anderson (D-San Pedro). All were ready to support the Dymally amendment but did not realize the vote was taking place, Rohrabacher said.

“We got blindsided . . .,” Rohrabacher said, expressing optimism that the battle will be won in the Senate. “I think we’re going to win in the end. But I know how frustrating this is for the shipyard workers.”