Laid-Off GM Workers Go Back to School to Learn New Skills : Retraining: Auto maker and union team up to help ex-employees enhance future job opportunities.
The last time Miles Smith sat in a classroom was 1953, when he was a high school senior in Pittsburgh, Pa.
But after nearly 40 years the 59-year-old General Motors employee was back in class Monday--one of about 150 former auto workers participating in a new retraining program run by the car company and the United Auto Workers union.
“This is kind of new for me,” said Smith, who worked at GM for 29 years, but was put out of work with about 2,600 others when the Van Nuys plant closed last Thursday after 45 years. “The books, the pencils and all these things, it’s kind of weird.”
For years, Smith has concentrated on the assembly of Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds, but on the first day of school Monday, his attention turned to multiplication and spelling--sharpening basic skills that will make him and other workers more attractive to prospective employers.
“We’re trying to prepare people for whatever comes up next in life, whether they plan to go to another GM plant or another company,” said Blanca Arnold, the UAW coordinator for the program, which is funded jointly by the union and GM and by way of contracts with the Los Angeles Unified School District for teachers and materials.
The UAW/GM Skill Center is one of about three dozen at plants around the country to train auto workers for other fields. About $30 million to fund the centers was set aside during contract negotiations two years ago after the union demanded such programs in the face of impending plant closures. Students receive full pay during the year they are in the program.
On opening day Monday, many students expressed mixed emotions.
“Our enthusiasm today is tempered by the events of last week,” UAW shop chairman Mike Ruppert said at a ceremony outside the plant that produced Firebirds and Camaros. “It’s like leaving a funeral and going to a wedding. It’s hard to make that adjustment.”
A section of administrative offices at the plant was turned into 12 classrooms, complete with blackboards, overhead projectors and, of course, desks. A bank of computers running educational programs was installed. Classes in reading, mathematics and grammar run from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
“We function just like a regular school,” counselor Yvette Cruzalegui said.
Although most of the GM employees enrolled in the Van Nuys program are looking to sharpen existing skills, school district consultant John O’Malley said some are pursuing high school equivalency certificates.
That can be tough at any age, but the average age of GM employees nationwide is 46, meaning many have not been in an academic setting for up to three decades. “It’s tough, but it’s doable,” said Larry Testasecca, who organizes the centers nationwide.
Felipa Garcia, 43, of North Hills was confident.
“I can speak English. I can read it,” said Garcia, who installed horns during her 19 years at the plant. “But I can’t write it. My dream is someday to write English. That’s been my dream since I came from Cuba in 1969. This is a very good opportunity.”
Garcia plans to become a pastry chef and has written a cookbook in Spanish. She wants to translate the book into English and market it.
“If I could see it in English in my own hand, I would be the happiest woman in the world,” she said.
