OXNARD : Layoffs Begin Early for Abex Workers

Abex Corp. in Oxnard sent more than 100 pink-slipped workers packing a day early Thursday after finding the laid-off employees doing everything but working on their next-to-last day at the plant.

The company, one of the county’s largest employers, notified about 160 of the 880 employees at its aerospace plant last Friday that they would be laid off without severance pay at the close of business today.

But plant officials said they sent the dismissed workers home at noon Thursday--with pay through Friday--after they milled around the shop talking with employees who should have been working.

“People who know they’re out the door in a day aren’t motivated to do much,” said Raul Ramirez, a union representative with the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers, Local 1-895.

“Their minds were somewhere else, and understandably so,” said Joseph Parsons, Abex vice president of human resources at the West 5th Street plant. “It was time for them to get on with their lives.”