Getting Auto Workers Back to Work

Including the auto industry, over 4.4 million workers have lost their jobs since the recession began in 2007 and many of those timecards will never be punched in again. The automobile industry will never be the same, yet a promising future may lie just over the horizon with a plan by President Obama to have 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles, built in the US, on the road by 2015. US commerce as a whole needs to undergo a transformation so that it functions in a way that protects its employees, customers, and the earth's resources.

Autoworker Buyout Offer
GM is offering its employees a buyout amount of $20,000 and vouchers entitling them to a free car valued up to $25,000, which is down from the $75,000 they offered last year. To date, about 7500, or 12 percent of the hourly workforce have accepted the offer. Unemployed auto workers must now look outside the auto industry and adopt new perspectives on earning a living. Discovering a need and filling it might meet with more success than simply looking for a job.

Growing pains
In advanced economies, there has been an inescapable trend toward the integration of global markets in terms of products, technology, capital, and jobs. There has been a shift in demand away from less-skilled jobs toward more skilled ones, with a consequential widening of wage differences. Blue-collar employees are making less and less while white collar workers are making more. It is for this reason that efforts to restore those who have been laid off to similar jobs without adding skills may be over-optimistic.

Repurposing Skills
Repurposing of skills that auto workers have learned and perfected over years in the industry will not be the complete solution to them becoming productive again. The importance of this concept is recognized by the US Department of Labor which is issuing grants in Missouri and Kansas to help workers with increased training and matching skills with available jobs.

Retraining Grants
Michigan has received $6.6 million in grants to help retrain laid off auto workers for in-demand jobs. Affected workers who qualify may also receive up to 2 years income support and a health care tax credit through Trade Adjustment Assistance.

Best Repurposing Jobs
For former autoworkers, working in another industry can be an easy transition, especially in some of the newer green industries which are emerging. Since so many of these industries are relatively new, on the job training is often available to bring workers up to speed.

• For those with construction skills, installing rooftop solar photovoltaic cells and solar thermal water heaters is a profession with three-quarters of a million employees worldwide. Growing yearly, it compensates in the neighborhood of $15 to $35 per hour and promises to grow by 110,000 jobs by 2016.
• The American Wind Energy Association states that in the US, there are over 50,000 wind turbine fabricators in the US, with 10,000 hired in 2007.
• The US geothermal energy industry in California alone is projected to create 4000 construction jobs and 2000 operations jobs by 2010.
• Retrofitting buildings with more energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning features can contribute as many as 500,000 new jobs by 2014.

President Obama's Green Plan
By setting renewable energy goals in which 25 percent of US electricity will be from renewable sources by 2025 and our greenhouse emissions will be reduced by 80 percent by 2050, President Barack Obama estimates that he will put into place 5 million new jobs in the next ten years. He plans to use $150 billion to stimulate private industry to work toward a clean and renewable future.