ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609130202
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON
John Winske, general manager of the Martinsville DuPont plant, said he is urging his employees to treat that company's coming layoff as a chance to grow.
"What should you be doing with the rest of your life?" Winske is asking. "People who might want to do something [in particular] are going to get some chances." That's because outgoing workers are eligible for a DuPont severance package worth thousands of dollars. Although details have not been worked out, DuPont customarily gives two weeks' pay for every year of service, meaning that a 26-year employee would get a year's pay. On top of that, past severance programs at the company have included $5,000 for training and $7,500 to move to another job with DuPont.
Experts call this process retraining or retooling. It's a '90's buzzword for grooming people laid off from one job to do another job.
Today, ex-textile workers are computer operators, truck drivers, paralegals, welders, furniture and laboratory workers, cosmetologists, engineers and nurses. These are among the fields that offer work opportunties in the area, employment officials said.
Did they all make it? No, employment specialists say. But many did, and did so without having to move away, though relocation was an alternative chosen by a small number of those laid off.
A variety of classroom doors are open for retraining. The workers can attend Patrick Henry Community College, with programs as varied as computers and furniture upholstery, or private vocational schools, such as beauty colleges and a school for driving trucks and heavy equipment. Memorial Hospital of Martinsville and Henry County is training medical workers. The federal government has pitched in more than $1 million worth of training money and the companies that jettisoned workers have helped with school expenses, too.
"If they want to work, they can," said Joe Stanley of Transportation Technologies, a trucking school that offers a quick return to work with a five-week program.
Employment and school officials said ex-factory employees generally work hard and do well in the classroom. "People seem to be resilient," said Joyce Martin, Henry County's director of social services.
As the workers' stories make clear, there is a bright side missing from much of the layoff news that has been reported.
Some workers said they wanted out of textile work. But they couldn't always say so, for fear of losing termination benefits.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff. KEYWORDS: MGRby CNB