Oxnard to Lose 550 Jobs in Closing of Abex Plant : Economy: Some employees will be offered work at other company sites. Officials blame a declining aerospace industry.

Abex Aerospace will close its Oxnard plant, the company said Thursday, putting 550 employees out of work or forcing them to take jobs elsewhere with the firm.

About 80 employees picked up their final paychecks Thursday, and another 20 are scheduled to be laid off in February as part of a nine- to 15-month plan by Abex/NWL to close the plant, one of Oxnard’s largest employers.

The remaining workers will either lose their jobs or be offered work at other Abex facilities in Southern California or Michigan in coming months, company officials said.

“We have done everything we possibly can to keep this place open,” said Maria Collier, a 12-year technician and union representative who joined about a dozen co-workers Thursday at a nearby tavern.

“We had the wolves at the door and we knew it,” Collier said. “The whole county is going to be devastated by this.”

Abex officials in August announced a restructuring at the plant that resulted in the loss of 200 jobs but was said to ensure the survival of the 30-year-old facility, located in the shadow of the Oxnard Airport.

But company officials, citing the declining aerospace industry, said Thursday that they had no choice but to close the Oxnard plant and move what was left of the manufacturing operation to an Abex plant in Kalamazoo, Mich.

“We very much regret this situation,” said Abex spokesman Norman Ritter, reached at the company’s headquarters in New Hampshire. The closure “is consistent with the long-term program to restructure the company and bring capacity in line with reduced demand in the world aerospace industry.”

The company--which manufactures hydraulic pumps and valves--has 15 plants in the United States, Europe and Asia.

A security guard at the Oxnard plant said local company officials were unavailable for comment.

Abex employees said that the company has lost four defense contracts--40% of its total--in the past month and that rumors have swirled about an impending closure.

On Thursday, groups of workers met with supervisors and were given their pink slips. Those who still had jobs were given two days’ paid leave and told to return Monday. Many workers left in tears, and the employee parking lot was empty by 11 a.m.

Rosie Walsh, a 14-year employee, was given her pink slip on Thursday. She, along with 200 others at the plant, had been scheduled to be let go Oct. 16 as part of the August restructuring that shifted manufacturing jobs to Michigan in an effort to keep the plant open.

“I was ready to get laid off, but I wasn’t ready for it today,” she said.

Walsh said her father started working for Abex in 1961 and put her through school before he died of a heart attack on the job in 1982.

The 43-year-old single mother said she too was trying to put her two boys through school but knew the end was near when she lost her machinist job last year. Abex hired her back a few months later as a janitor.

“It was just an ugly way to let people go,” said Walsh, who plans to live on unemployment checks and food stamps until she can land a job in anything other than aerospace. “I’m too old to be doing this anymore.”

The plant closure was preceded by a series of layoffs that saw the Abex work force drop from 940 in 1990 to 600 at the start of this year. Those layoffs accompanied a long string of defense industry cuts in Ventura County.

Still, Abex remained one of the county’s 25 largest private employers.

“This really strikes at the heart and foundation of the economy,” said Stacy Roscoe, president of the Ventura County Economic Development Assn. “These are the worst types of jobs we can lose, because they take with them a lot of other related service jobs.”

Employees gathered at the dimly lit tavern Thursday blamed everything from the Bush Administration to poor management for the fall of Abex Aerospace.

Manny Garcia, a 26-year employee, showed off the gold watch that he received for “25 years of loyal service to Abex.” Eighteen-year maintenance worker Bill Fernandez said he would spend one of his last paychecks buying rounds of booze.

They talked about their company softball team--the Scud Busters, so-named because Abex machinists make parts for the Patriot missiles that won fame during the Persian Gulf War--and how few games remained on the schedule.

“We all heard the rumors,” said veteran precision grinder Melinda Mora, who lost her job Thursday. “Now all the rumors are coming true.”