Northrop- Grumman announced Tuesday its intent to close New Orleans area Avondale shipyards and consolidate the 5000 jobs into its larger shipyard at Pascagoula Mississippi. Avondale lost a union election in the early 1990's, ultimately the union was certified and the shipyard was acquired by Northrop-Grumman. At the time I remember thinking how this ultimately made Avondale much more vulnerable to closure. Now, by sometime in 2013 Avondale is scheduled to be gone. Non-union status was a valuable protector for this shipyard, but now its just an expendable unionized facility.

The AFL-CIO blog has a post about efforts to save Avondale despite Northrop-Grumman's decision to close the facility.

AFL-CIO blog correctly characterizes the Avondale layoffs, which are underway, as a huge economic disaster for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. As our marshes erode so do manufacturing jobs. While it may be hyperbole to compare the effects of the Avondale closure to the BP oil spill, long term it may not be.