COMMUNITY COLLEGES : Ex-GM Workers Flock to Classes

Facing uncertain futures after being laid off by General Motors, former employees of the Van Nuys plant are flocking to area community colleges to seek new career paths.

Of the 2,600 workers who were released by GM on Thursday, more than 1,000 are expected to take advantage of an educational incentive agreement worked out between the company and the United Auto Workers. The agreement allows workers to keep earning their full-time salaries through September, 1993, as long as they enroll in 12 units of college a semester.

Former GM workers are attending community colleges throughout the Santa Clarita, Antelope and San Fernando valleys, studying fields ranging from landscaping to mechanics. Most are taking courses in skilled fields like computers.

For some workers, many of whom have not seen a textbook since the 1970s, the transition back to school has not been easy.

“It’s hard to jump in and take four courses,” said Cathy Feeder, 32, a 13-year assembly-line worker studying chemical dependency at Mission College in Sylmar. “It’s real scary. I’d rather do it at my own pace.”

Others are worried about learning the skills to compete with a younger, computer-literate generation.

“It’s a very scary time,” said Evelyn Jernberg, another former assembly-line worker studying at Mission. “Fifty years old is kind of late to go out and start a new career.”

But Jernberg and Feeder are better off than many other former GM employees. After being laid off from the night shift last March, the two enrolled at Mission. As returning students, they have been able to get all their needed classes through preregistration.

“We’ve had quite a few who wanted to get in and had to go sit by the classes and wait for someone to drop,” said Ray Knudson, 51, a 15-year plant employee and union spokesman.

College officials pointed out that GM workers had to stay on the job through Thursday, while local community colleges began classes several days earlier.

“The biggest thing is that they had to have 12 units,” said Linda Lettau, a counselor at College of the Canyons, whose father, now retired, was a GM employee for 30 years. “Twelve units for any student at this point is very difficult to get into due to the overcrowding of classes.”

Some workers remain undecided about their courses of study.

“I’ve had some who have come in and not known what they wanted,” said Joanne Kalter-Flink, director of Mission College’s transfer and career center.

For many GM workers, however, going back to school is the only logical choice, no matter how difficult it may be.

“They’re used to making a certain amount per hour and now they find out the jobs are paying $5 an hour without any college,” Lettau said.