European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 27, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse By Diane Wagner new York times .4 earn Bly earn in recent years the Lockheed corporation has endured More than its share of troubles including near bankruptcy and a scandal Over multimillion Dollar business bribery abroad. But close to Home it is making a go of a path breaking project that Many sceptics gave Little Chance of Success. Lockheed has succeeded in starting and sustaining an Industrial Plant in Watts the run Down largely Black area of los Angeles that was torn by race riots 13 years ago. In a Plant that employs More than 200 people and adds some $2.5 million a year to the Community s income Lockheed is producing parts for its l-1011 jetliner including the aircraft s fuselage Wing frames cargo and floor beams and the air Inlet a component in which the finest tolerances in manufacture Are critical. According to Lockheed its Watts Plant consistently meets or beats production schedules. Over a 12-Day production Cycle it turns out some 3,500 parts for the l-1011. Stunned by the 1965 Watts riots Lockheed began planning its third California Plant with an Eye to pro Viding jobs for the inner City. Unlike the company s other two plants located in Bur Bank and Palmdale both primarily White Middle class communities this third Plant was placed in Watts a largely Black neighbourhood where Graffiti was As common As House paint and unemployment the Rule rather than exception. The Watts riots did focus a lot of attention on the problems there h. David Crowther a Lockheed spokes Man said in a recent interview. After the riots there were Well meaning efforts made to help the Community but they were really meaning less he said. Everybody treated Watts like a cripple because of ignorance racial fears and because they were afraid if they built something there they were going to get it burned Down. Nobody Ever tried treating Watts the same Way you would treat Burbank or Beverly Hills Crowther said. We wanted to see inner City industries there that would accomplish something More than making ashtrays or it was Crowther who cultivated and directed lock heed s interest in providing inner City employment. Lockheed opened its Watts Plant in september 1969, and word quickly spread through the neighbourhood that Lockheed was hiring. Two Hundred Twenty five minority workers eight More than would be hired during the entire year applied for jobs the first Day. An additional 6,000 applications were received that first year of operation a response that Lockheed read As unmistakable evidence that inner City workers did indeed want jobs. In some parts of the Watts Willowbrook area where Lockheed hired unemployment ran As High As 16 per cent. Many of the men and women whom Lockheed hired had backgrounds that would scare off Many potential employers if not most. More than 38 percent had criminal records convictions ranged from robbery to cattle rustling. Ninety percent were on welfare at a total Cost to the Public of almost $400,000 a year according to the califor Nia department of human resources. Currently 95 percent of the employees at lock heed s Watts Plant Are Black. The remainder is made up of Watts own minorities mexican americans orientals and Whites. There s a natural tendency to assume we have Noth ing but problems Here Karl m. Geddes who manages the Watts Plant said in an interview. Sure we re All minority Here but we Don t have All the problems you al think we do. No we Don t have drug problems. No we Don t have a High absenteeism rate. No we Don t have a lot of fights. No we Don t have a lot of extra supervision. We just work 10 times harder to show we re As Good As Burbank or Palmdale he said. In fact Geddes said the Watts Plant has had so Little theft that it was Able to operate for More than 18 month without a Security guard. According to Lockheed its supervisor to worker ratios have been no higher at Watts than at Burbank or Palm Dale. In addition the company has had no trouble in promoting from within at the Watts operation. New York times David Strick 2 Lockheed s Watts Plant Mana girl Geddes rear meeting with supervisors. One sub Assembly was turned out at the want in Only 65 percent of the time that had been req i Bur Bank. Lockheed s employee training program be a 12 weeks of classroom preparation which incl Ijuro Gres sively More difficult exercises in Assem tarts As Well As instruction in shop mathematics Adin blueprints. Trainees were paid $2.18 per hour for the four weeks $2.38 for the second four weeks and Ltd thelast four weeks. Twelve weeks of on the Job training followed. The trainees who completed this 12-week period successfully were promoted to a higher classification and under the guidance of a co worker began working on the Assembly line. Their starting pay averaged $3.75 an hour and by the end of the fifth year the average hourly wage had risen to$5.95. The atmosphere at the Plant seems relaxed. Large placards with names of different work groups such As the Mission impossible team Sug the inner City Industry is succeeding in Watts scene of mass looting during 1965 racial riots. Page 14 the stars and stripes a by Ann Blackman associated Presse Rnest Moore slightly built and Ca with age fears he might have to join a nil Jim of displaced americans Urban Nom being forced from inner City Homes by Raffl eople returning from the suburbs. Moore of Washington d.c., said i Don t i what will happen to people such As Ernest Moore have been Ishing from the inner City according to a report by to Lyional Urban coalition. They Are being squeezed i City space by developers who see a longing anon Fly to do suburbanites for the City life they left behind. S if you Are an elderly poor working easier or Homeowner who lives in an area undergoing Apilita Tion or in a suddenly fashionable neighbourhood Are a prime candidate for displacement said Carl Holman president of the coalition. Based on a two year study in 65 neigh Borer in 44 cities the research and educational group sued by business civic and civil rights leaders rec ended Low Cost housing rehabilitation Loans tax the and wednesday Grants to help families in affected neighbourhoods fix up their own Homes. Neither government nor the private sector is coping promptly and effectively with the needs the frustration and anger of this group of Urban nomads Holman said. Patricia Harris Secretary of the department of hous ing and Urban development joined Holman at a Washington news conference to announce that her department will give $125,000 to the Urban coalition to counsel Poten tial victims of Urban is one of 200 such Grants