News-Sentinel.com

Thursday, 03/18/1999

NAFTA

Factory layoffs necessitate retraining

The quality of the program determines workers' skills.

By MATT PHINNEY of Southwest Texas State University

Irma Montoya and Gary Mayfield live more than 1,500 miles apart, but they share a bond that illustrates how the government is coping with the negative impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

After eight years as an assembler and inspector at a thermostat plant operated by Robert Shaw Controls Co. in El Paso, Texas, Montoya was laid off in 1995 when the company moved jobs to Mexico to take advantage of NAFTA's liberalized tariffs.

About the same time in Indiana, Mayfield lost his job at a Colgate-Palmolive plant after the company announced its aggressive international operations were rocked by Mexico's deepening recession.

Montoya and Mayfield were among thousands of laid-off workers promised retraining and benefits as part of a federal Transitional Adjustment Assistance program.

Under the program, laid-off employees receive up to two years of training and the equivalent of unemployment insurance for 18 months.

Mayfield is headed toward successful completion of his training program, while Montoya founders in a system not geared to meet the needs of a poorly educated work force of Mexican-American women along the Mexican border.

David Beshear, of the Texas Workforce Commission which administers the program there, said many displaced workers are required to enter a language instruction course before they can get more training.

And because weekly unemployment benefits can run out before the two years of training ends, many workers don't have the financial resources to finish their schooling.

"Eighteen months is not enough time to get your GED, learn industrial English and acquire a vocational skill," Beshear said.

Montoya said the program, funded with federal dollars and administered by the states, offered little help acquiring skills that would help her enter the American work force.

While many Texas workers found the retraining programs to be of little use, most workers in Indiana have benefited from them.

"Most workers find jobs, and most who enter the training programs do complete the training," said Sharon Langlotz, manager of the state's Dislocated Worker Unit.

Mayfield said the retraining program is essential for him to realize his lifelong goal of earning a college education. He is studying for an associate's degree in computer repair.