Arsenal layoffs a big blow to region

— WHITE HALL - The economically stressed Arkansas Delta faces yet another financial blow with the coming layoff of 1,100 workers at the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. Officials across southeast Arkansas are scrambling to prevent the losses from negatively affecting the area’s economy.

An arsenal spokesman said that the impact could be as much as $100 million, mostly in lost property and sales taxes if the workers are forced out of the region to find jobs.

Everyone involved is taking steps to help the affected workers, but no one is sure yet what will happen.

The arsenal announced last week that operations at the disposal complex, which was built inside arsenal grounds in 2002, were completed on Nov. 12, and that the layoffs will be phased over about a two year period, ending in or before early 2013.

About 30 workers were laid off Thursday.

The facility is currently being cleaned and dismantled, and a majority of the employees will be required there for at least a year or more until this tedious process is completed, said Guy Campbell, project manager for the Washington Demilitarization Company, the private firm that holds the contract to destroy weapons at the arsenal.

The company is a division of the URS Corporation.

Though some officials said that just 200 workers would remain at the arsenal after the layoffs, that number is actually closer to 1,000, according to arsenal staff.

The 200 workers manufacture white and red phosphorous munitions, while the remaining 800 or so will continue fabricating gas masks and repairing vehicles that have been damaged in war operations overseas.

There are also a number of security guards who are employed at the facility.

“We want to assure everyone that leadership at the Pine Bluff Arsenal is doing everything possible to ensure that this facility remains a vital part of this community,” said Cheryl Avery, public affairs officer for the arsenal.

“The arsenal is a high value asset to the United States and is likely to remain an active part of the U.S. government. We are here to stay.”

The arsenal will still be one of Jefferson County’s top five employers, even after the layoffs, according to data provided by the Pine Bluff Chamber of Commerce.

Tyson Foods Inc. will remain the county’s top employer with 2,022 workers, followed by Jefferson Regional Medical Center, which employs 1,700, and Evergreen Packaging Inc., which has 1,020 employees.

The disposal facility began operations in 2005 after a three-year startup as part of an international effort to eradicate chemical weapons. It’s one of seven Army sites approved to destroy such weapons under the government’s Chemical Stockpile Elimination program.

Pine Bluff joins sites at Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean; Newport, Ind.; and Aberdeen, Md., in completing their work. Nearly 80 percent of the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons has now been destroyed, Army officials have said.

Since 2005, GB nerve agent-filled rockets, VX nerve-agent-filled rockets, VX nerve-agent-filled land mines and mustard-agent-filled ton containers have all been destroyed at the Pine Bluff disposal facility.

The arsenal itself has stored chemical weapons since 1942 and at one time held 12 percent of the nation’s stockpile.

Now that disposal operations are complete, the pending loss of jobs has become one of the chief concerns of URS, arsenal, political and economic officials, prompting a campaign to place workers at new jobs even before they leave.

Campbell praised the workers, who are mostly civilians, calling them a valuable asset to any company that is willing to hire them.

“They are highly trained talent,” Campbell said. “They are very stable, very high performing. They will come to work each day, work hard, and give it all they’ve got. They have demonstrated that for us.”

The URS Corporation held a job fair in October, with 23 different arms of the company represented. More than 270disposal-facility workers attended, said Campbell, and as many as 163 were identified as potential candidates for other jobs.

“Our intent is to help our employees market themselves locally as best we can,” said Campbell. “This market ought to take advantage of that.”

Military workers affected by the layoffs have, for the most part, been able to take advantage of transfer programs and early retirement plans, according to Army officials.

At the Economic Development Alliance in Pine Bluff, economic developers are working with URS to try to cushion the job losses as best they can. Lou Ann Nisbett, president and CEO of the alliance, called the layoffs a chance for the area to selfreflect.

“This has allowed the region to hold up a mirror and decide how it will remain vital and compete in a global economy,” she said. “The way to do that is to be proactive and think about competitive differentiators that will make it unique and/or necessary to the broadest possible market.”

