Hoping for help

Lifeline for Laid-Off Workers

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A Lifeline program for laid-off workers was held Wednesday Febuary 25, 2009 at Packard Music Hall in Warren, OH.

Hundreds of area residents attended the ‘Throwing a Lifeline to Valley Workers’ program Wednesday.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

WARREN — Ken, of Niles, a 41-year-old husband and father of three teenagers, hasn’t worked since August.

His last job was as a laborer for a temporary jobs service. Ken didn’t want his last name used.

He is now $4,000 behind on his mortgage and believes the bank is close to foreclosing.

“I’ve never seen it this bad,” he said. “Years ago, you could lose a job today and be back in a new one in a week. Now, there’s no work,” he said.

Ken was one of hundreds of Mahoning Valley residents who attended a daylong program Wednesday at W.D. Packard Music Hall sponsored by the United Auto Workers Union called “Throwing a Lifeline to Valley Workers.”

The music hall floor was filled with government agencies such as the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and Ohio Attorney General’s Office, credit counselors, credit unions, and services such as Valley Counseling.

The agencies and businesses assembled to offer help to Valley workers who have lost their jobs, been laid off or who face concerns about future layoffs.

For Ken, the situation is bad and seemingly getting worse.

“When I talked to the temp service, they said to apply at McDonald’s or someplace like that,” he said. “But those places want somebody young who can go into the training program. They don’t want somebody 41 years old.”

“Nobody’s hiring, and if they are, you have to be certified” in areas such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning, truck driving, or tool-and-die making, he said.

Even jobs paying $7 to $9 per hour are difficult to get because of the number of former Delphi Packard employees who have taken jobs on the lower end of the pay scale since they left the plant, he said.

Danielle Lazor, program manager for Family Financial Education Services in Youngstown, which provides financial counseling to residents of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, said Ken’s problem is becoming more and more common.

Over the past year, she has seen an even larger number of people who are making less money or have no job.

“I’ve never seen it so bad,” said Lazor, referring back to her career in finance since 1986.

She said lenders have shown little interest in helping such homeowners, but she believes the Hope for Homeowners Act signed into law by President Bush in July will force lenders to be more accommodating.

Don Dickens of Trumbull 211, a 24-hour help hot line, said the service is getting a lot of calls from people who are among the newly unemployed who need guidance in where to go for help.

Dickens said it’s best for people who have been laid off from places like the Severstal steel mill in Warren, General Motors in Lordstown or other places to call Trumbull 211 (just dial 211) to find out what they might need to do in the future.

For now, many qualify for benefits such as supplemental or “sub” pay or unemployment, but those in that situation should be prepared in case those benefits run out and the job doesn’t return, Dickens said.

“The time to do research on getting help is now,” he said.

When anxiety over job loss hits, sometimes it’s helpful to have a place to call just to talk, Dickens said.

Over about the past month, one man on layoff has called Trumbull 211 four or five times just to talk about the issue, Dickens said.

At the onset of the program, Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Union Local 1112, which organized the program, spoke from the stage to urge workers from all segments of the work force to stick together, rather than “feeding on each other” or criticizing other workers regarding the pay benefits they make.

“I refuse to allow a foreign country to dictate to us what is fair pay and benefits,” Graham said.

He said he jumped out of his chair and pumped his fist when President Obama mentioned auto- workers in his speech to the nation on Tuesday night.

“Somebody in Washington finally gets it how important the auto industry is not only to our country but also to our area,” he said.

runyan@vindy.com