THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 28, 1995 TAG: 9507280448
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Nearly 50 Newport News Shipbuilding employees will lose their jobs during the next two years as the yard's parent consolidates some administrative services, a shipyard spokeswoman said.
Tenneco Inc., the giant Peninsula shipyard's parent, announced Thursday that it is forming a subsidiary to be known as Tenneco Business Services to handle so-called ``shared services'' such as payroll, nonstrategic procurement and financial and accounting services.
``Newport News Shipbuilding will lose a small number of jobs due to the formation of Tenneco Business Services, less than 50,'' said Jerri Dickseski, the spokeswoman. ``And it's over a two-year period, so it's likely that some if not all of these jobs will be lost through attrition.''
The move will save the Houston-based conglomerate $150 million to $200 million a year by early 1998. The new unit, based in The Woodlands, Texas, north of Houston, will employ 365 people, replacing the jobs of 650 at Tenneco's subsidiaries.
The business services group will employ about 125 people who will work out of the shipyard's massive computing center.
``The majority of those positions will be filled by people from Newport News Shipbuilding,'' Dickseski said.
Besides shipbuilding, Tenneco has interests in natural gas, automotive parts and packaging. It is reducing its stake in tractor-maker Case Corp. to about 14 percent. by CNB