Delphi workers to receive help from program

By William K. Alcorn

Benefits can include training provided through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

WARREN — Some 2,000 workers at area Delphi Packard Electric operations have been certified to receive federally paid training and job-placement assistance.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, announced Monday that the Trade Adjustment Assistance program will help workers displaced by foreign competition that produced wiring and connector components at Delphi facilities in Warren, Rootstown, Vienna, Howland and Cortland.

Those who qualify are also any subsidiaries of Delphi Corp. who became totally or partially separated from employment on or after May 19, 2008.

All workers in the group threatened with total or partial separation are eligible to apply for TAA benefits, according to a Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration investigator.

Not eligible for benefits are workers at Delphi’s Bazetta Township operation because the facility closed in 2007, outside the relevant period of investigation.

The TAA program helps trade- affected workers who have lost their jobs as a result of increased imports or shifts in production out of the United States. Certified individuals may be eligible to receive one or more program benefits and services, depending on what is needed to return them to employment, according to the labor department.

Benefits can include training, education and classes provided through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which is where eligible workers can call for information, officials said.

The investigation that resulted in certification of Delphi Packard workers for benefits was initiated by a petition filed May 20, 2009, by the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers, and Communications Workers of America Local 717.

alcorn@vindy.com