Production at the Pasadena plant had been cut back for several weeks as Crown performed maintenance work on a gasoline- making unit known as a fluid catalytic cracker. The unit was set to come back on line Monday, but the company opted to continue the production cutback. "It's prudent, given current market conditions" with low oil and gasoline prices, said Joseph M. Coale, Crown's director of corporate communications. No layoffs are planned at this point, Coale said.

The Pasadena refinery has been manned by replacement workers since Feb. 6, 1996, when Crown locked out 252 union workers after a contract squabble escalated. The company says the workers were sabotaging the refinery, an allegation the union denies.

Crown has been under fire from the union -- now known as the Paper, Allied- Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union -- and shareholders, who include many union members. In December, shareholders -- including some locked-out union members -- sued company executives and the board of directors, alleging gross financial mismanagement. A key reason: During the greatest bull market in stock market history, Crown shares have fallen from $36.625 in 1989 to $7.6875 yesterday.

Originally published on Feb. 3, 1999