No Worker Left Behind: How Michigan Is Trying to Help The Laid-Off

For almost a decade, Heather Vaughn worked as a spot welder at a factory in Jonesville, Mich., making auto parts for General Motors and others. In February, the plant was sold, and Vaughn, along with 300 other workers, was laid off in a phone call.

"I was kinda like, 'Huh,'" Vaughn told the Huffington Post. "I'd worked there nine years. That was my nine year anniversary."

The plant stayed open and rehired more than 100 workers, but Vaughn wasn't one them. After joining the ranks of unemployed in Michigan -- 12.7 percent of the state's workforce, the highest rate in the nation -- Vaughn is hoping a state program can train her to become an X-ray technician.

Michigan's No Worker Left Behind program provides up to two years of free tuition toward school or training for careers in certain high-demand fields. The program has put 68,785 people into training since its 2007 launch, according to Andy Levin, deputy director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.

"No Worker Left Behind is going like gangbusters, and the pace of putting people into training is accelerating, but we don't have enough money to train everybody who wants to be trained," Levin told the Huffington Post.

There were 6,769 people on the program's waiting list in April, mostly concentrated in the suburbs of Detroit, according to Levin. On Tuesday he requested over $58 million in federal stimulus money to fund the program, which he said ought to become a national model.

"We have no coherent federal workforce system," Levin said. "What Michigan said is, 'So what, we're gonna have one.'"

The program ties in money from multiple federal and state funding sources and provides uniform eligibility requirements and benefits for all Michiganders. Levin said job training is a necessity for unemployed blue-collar workers.

"For most people of all different kinds, if they lose a job they are very likely to need new training to replace their standard of living," he said.

Heather Vaughn, who lives with her fiance and their two children in Jonesville, said she is currently pulling in $800 a month in unemployment benefits -- a little more than half what she earned as a spot welder. The NWLB website says there are 180 annual openings for X-ray techs in Vaughn's part of Michigan, and that the median annual salary is $46,240. Vaugh said she signed up for NWLB and plans to attend an orientation on Friday, but is worried she might still wind up on a waitlist because so many of her neighbors have also applied.

"I'm hoping I can turn around and do something different," she said.

HuffPost readers: Are you a worker who's been left behind? We want to hear your stories. Send e-mail to [e-mail].

Comments

[slarabee]

10:37 AM on 06/05/2009

Thank for this story Mr. Delaney. I live in Michigan and although I am not unemployed my wife is and things have gotten slow for us where we may qualify for my wife to get some further training and education in the medical field. We are not sure yet what be a we are going to check because if she returns to work we will be in a whole lot better financial straights.

[k6007]

10:13 AM on 06/05/2009

I will never buy another generalmotors product, ever.

[illusionpainter]

01:05 AM on 06/09/2009

And we care why?

[kstuff]

10:07 PM on 06/04/2009

The problem is...you can be retrained. But if the jobs aren't there, it's basically a holding tank until things turn around.

[We-Are-The-Ones]

09:25 PM on 06/04/2009

This looks like an interesting program. Very creative to try.

[BillMelater]

08:59 PM on 06/04/2009

MI job market has sucked for more than 30 years. You have to either know somebody or get really lucky to find a decent paying job. The only way to make a decent living is to leave. I know because I live there. I would love to be able to find a good job there, but I can't. I've had to work elsewhere all my adult life. I live there now, but do very little work there - right now I am in Kentucky working.

It's nice that the state wants to re-educate the recently layed off masses, but what about the rest of us that are stuck making a living in a job we hate?

[MIVOTE]

08:52 PM on 06/04/2009

This article is the biggest bout of B.S. I've read in a long time. As a MI resident, Jenny, the governor, spent the stimu-lus paying down the debt and put money into a training program for folk that can't find work. Sso they are being retrained to collect unemployment. No small business intiatives, no shovel ready projects, just stuff that once the money is gone, we are left right where we are. I personally have her and her policies on my agenda for some strong politiking. She's cut needed programs for those that need it the most. It sounds good, but in all actuality, 12.5 % will be going up soon in Michigan. She has never been a good steward.

