Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9408310046
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The $10 billion merger is expected to result in some job eliminations, company officials said. Workers wondered - and officials didn't say - where, when and how many.
``I am concerned, not only for my job, but for other jobs here,'' said Steve Cantrell, an administrative analyst at Lockheed's Marietta, Ga., plant. The new company, Lockheed Martin, will become the nation's largest defense contractor, with 170,000 employees and $23 billion in annual sales.
Executives of the companies, which sell defense, space and other high-tech products to government and civilian customers, said the merger will allow them to cut costs.
There were no immediate plans for layoffs pending completion of a transition study, said Steve Chaudet, Lockheed's vice president for public affairs.
However, the 260 employees at Lockheed's headquarters in suburban Calabasas, Calif., already have been warned in a memo that some may lose their jobs and others will be transferred when the headquarters for the new company opens in Martin Marietta's Bethesda, Md., offices.
``People don't know for sure what will happen. There's a lot to look at and a lot of things to discuss. Right now the reaction is still, `Gee,''' said engineer Robert Garcia, who learned of the merger from a newscast while driving to work at Lockheed Missiles & Space Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif.
The merger, which still must receive regulatory and shareholder approval, reflects a trend of consolidation among defense contractors as U.S. military spending continues to shrink in the post-Cold-War era.
``It's just another indicator of the major turmoil and restructuring that's going on in the aerospace industry,'' said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County. ``This is not the last shoe that's going to drop. We can just hope the next one doesn't drop on California.''
For the most part, Lockheed and Martin Marietta operations are complementary, said Kyser. There is little overlap, for example, between Lockheed's aircraft and missile building and Martin Marietta's defense electronics space systems divisions.
The merger would create a company with strength in most aerospace market segments, overshadowing competitors such as Hughes Aircraft Co., Northrop-Grumman Corp. and TRW.
by CNB