
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990                   TAG: 9003013783
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Neal Thompson Staff Writer
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Short

RADFORD ISN'T ALONE

The 70 workers laid off last week from the Radford Army Ammunition Plant aren't the only ones. Thousands of jobs across the United States are being lost or threatened at the Army's 27 munitions plants.

Army officials announced last week that the Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant would be shut down over the next few months, retaining only a skeleton crew of 100 to 200 workers out of its present work force of 1,700.

Officials also announced that another plant - either one employing 500 workers in Scranton, Pa., or another in northwest Louisiana with 1,500 employees - soon will be shut down and most workers laid off. And last month, the Army said it was pulling out of its contract with a Kansas plant, threatening about 800 jobs. "This is the most dramatic change we've seen," said Bob Whistine, U.S. Army Armament Munitions Chemical Command spokesman in Rock Island, Ill.

Al Schwartz, another spokesman, said munitions layoffs and shutdowns are part of "a huge transition" from the United States' previous Cold War military posture to a peacetime posture where less ammunition is needed. He said that while the future of some plants is shaky, the Radford plant will not close because it's the only one that produces the types of explosives made there.

"Radford will remain open," Schwartz said.

by CNB