VALLEY WORKERS CAN'T AFFORD TO CLING TO PAST.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

Fresh out of the Air Force in 1985, an enthusiastic 26-year-old named Fred Griego landed a job at Superior Industries International Inc., oiling machines on the assembly line.

Griego did his share of dirty work over the next 21 years. But he also learned new technology and worked his way up to maintenance foreman, supervising a crew of 15 at the Van Nuys factory that made wheels for automobiles.

The father of three loves his job - one that allowed him to buy a home in Granada Hills, raise a family and build a solid middle-class life. He's still got a mortgage payment, two children at home and a wife who works cleaning houses and baby-sitting.

But like an increasing number of San Fernando Valley factory workers, Griego faces an uncertain future. In a few weeks, Superior Industries workers will begin getting pink slips as the company prepares to send 375 jobs - more than half its local manufacturing work force - to three plants in Mexico.

While Griego thinks he's got a chance to stay on, he's considering a life outside the place that's employed him nearly half of his life. If a layoff notice comes, he figures he has six months before he'll run into financial trouble, so he's weighing options like selling his collections of records, Hawaiian shirts and sports jerseys on eBay to pay his bills.

``It's been so long since I had to get a job, I don't even know what's out there,'' he said. ``I asked my daughter what sort of job I should get and she told me, 'One that feeds two kids.' ''

Jobs that provide for a family like Griego's are getting harder to come by - and not only for factory workers.

In the Chatsworth area alone over the last few months, Washington Mutual has announced 1,600 cuts, 53 percent of its local headquarters operations; the Los Angeles Times closed its printing plant; and Ronco Corp. announced plans to relocate to Simi Valley.

Robinsons-May, which once ran a regional headquarters and call center in North Hollywood, will be merged out of existence when Federated Department Stores Inc. completes its takeover in coming months.

The Valley's manufacturing jobs have been in decline for decades, with the disappearance of General Motors, Lockheed and other industrial powerhouses.

But the latest round of job losses coincides with a coordinated effort by business groups to attract more industrial jobs to the area and preserve those that remain.

The Valley Economic Development Center recently banded together with representatives from Burbank, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Lancaster and the College of the Canyons to aggressively arrest the trend of jobs fleeing the area. The organizations hope to attract federal grants to develop manufacturing jobs and provide support for companies considering leaving the area.

Though they acknowledge the days of huge plants employing thousands of workers are largely over, they think the region can remain competitive by transitioning to small, highly specialized shops. By producing either high-security items that can't be outsourced or niche products that command high margins, the plan's backers believe the Valley and its neighbors can retain a competitive edge.

But they'll have their work cut out for them.

While Valley employment has grown more than 10 percent since 1991, manufacturing jobs have dropped by almost 35 percent. Most major manufacturers have pulled out or scaled back their local presence. Former factory sites have been turned into shopping centers and mixed-used land.

No way up

Among the companies that remain, their highly automated, highly efficient assembly lines have fewer positions to go around. The jobs that used to offer a way up have been outsourced to other states and countries or been replaced by machines and computers.

``We're creating a huge gap in the middle. That's the nature of the economy right now,'' said Bruce Ackerman, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley.

``If you were a middle-class family in the Valley 25 years ago, you could improve your stake in life by getting a job at GM or in aerospace. It gave someone without a college education a chance for a better life, because those were good-paying jobs.''

GM pulled out in 1992, taking with it jobs that then paid up to $18 an hour. Lockheed Martin yanked its Skunk Works and other research and development programs from Burbank a year later. Rocketdyne, though still around, employs around a tenth of the people it did during its glory days.

Total payroll for manufacturing workers neared $5.5 billion in 1991, according to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge. By 2004, the most recent data available, it had slumped to $3.8 billion.

Though those payrolls have slimmed, the wages have not. According to data provided by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., the average annual pay for a manufacturing worker in the West Valley is $56,000, while an East Valley worker makes $47,400, both above the county average of $46,000 a year.

For the workers who have clung onto those precious manufacturing positions, staying at the top of their game is of the utmost importance.

Retrain or suffer

But they find themselves temporarily deprived of a major resource, the free retraining for laid-off workers at the National Tooling and Manufacturing Association's North Hollywood training center. The site, which helps bring workers up to speed on the latest technology, is about to be transformed into a shopping center and has suspended classes for unemployed manufacturers until it can find a new home.

Sessions are still packed at Michael Avila's manufacturing and engineering courses at Valley College, however. Avila, a professor of tool manufacturing, sees opportunities for the 50-or-so students he advises each semester in medical equipment, optical technology and Hollywood special effects.

``The large manufacturers closed and left, but I still see people buying machines to work in their garages,'' Avila said. ``There's not as many opportunities in mass production, but there's still a need for quality parts in research and development.''

