Tension in Workplace Grows as Tuesday’s Deadline Approaches

Amid the whirring of sewing machines at California Sun, a firm in Los Angeles’ bustling garment district, the conversation these days is about the prospect of bloodshed in the Persian Gulf.

“This morning, we were talking about what will happen if there is a war,” said Irma Martinez, a 42-year-old sewing machine operator from El Salvador. “We think everything will be harder; food will cost more, and work will slow down.

“And there is fear--fear that they will take our sons,” said Martinez, whose oldest boy is 18. “That could happen.”

Workplaces all over the Southland are gripped with worry about possible fighting in the Mideast. In fact, there seems to be far more talk than action to prepare for the impact of a conflict. Few firms outside the air travel industry admit to doing anything more concrete than mapping contingency plans.

The mood is especially tense on the trading desks of banks and securities firms, where fortunes swing on word of major news developments.

“Seventy-five percent of the conversations are, ‘What is this going to do? How is it going to affect this company? How is it going to affect that company?’ ” said David Feinman, a junk bond trader with Jefferies & Co. in West Los Angeles.

“There’s the normal person part of you that says, ‘I hope there’s no war,’ ” Feinman added. “It’s never very far from your mind, though, that if a war breaks out, I’m going to have to be selling securities.”

Feinman said when Secretary of State James A. Baker III delivered the news on television Wednesday that his talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz failed, the impact at his office was immediate.

“As soon as (Baker) said ‘regrettably,’ the market stopped,” Feinman said.

War fears were continuing to slow business Friday at Orange Coast Jeep Eagle in Costa Mesa.

“You’re hearing it all over,” said Phil Greenwood, general sales manager for the dealership, where two reservist employees were called up for active military duty two weeks ago.

“We have had enough people on the lot, but not as many are buying. Two people have told us they’re waiting until after the 15th,” Greenwood added, referring to the Tuesday deadline set by the United Nations for Iraqi forces to leave Kuwait.

At Beno’s clothing store on Maple Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, a television set in the employee break room kept workers abreast of the failed peace talks in Geneva earlier this week. “We were constantly going back and forth, trying to hear what was going on,” said saleswoman Elizabeth Hilaraza.

With a former Marine for a boyfriend and a boss whose son is on duty in Saudi Arabia, the 18-year-old clerk said it is hard to avoid talking and worrying about war. “We’re afraid . . . about what’s going to happen,” said Hilaraza. “And we are not the only ones talking. Customers talk about it too.”

Yet companies based in the Southland and elsewhere seem to have taken few concrete actions in anticipation of the outbreak of fighting.

Only one of the more than four dozen American companies contacted on Friday said it had ordered workers to return to the United States from the Mideast. Chase Manhattan Bank on Wednesday brought its Bahrain country manager home when the Baker-Aziz talks proved fruitless.

Other American companies with significant operations in the troubled region--such as Bechtel Group Inc., Parsons Corp. and Halliburton Co., all engineering firms--said employees remain in the Middle East but will be evacuated if war breaks out.

A consultant who deals with U.S. companies in the Persian Gulf said several large firms have charter aircraft or have off-road vehicles available to evacuate workers. A number of companies have set up radio communications so workers can stay in touch if telephone lines are knocked out.

But citing the need for secrecy, companies refused to discuss their evacuation plans.

Lockheed Corp., the Calabasas-based defense contractor, has 900 employees in Saudi Arabia, about 350 of them U.S. citizens. Along with making plans for evacuating its staff, Lockheed has cut off travel by employees to the region except for those “with critical business there right now,” said spokesman Scott Hallman.

“We’re in daily contact with the State Department,” he said.

Michael Saba, a trade consultant from Champaign, Ill., said a small number of U.S. companies have made no preparations. Saba said he is aware of a few firms that have had employees sign waivers freeing employers from liability if a war breaks out.

“I think that is appalling,” said Saba, who was among the hostages held in Kuwait after the Aug. 2 Iraqi invasion.

One of the U.S. industries most affected by the Mideast crisis is the travel business. Travel agents report that bookings are down as the threat of terrorist attack grows. Several large employers--such as Ford, Chrysler and Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing--have banned or sharply restricted employee travel to most destinations outside the United States.

On Friday, the Montreal-based International Air Transport Agencies said close to 200 flights a day between Europe and Asia, flights now routed directly over Saudi Arabia, will likely be rerouted in case of war.

The alternative routes for these flights--which connect Europe to India, Thailand and Singapore--fly over the Soviet Union or over Egypt and Sudan.

Air traffic across the region could be completely shut down by Lloyd’s of London, the only provider of war-risk insurance. Lloyd’s has announced that it may end insurance coverage for flights over the gulf after Tuesday, an action that would likely bring air travel in the region near a halt.

Times staff writers Jesus Sanchez in Los Angeles, John Medearis in the San Fernando Valley, Anne Michaud and Leslie Berkman in Orange County and researcher Amy Harmon in Detroit contributed to this story.

SHRINKING SERVICE TO MIDDLE EAST Airlines that have dropped service to some Mideast cities:

Pan American World Airways

KLM Royal Dutch Airways

Scandinavian Airline

Systems

British Airways

Swissair

Lufthansa German Airlines

Alitalia

Cathay Pacific

Other actions include:

Lufthansa and Air France raise fares on some flights to Middle East

El Al Israel Airlines offers discounted tour packages

Los Angeles Times