Grant money will help retrain displaced workers
JANESVILLE — The U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday announced the release of a second portion of a $3.8 million grant for training programs to help dislocated autoworkers in Rock County.
"This is good news," said Bob Borremans, director of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board.
The county applied for the National Emergency Grant last summer. In October, the county received $1.6 million to help nearly 800 workers, including the second-shift workers laid off from the Janesville General Motors plant in July, Borremans said.
In April, the grant was expanded to include about 1,515 workers, according to a news release from the department of labor.
The second installment of $2.2 million will help Rock County add new workers into employment training programs, Borremans said.
"We can add new people and pay for year two of training for some folks," Borremans said.
Qualified workers have been laid off from jobs in the auto industry and related industries. Local companies include GM and its suppliers such as Lear, Alcoa and LSI, Borremans said.
The county had to spend the first portion of the money before it could apply for the rest, Borremans said. The department of labor had awarded "up to" $3.8 million to the county.
Borremans encourages dislocated workers to come to the job center to find out if they qualify for training or other assistance.
"We keep telling them to come in and take advantage of the training dollars," Borremans said. "These are the training dollars."
The Rock County Job Center is at 1900 Center Ave., Janesville. Call (608) 741-3400 or visit www.jobcenter.org.
National Emergency Grants are part of the secretary of labor's discretionary fund and are awarded based on a state's ability to meet specific guidelines, according to the news release. For more information, visit http://www.doleta.gov/NEG.
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Jul 2, 2009 at 6:40 a.m.
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If you are laid off from work through no fault of your own you are eligible for training money at the job center - it does not matter what company or industry you have been laid off from. The amounts of money you are eligible for may be different depending on what pot of money you are eligible for. Call the folks at the job center, dislocated worker program and ask.
Jul 1, 2009 at 10:27 p.m.
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It's ridiculous...really. I am not banging on GM'ers but really...They had great jobs. They had the means to prepare themselves for the future. Many of them chose not to.
Now not only do they get their benefits, the unemployment and the subpay, the re-education benefits, but the state and feds are gonna dole out money to assist them? With what?? What training is available from the job center?
The whole thing is truly sad. There are plenty of people that can use some help...It's sad that they still will NOT get the help they truly need.
Jul 1, 2009 at 5:05 p.m.
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Some funding sources are limited to specific types of employers. For instance, trade assistance adjustment (TAA) monies are only available to workers from plants that close due to foreign competition. This money is for communities with several large employee layoffs, and the scope depends on the application by state and local authorities. If it is only for the automotive industry, as implied, workers from other sources are limited to available general fund monies.
http://www.doleta.gov/NEG/eligibility.cf...
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I wish there were more help for everybody, too! But that's not how it works, and there is usually not enough for everyone. Keep trying.
Jul 1, 2009 at 4:34 p.m.
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I never worked for Generous motors,or related plants(LSI,Lear,etc.) I am a displaced CNC Machinist will i NOW qualify for these opportunities,or wait in line (only to be passed over for G.M.,etc.) as in the recent past?I literally waited in line for hours while above mentioned employees were ushered in rooms and "pampered".When I was finally seen it was " sorry no openings,out of funds,shear numbers from G.M.,Lear,etc. preclude you from programs.Now are ALL related Aoto employees finally taken care of,and we the rest can now be included?
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