Such is the hope of Roberto Rosillo, a 30-year-old from North Hollywood. After graduating from San Fernando High, he tried plumbing for a while before happening into an entry-level job at Davis Industries, a North Hollywood niche manufacturer that makes parts for Raytheon Co. and Lockheed-Martin Co.

For the past eight years, he's worked his way up to program the computer numerical control machines that cut aircraft and satellite parts.

He's doing pretty well, making $18 an hour and picking up 14 hours of overtime a week. He hopes to by a home this year to share with his wife, a psychology student. But at the same time, he's mindful that his industry isn't particularly stable and that he must make himself as versatile as possible.

Twice a week, he reports to Avila's classroom, learning the basics of milling machines and lathes so he can increase his earning potential and stay atop a constricting industry.

``If you want to move up, you've got to learn to apply your skills,'' he said. ``I'll be able to get a raise because I took these classes.''

That's the only way to survive in a business where workers used to be able to get by doing the same task for 30 years. By learning to use different machines, finding very small niches they can specialize in, workers can adapt themselves into smaller companies and new industries as the old-time manufacturers pull out.

``The ones that stay have to be very competitive, so the people who are left have to be really productive,'' said Dan Blake, a CSUN economics professor who directs the Valley research center. ``The companies are very efficient, so even if they increase our output, we don't anticipate they'll add many jobs.''

Good old days

For decades, a high school grad with a strong grip and a little patience could find a job in a San Fernando Valley factory and build his or her own version of the American Dream.

High-wage jobs punching out P-38 fighter planes during World War II at Lockheed's Burbank plant, bolting together engines for the Apollo program at Rocketdyne or assembling sports cars at General Motors' huge line in Van Nuys gave this community prosperity unrivaled throughout the nation.

Hundreds of thousands of workers, many from humble backgrounds, bought homes, put pools in their backyards, sent their kids to college and banked on a secure retirement.

While the jobs landscape has changed immeasurably, thousands of establishments still produce goods in the Valley - 2,897 at last count - and major manufacturers like brewer Anheuser-Busch, baseball bat-maker Easton Sports Inc. and wheel-supplier Superior operate locally.

Even those three don't stack up in the same way to the huge factories of the post-war era, however. The 52-year-old brewery employs 900, 150 more people than when it first opened, but down from the 1,050 workers it staffed two years ago. Easton recently announced a mega-merger with helmet-maker Riddell Bell Holdings, but has no plans to augment its local work force.

And Superior, beset by a troubled auto industry and intense global competition, plans to send its jobs to three Mexican plants. It announced earlier this month that it will cut 375 jobs from its flagship factory in Van Nuys, nearly 60 percent of its manufacturing presence.

Those cuts, and the vanishing way of life, loom large in the eyes of workers like Griego.

Closing in on 50 years old, he doesn't need a prestigious job - just one with some security.

``We used to have a guy who had this routine,'' he remembered. ``His job was so repetitive that he'd do it, pull the lever and keep going. After awhile, we changed the machine, he didn't have to pull the lever anymore. But he was in the routine, so he kept pulling it. Eventually, we had to take the lever off, so he wouldn't pull it anymore.

``I've had my routine for more than 20 years. I wonder what'll happen if it all goes away, if I'll keep reaching for that lever.''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

THE HARDER THEY FALL

--Price Pfister Co.

Years: 1971-1997

Employees: more than 1,300 (at closing)

Wages: $16 per hour (at closing)

Fate: Outsourced to Mexico

--Lockheed Martin Co.

Location: Burbank

Industry: Aerospace

Years: 1928-1993

Employees: More than 15,000 (in late 1980s)

Wages: Data not available

Fate: Relocated to Palmdale and Georgia

--General Motors

Location: Van Nuys

Industry: Automotive

Years: 1947-1992

Employees: 5,100 at peak in 1979; 2,500 at closing

Wages: Up to $18 per hour (at closing)

Fate: Outsourced to Baltimore, Lordstown, Ohio, Shreveport, La. and Canada

--Rocketdyne

Years: 1955-today

Employees: 21,000 during Apollo, now 2,290

Wages: around $23 per hour for unionized production and maintenance jobs

Fate: Downsized

--Anheuser-Busch

Location: Van Nuys

Industry: Beverage

Years: 1954-today

Employees: 900

Wages: more than $50,000 annually

--Superior Industries International Inc.

Location: Van Nuys

Industry: Automotive

Years: 1969-today

Employees: 635 today, 260 in several months

Wages: as much as the high $20s

Fate: Outsourced to Mexico

CAPTION(S):

photo, box, chart

Photo:

(color) Fred Griego, who may be laid off after 21 years at Superior Industries in Van Nuys, is considering a life outside the place that's employed him nearly half of his life.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Box:

THE HARDER THEY FALL (see text)

Chart:

Making a living

SOURCE: San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center, CSUN

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