Times-Picayune: Vitter fighting for Louisiana Jobs
Times-Picayune
7/14/2010
In a blow to the regional econ omy, Northrop Grumman offi cials said Tuesday that work at the 5,000-employee Avondale shipyard outside of New Orleans will wind down in 2013.
Northrop Grumman, the defense giant that runs the plant, said that all of the company’s Gulf Coast shipbuilding operations will be con solidated at a 12,000-worker yard in Pascagoula, Miss. That means the Avondale yard will have no more work once construction wraps up in 2013 on the remaining two LPD-17 vessels it is building for the Navy.
The job losses associated with the yard’s closure promise to be one of the largest from a single employer that the region has seen in recent decades. In addition to 5,000 shipyard workers, the Avon dale facility indirectly supports another 7,000 jobs.
“The consolidation will reduce future costs, increase efficiency and address shipbuilding overcapac ity,” Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush said in a press release. “This difficult, but necessary decision will ensure long-term improvement in Gulf Coast program performance, cost competitiveness and quality.”
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