Jefferson County has banded together with 13 counties - Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Chicot, Cleveland, Desha, Drew, Grant, Lincoln, Pulaski, Lonoke, Dallas and Saline - because Nisbett and others believe that this is the best way for the region to grow economically. Also, most of the arsenal’s work force lives in these areas.

They’re calling the group the Southeast Arkansas Sustainable Growth Initiative.

“While this plan is the product of many people in the region giving theirtime and talent to the effort, the plan is only the end of the beginning,” said Nisbett.

“In fact, it is not a static document, but meant as a road map to be revised as conditions change and people are recruited to the effort. In order for it to come to fruition, we need help.”

The initiative is reviewing dislocated workers’ resumes to pair them with existing industries in the area that fit their specific skill sets, but “it will be up to the work-force system to use this guidance to ensure rapid re-employment and/or retraining so that these experienced and trained workers will remain in the region,” said Nisbett. “These workers are a key regional asset and we need to work to keep them here.”

In northeast Arkansas, Mississippi County officials made similar efforts to seek new jobs when the former Eaker Air Force Base, on the northern edge of Blytheville, closed on Dec. 15, 1992.

More than 3,500 servicemen lost their jobs, depleting an estimated $100 million annually from the economy there.

Officials formed the Blytheville-Gosnell Regional Airport Authority and developed a plan for the 3,778-acre base as part of a lease agreement with the federal government.

Several businesses - including an aviation painting service, a retirement community, a FedEx driver training school, a U.S. Postal Service distribution hub and a YMCA - have relocated there, and more than 400 jobs have been created.

Attracting new industries to the Delta is also a key part of the initiative plan, Nisbett said.

Several workers at the disposal facility were contacted about the layoffs, and all declined to give their names or share much of their personal stories. Most seemed pleased with the work that’s been done to help find them new employment.

Jitters Morgan, White Hall’s mayor, is worried about how the loss of jobs at the disposal facility will affect his community of about 4,700 residents.

“This town was built because of the arsenal,” he said. “And whatever they do there affects us directly.”

Though it’s called the Pine Bluff Chemical Disposal Facility, a more geographically-appropriate name might replace Pine Bluff with White Hall, since the complex sits directly beside Morgan’s town.

Morgan could not provide exact numbers, but he said that a good percentage of people who live in White Hall either work at the arsenal or have kinfolk who do.

“My father worked at the arsenal, and it’s been a part of White Hall since White Hall was established,” said Morgan.

He and others in White Hall are worried that when the 1,100 workers leave, the tax base will shrink significantly.

“It will affect us more than others,” Morgan said. “Folks who work out there do shopping here and eating here. We have a close relationship with lots of people working out there. It’s gonna hurt our entire city.”

At Hunter’s Refuge in White Hall, owner David Ferrell has been selling safety boots to the arsenal and the chemical disposal facility since 1998, when he first opened his business. His other merchandise caters primarily to hunters and outdoor enthusiasts.

Ferrell said it’s too early to tell just how the layoffs will affect his bottom line.

“A lot of workers are customers of ours,” he said. “And those are good-paying jobs. It will end up being a pretty good hit, I imagine.”

About 14 miles northwest of Ferrell, Redfield City Councilman Tony Lawhon said his community is bracing for a hit as well.

He said that as many as 200 of Redfield’s 1,150 residents work at the disposal facility, including his wife, though the nature of her job prevents her from speaking about it.

At least 75 Redfield residents are losing their jobs, said Lawhon.

“It’s looking hard and heavy on us, and we are all concerned about it,” he said. “What is going to happen to Redfield and southeast Arkansas? It feels like you are in a boxing match and you are getting punched, and you have no options, and you can’t protect yourself. It’s out of your hands and you are losing.”

Agreeing with the Southeast Arkansas Sustainable Growth Initiative, Lawhon said that the entire Delta region of the state must come together to work through the job losses. And creating fresh resources for a new generation of workers should also be a priority, he said.

“If something like this doesn’t happen, and we don’t band together and get our resources together and focus our mindset on one purpose, then we won’t be able to bring this thing back,” Lawhon said. “If a town, county and region doesn’t have one shared vision that people can get behind and get excited about, then it’s not gonna work.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/22/2010

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