Furloughed GM, support workers to get retraining help

LORDSTOWN

The U.S. Department of Labor announced Wednesday $875,000 in National Dislocated Worker Grant funding to assess workforce needs after the second round of layoffs at the General Motors plant in Lordstown.

The funding, to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, will also assist three additional, unnamed Northeast Ohio suppliers that work with General Motors.

GM and other employers have been certified as eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, enabling them to seek training through that program in order to find comparable re-employment, the labor department said.

The dislocated worker funding will mostly give the workers employment and training services and supportive services not available through the TAA program, the labor department said.

These grants temporarily expand the service capacity of dislocated worker training and employment programs at the state and local levels by providing funding assistance in response to large, unexpected economic events that cause significant job losses.

About 344 jobs were eliminated at four companies that supply GM Lordstown as a result of the loss of the second shift, according to Vindicator files. It’s not known whether those are among the three companies also being assisted by the dislocated worker grant funding.

Jamestown Industries in Austintown, which produces bumpers for GM Lordstown, laid off 25 people. Source Providers in Austintown, which does warehousing and logistics for GM, laid off 150. Magna-Lordstown Seating Systems, which makes seats, laid off 86 people. And Lordstown Seating estimated that 83 jobs would be affected.

U.S. Rep Tim Ryan of Howland,, D-13th and U.S Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Avon, said in a statement the grant will provide employment and training services to about 337 of the 1,686 workers affected by the job losses at the GM plant and the suppliers.

Read more about the funding in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.