totalling More than $3 Mil lion awarded to similar groups this the scope of displacement the coalition said that half of the neighbourhoods surveyed indicated a higher minority population before the area was rehabilitated. About 37 percent indicated no racial change with 13 percent showing a larger minority population after have a problem that s a Sticky wicket conceded Bruce Lyons a real estate Developer who paid $120,000 for a House on Moore s Street below embassy Row in Northwest Washington. Lyons had it renovated. Just Back from a weekend at the Beach he parked " no we Don t have drug problems. No we Don t have a High absenteeism rate. No we Don t have a lot of fights. No we Don t have extra supervision Gest a healthy competitiveness within the Plant. Pic Tures of employee of the month hang prominently near work areas. In some quieter areas of the Plant radios Are tuned to soul music and family pictures Are visible on Walls and in tool boxes. The Plant is modern with artistic landscaping and neat Green grass Sid Yards. Its exterior Walls Are Noti Cable free from Spray painted Graffiti one of the Early signs of decay of an inner City facility. The kids Here have grown up with Lockheed. They know us and take Pride in our Community Geddes said. As Geddes toured the Plant with a recent visitor sever al of the nine floor supervisors consulted him and some of the 202 employees nodded or waved. Here we know a Guy by his first name Geddes said. Although he is White he has experienced no particular difficulty in managing the predominantly Black work Force he said. Initially Lockheed expected to be the first of As Manyas 12 major industries such As Mcdonnell Douglas air Craft the Ford motor company general motors Singer and Rockwell International to be located in Watts. Working with an umbrella organization called the economics resources corporation which is a nonprofit Cali fornia corporation funded through a department of Commerce minority business program Lockheed agreed to enter the proposed Watts Willowbrook Industrial Park. One Lockheed official estimated the Industrial Park could have made an Impact on the Community of at least $40 million to $50 million a year. As the Pilot project Lockheed kept careful records of its first year demonstrating that it was possible for a new Plant to have a profitable first year in the inner City. Nevertheless other major companies have yet to follow Lockheed into it is your idea you tend to become emotionally involved. It is working and we re proud of our facility Crowther said. He added that the failure of the Industrial Park to materialize has not caused Lockheed to want to Back hand up not a hand out is one slogan posted in a Plant conference room. Employees such As Robbie v. A hand up not a hand Giday say that Lockheed really has Given them a step Ping Stone to a better life. Giday is a 28-year-old Cost control analyst. Nine years ago when she was hired by Lockheed she remembers herself As wild and recalls that she often came to work drunk. Currently she is working for a College degree in business. I just did t have the drive to go to College or to do much of anything except party a said Giday a Well dressed Black woman. Now i have a much wider scope. I have a proud feeling now that i m part of the company. Everyone is growing up with the Plant and growing Giday earns $325 a week and her salary has enabled her to move out of Watts into Norwalk a More racially mixed area of los m. Hall is a structural Assembly worker who As signs work to eight other employees. Lockheed has changed my said Hall who has worked for the company for eight years. She said that her Job which pays $7.70 an hour has Given her financial Security necessary to raise her children. And four years ago Hall who was divorced met her second husband at Lockheed. Hall would like to see her children who Are aged 14, 12 and 2, go on to College. That s Why i work so hard. I d like to see my kids Rise above Lockheed. I would t mind them working for Lockheed but at the Engineer or plan Ning level she said. The Plant s employees ascribe much of its relative Success to its manager Geddes. It takes a special kind of White Man to run a Black Plant Hail said. Karl is just like being Black. He knows the style of life because he was raised in but Geddes added you always have complaints though. One lady told me i d probably go Home to my House in Palos Verdes an affluent suburb and not worry about anyone else. I said no a am. I go Home to Avalon Boulevard in Watts " his Silver Mercedes in front of Ernest Moore s drive Way near the rusted folding chair where Moore sat on the sidewalk watching carpenters and painters changing the face of his old neighbourhood. The Street said Lyons was a hangout for drunks and drug pushers when he and his partner bought four run Down Rooming houses he said Are being renovated for Sale As single family residences and will Cost Between $250,000 and $300,000 each. Moore 72, has $370 a month to live on. Lyons 35, said the dilemma comes Down to this you have to Deal with one Issue constitutional rights. If 1 own this building and you rent an apartment Are you there because i let you or because you have a right to be there maybe the supreme court can decide Lyons a Gold Chain around his neck and wearing Blue jeans embroidered with a Sunrise said he has helped a half dozen displaced people find other housing but most have not asked him to help. They All moved voluntarily he said. I can t Tell you what s happened to these the Developer is proud of his work. Before we got Here it was t Safe to walk these streets he said. I think i m doing fairly Worth while things. I m not saying it s without Cost to someone. But i think we re improving the Quality of this Moore put it another Way. There s not much crime Here now he said. It s improved a lot. And there Are More children. I Don t know what kind of other changes they la make. They May want to get All the coloured out of Moore tipped his Straw hat to passers by. Used to be coloured and White All along this Block he said. Now All my friends Are gone but me. I m the Only Black Man left on the for the last seven years Moore has managed a Small apartment building in return for free rent and Small pay that does not stretch much beyond groceries for him and his wife. Now his building has been sold and the new owner has hinted they might have to leave. Ill rent a House somewhere he said. I do the Best i can. I be been Here 25 years. If i have to i la go Back to Richmond. But i Don t want to. My friends come Back and say you re still Here and i Tell pm i m holding on. That s the Story of tember 27, 1978 the stars and stripes Page 15
