CWA Alliance for Green Manufacturing Training Exceeds Goals

Successful Program Trains Over 1,000, Lands Jobs for More Than 265

Jane Oates, assistant secretary of labor for employment and training, announces a new MSSC Green Production Certification Program, made possible by the success of CWA's training.

Below: Michelle Scales-Smith praised CWA's training for giving her confidence, new skills and a new job at Caterpillar.

At a conference in Dayton, Ohio, last week, the nation's leading employment and training experts from industry, higher education, government, and labor praised CWA's landmark Alliance for Green Manufacturing Skills Training program for providing valuable skills and job placements for workers devastated by layoffs during the 2007-2011 recession.

Launched by CWA's CWA/NETT training academy and IUE-CWA, with support of a $4 million Department of Labor grant in 2010, the MSSC (Manufacturing Skills Standard Council) certification program has exceeded its training, certification and job placement goals by more than 150 percent. The federal grant ends in January 2012, but the project begun by CWA will have issued more than 2,500 industry-recognized credentials to more than 1,000 participants in Ohio.

During the conference, Jane Oates, assistant secretary of labor for employment and training, praised the success of CWA's program and said programs like it deserve strong support from the government. As a result of CWA's success, the Labor Department is launching a government-funded MSSC Green Production Certification Program.

CWA launched the program to address the needs of thousands of union members in the Dayton, Ohio, area whose livelihoods were devastated by plant closures at GM and Delphi.

In all, more than 1,000 workers from CWA, IUE-CWA and other unions participated in the training, completing more than 2,000 courses. More important, 265 of the 350 students who received CPT certification have been placed into new jobs, many after months, or even years, of being jobless.

Michelle Scales-Smith, one of many IUE-CWA members who lost their jobs at Delphi, landed a new job at Caterpillar earlier this year. After being out of work for nearly three years, she was put at the top of the company's interview list thanks to the new skills she learned in training.

"Everything I learned gave me the hope and confidence that I needed. It really helped me get my foot in the door at Caterpillar," said Scales-Smith, a featured speaker at the conference. She said the program also provided her with invaluable tips on how to write a resume and conduct an interview.

Another training success story was Robyn Besecker who landed jobs at Behr and recently Caterpillar. "It gave me the inside track to job offers at both companies," he said.

Workers attending the program also won job placements at GE, Tennaco, DMax, Cobasys, AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, and other union employers.