Even before official word came that most of Tooele Army Depot is targeted for closure, Utah leaders started an all-out battle to save it.
That ranged from contacting friends in high places that could save the base to threatening trouble, if plans proceed, over continued storage of chemical arms in Utah and organizing efforts by Tooele labor unions and their national representatives.As a first step in the battle, Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, secured a promise from his friend Jim Courter, chairman of a presidential commission on base closures that now will review Pentagon proposals, to visit the base and listen to arguments about why it should stay open.
"Jim used to have the office across the hall from me when he was a member of the House," Hansen said. "He promised to come and may bring some other members with him. He will visit all the bases targeted for closure."Hansen has already started telling Courter that it doesn't make sense to close Tooele's North Area with its brand new $110 million, assembly-line truck maintenance plant while continuing to keep open World War II truck facilities located elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Leavitt and Hansen told the Pentagon that if it wants to close the big job-producing missions such as truck maintenance at Tooele, it should also remove the 42 percent of the nation's chemical arms stored at the base.
"If they are going to take the clean, high-tech jobs they should take the stuff causing problems as well," Leavitt said Thursday. "It's a fairness issue, and it's not fair."
Defense Secretary Les Aspin should already know how Utah's chief executive feels about the realignment decision. Leavitt sent Aspin a telegram Wednesday protesting TAD being considered for the closure or realignment list.
"If TAD is closed to protect older, less efficient Marine depots, the (Department of Defense) should be prepared to remove 42 percent of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile as well," the telegram said.
Hansen also has made the argument that the traditional strong support of Utah and Tooele County for such controversial programs should help it keep some of the more popular work too.
Leavitt will travel to Washington later this month and plans to meet with federal officials and make a case for keeping the depot's new high-tech consolidated maintenance facility open.
He said the state will also use the large conventional and chemical weapons stockpiles that would remain at TAD as a bargaining chip.
Labor union leaders at Tooele said their national representatives in Washington will also be enlisted to save the depot's maintenance mission.
"We will do everything we can to fight it," said Kent Bradley, president of the American Federation of Government Workers local 2185, which represents about 1,800 depot employees.
"This is the third time they have come after Tooele and we have been successful to preserve the mission here the past two times."
Word of the possible realignment spread quickly throughout the depot Thursday as workers listened to radio news reports, received calls from friends and family or talked with union leaders who had called Hansen's office.
"This is weighing heavily on the workforce. Morale is not at its peak," Bradley said.
Employees had expected something to happen since December, when they were first notified of a 700- to 1,000-employee reduction. The cutback has been set at 644 workers and is scheduled to take effect in September. About 300 workers have applied for early retirement, while most of the others plan to hang on and take their chances.
"Everything is so back and forth, no one knows which way to go," said Terry Miner, vice president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers, local 2261, whose entire membership works in the depot's maintenance mission.
A realignment could mean workers may have the choice of transferring to Red River depot in Texas, where Tooele's maintenance work would be transferred under the Pentagon's recommendation, or another depot, Miner said. The Army has set up a job counseling center that offers workers information about job openings at other bases, federal agencies and in the private sector.
But for those skilled workers who want to stay, the choices are limited.
"With Thiokol and Hercules laying people off there are no jobs out there," Miner said. "Right now the longer you can hang on to what you've got, the better off you are."
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