[sandals]

08:34 PM on 06/04/2009

Well I have to ask all those who drive those foreign cars how they feel about sending that money to those countries instead of ours.
I live in Michigan went through the Michigan Works Program for training for Medical Coding and Billing, I now work at a local Credit Union as a teller, the place I trained at doesn't even help place you, they want you to do unpaid internships, well as a single mom with two kids I don't think so I have to have income.
You also have to have at least some experience in the field well how in the HELL are you going to get the
experience if nobody gives you the chance.
I also believe that it is age discrimination, they can train and pay the younger people the way they want them to learn and pay them a low wage.
We are turning into third world country here in America our Congress has let the big business sell this country out.

[kevsters]

08:12 PM on 06/04/2009

It is mind boggling to me how much false information is spewed out on a daily basis in an attempt to rewrite history.

Here is a clip of Jim Kramer, saying the GM stopped listening to what Americans wanted.

Like the post says, wasn't one of the major problems GM listening too much to the consumer and not willing to diversify their fleet and shy away from the SUV type vehicles?

http://progressnotcongress.org/blog/?p=1584http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/04/no-worker-left-behind-how_n_211300.html#

[reedaleddy]

07:19 PM on 06/04/2009

I live ten miles north of Detroit have my whole life 31 years I have sent more resumes than can count the only call backs I get are companies that make it sound good then you get there with 20 others in a room and they beat around the bush. (it's a door to door commission only sales job, paid monthly). so if you can sell there gas plans that the local news had on many times for raising 5 year set pricing, then you have to pay your own gas and work 60 hrs a week for maybe nothing, and with 2 weeks unpaid training at least two months for a check they can hire as many people as they want that way. HELP i am not a salesman

[grasyknol]

08:11 PM on 06/04/2009

Brother or Sister,

I am with you. It's also tough to find work in Ohio. I think I may have to go back for additonal training in a higher demand field. I wish Ohio had a program similar to Michigan.

[mamacat]

06:16 PM on 06/04/2009

GM chose to go with a Chinese lithium-ion battery provider, LG, instead of an American manufacturer, a123, to supply batteries for the Chevrolet Volt. It seems more than a little ironic that the American government is trying to help this iconic American company, while that company is putting Americans out of work by sending their jobs overseas.

[fcsakes]

07:06 PM on 06/04/2009

I'm not sure ironic is the word, seems like BS is the word. In my mind there needs to be a very sharp curtailment of outsourcing our labor and materials. I thought that was part of Obama's platform.

[warrenr]

07:50 PM on 06/04/2009

It was part of Obama's platform, yes, and Biden was especially forceful about it..... but it turns out that such provisions would result in major trade wars with other countries, which is an extremely risky thing to do in a recession. It'd cause all sorts of other negative effects in the economy.

[just saying]

08:12 PM on 06/04/2009

It's very interesting as to how protective other countries are toward their workers' jobs. I lived in Japan for about 4 years. While there I wanted to buy an inside broom, the kind with the very fine hairlike bristles on the end (I have a dog and it works well to sweep up fur). Anyway, after looking in every store, I couldn't find one. The only type I could find were a style made out of old twigs of a specific tree that were banded together. I saw people use them outside their shops all the time. So I asked my friend where the manufactured brooms were and she said that the reason they had all those twig brooms is because a group of people make them and if they brought in or made other brooms these people wouldn't have any livelihood. Talk about eye-opening! All to keep people employed, they only have these brooms...now my friend could be wrong, but I didn't see any other type while i was there.

[BDW]

08:32 PM on 06/04/2009

LG is a Korean company and is in conjunction with Philips, a Dutch company. Although that doesn't change your point, it sounds so much dastardly if it is a Chinese company doing it.

[mamacat]

06:28 AM on 06/05/2009

Mea Culpa. I have nothing against the Chinese, just their business practices. The article I read said that the reason GM went with the foreign company (is that better?) is that they felt the foreign company is a more dependable supplier than the American company. Talk about irony on top of irony. A lot of people are buying Japanese cars because of that very same reason. If even GM is buying foreign because they don't trust American production capabilities.....well, it makes my head spin.

[sandiegoconservative]

03:44 PM on 06/04/2009

It's great they are providing this good educational opportunity. That way, the people who receive the education can put it to good use in other State's that are not screwed up by the policies of the State government.