Boeing will close Pueblo operation/ 160 of 250 jobs may go to Alabama

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 1, 2003 | by CHRIS WALSH

Aerospace and defense firm Boeing Corp. said Friday it will close its 250-employee rocket assembly operations in Pueblo, a blow to a city that prides itself on its ties with the company.

Boeing will move work done in Pueblo to the company's newer Decatur, Ala., site to cut costs.

About 160 workers in Pueblo will be offered jobs in Alabama. The rest will be offered extended pay and benefits and help finding jobs.

"It's certainly always tough to lose jobs. It's even tougher when they are jobs like Boeing's," said Rod Slyhoff, president of the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce. "It's not a real happy day for us."

Boeing plans to phase out the operations during the next 12 to 15 months.

The company will keep a small team of workers in Pueblo until 2007 to fulfill a maintenance contract with the Air Force.

Boeing employs 2,100 in Colorado, including several hundred at military support and software operations in Colorado Springs.

The company became a crown jewel of Pueblo's economy and a source of pride when it came to the city 16 years ago, Slyhoff said.

The Pueblo plant manufactures Delta rockets that boost satellites and vehicles into space. The rockets have been used in several high- profile missions. In 2001, Delta rockets carried a National Aeronautics and Space Administration spacecraft to Mars.

"It always gave everybody a sense of pride that the Delta launch vehicle is assembled here," Slyhoff said. "The fact that our work force was contributing to that was significant for us."

At its peak, Boeing employed about 380 workers in Pueblo.

"The quality of work in Pueblo has been outstanding," Boeing spokeswoman Madonna Walsh said. "We had looked at doing something like this previously, but we said no, we'll keep it open. But with the downturn of our commercial markets, it was necessary to make this decision."

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