Speculation turned into reality Tuesday July 13 when Northrop Grumman officials announced the Avondale Shipyard facility will wind down in 2013. Grumman, one of the largest defense contractors in the United States will consolidate all of its Gulf Coast operations to its Pascagoula, Mississippi shipyard. That shipyard at Pascagoula employs approximately 12,000 workers. Both of the shipyards were involved in building the Navy's LPD-17 landing vessels.
Louisiana's elected officials say Avondale employs about 5,000 workers who will be out of a job if the situation comes to pass. They were hoping the last two LPD-17's would be built at Avondale which would have kept the Avondale facility in business a little while longer but Grumman put that to rest with their announcement.
In a Times Picayune story dated 7-14 concerning the Avondale matter Grumman CEO Wes Bush was quoted as saying: The consolidation will reduce future costs, increase efficiency and address shipbuilding overcapacity. This difficult, but necessary decision will ensure long term improvement in Gulf Coast program performance, cost competitiveness and quality.
Bush's statement deserve some comment. It's obvious the Avondale shipyard did not fit into any future plans of Grumman unless their two other shipyards had overflow contract work and Avondale was needed to fill the void. Avondale did not fit in with Grumman's need to consolidate, reduce future cost and increase efficiency. Bush's statement also seem to confirm what was stated in another Times Picayune article dated 7-11 that reported: James McCaul, a shipbuilding expert at International Maritime Associates, Inc., said: Avondale's equipment is probably obsolete. I doubt much has been done to upgrade the facility. Avondale ships have also been plagued with malfunctions and setbacks, including cost overruns, construction delays, poor welding, leaks and computer design flaws. Does that mean Grumman let the Avondale facility loose its competitiveness because it had two other shipyard facilities that were kept up to date, especially the one in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
This situation reminds me of an old story where nothing is learned from past experience. Prior to Grumman taking over Avondale, Avondale was in business for many years and did more work unrelated to Naval shipbuilding than they did under Grumman. Avondale survived all of those years. When Grumman took over Avondale we experienced a rerun of a large corporation eliminating a competitor. It's a rerun in Louisiana of the many take overs of independent oil companies by the major oil companies promising more drilling and production that never happened.
Now some of our elected officials in Louisiana want the federal government to give out more defense contracts so Avondale can stay alive. These are the same elected officials who say they hate federal spending. They completely missed Grumman's point of why they are shedding Avondale. Avondale simply does not fit in their plans any more and with the Navy contract coming to an end it gives them an excuse to cut their losses.
No one wants to see 5,000 workers loose their jobs but it is another rerun of corporate America's misplaced priorities. We do not have to look any farther than the BP explosion. BP and the oil industry still have no answers 3 months later, 12 workers were killed, other injured and many elected officials and oil industry representatives oppose the moratorium. They have completely forgot about those workers killed and or injured. Companies as large as Grumman will survive, take over other companies to eliminate competition and the same process will start all over again. Workers will be laid off but their CEO's and executives will continue to receive their bonuses. And elected officials will continue to collect campaign contributions from corporate lobbyist at the same time.
