July 7, 2011
The announcement that Ford is ready to start offering $15.51 per hour factory jobs sent welders, salesmen, recent high school graduates, painters, warehouse workers and retail clerks to the downtown unemployment office Thursday to apply.
About 200 trickled into the office in the hours following the mayor’s afternoon announcement. Today, officials are bracing for a flood of applicants for about 1,450 jobs through the July 14 deadline. A tent has been erected at the Kentucky Office of Employment & Training at Sixth and Cedar to process applicants starting at 8 a.m. today.
Nearly all who heeded Mayor Greg Fischer’s announcement that applications were being taken Thursday, however, were told to come back today. Federal law requires that military veterans get the first opportunity to apply for new jobs processed through the state office.
Those who apply will enter a lottery. Even if they proceed in the hiring process, they won’t be able to take a post until Ford members of the United Auto Workers on layoff or seeking a transfer get a chance to claim a job.
Unemployed workers remain desperate for jobs that pay above minimum wage, and state unemployment officials said they expect at least 12,000 people to visit the downtown unemployment office, the only location taking applications. In addition to putting up a tent, Connie Schnell, regional program manager of the state Office of Employment & Training, doubled her staff to eight and beefed up security in the parking lot.
“They will be out the door and around the corner waiting to get in there tomorrow morning,” Schnell said Thursday.
Ford has been planning to add 1,800 positions at the Louisville Assembly Plant since announcing the start of a $600 million renovation last fall to make the next generation Escape sport utility vehicle. Because Ford UAW workers at other plants can claim one of the jobs, it remains unclear how many new applicants have a shot at one of the new jobs.
In all, the plant will employ 2,900 when it reopens in late November. First in line to fill those positions will be 1,150 laid off from Louisville Assembly when the renovation began nearly a year ago. Another 300 Ford UAW workers expecting to be laid off from Indianapolis and Kansas City facilities have begun the process of transferring, according to Steven M. Stone, UAW building chairman of the Louisville Assembly Plant.
That would leave about 1,450 new jobs for “production assemblers” starting at $15.51 per hour receive health benefits after clearing an eight month probationary period, a Ford notice said. UAW Ford workers returning to the automaker will resume earning their union scale of about $28 hourly.
“It would be good to hire from the community,” Stone said. “First we have to see how many people we have apply from within.”
“In this economy, these are good jobs. I expect the crowds to be massive,” Schnell said, adding that last month her office processed 5,000 applications for 275 similar posts working the line at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant.
“I don’t have a specific number on how many new employees will be hired from the community,” company spokeswoman Marcey Evans said.
Ford workers have a chance to refer a friend or family member for consideration for each new job, Evans added. Last week, each Ford employee in Louisville was mailed red referral slips, good for a friend or family member to have a chance to apply for the new jobs, Stone added.
“This has been a long time coming,” he said of Louisville Assembly's long wait for a product to succeed the Explorer, which was redesigned and is now made in Chicago. “It will be good to employ people instead of laying them off.”
While Fischer announced that citizens could begin applying Thursday, nearly all of the estimated 200 people who responded were turned away. Federal law requires that only military veterans can apply through the state office on the first day new jobs are posted, Schnell said.
Chris Poynter, a spokesman for Fischer, said the mayor’s office was unaware of the limitation before he made the announcement Thursday. As people began arriving at the unemployment office in mid-afternoon, Schnell was on a conference call with Ford and city officials to make federal rules plain and plan for the week ahead.
“We didn’t know the mayor was going to announce this until today,” she said.
That frustrated Dilanjan Watson, a 32-year-old welder laid off since September. Alerted by a phone call from a friend who saw the news on television, Watson walked 1.8 miles, resume in hand, from his apartment in Old Louisville at First and Oak Streets to the Office of Employment & Training at 600 Cedar Street.
“Are you a veteran?” security guard Don Peak asked Watson as he arrived sweating inside the state office. “Come back tomorrow at 8 a.m.,” Peak answered when Watson shook his head.
Regardless of who fills the posts, new Ford jobs will generate as many as 10 additional jobs apiece in the region in the auto supply and other industries, said Fischer and Joe Reagan, president of Greater Louisville Inc.
“This is the biggest expansion of jobs in Louisville by an individual company in years,” Fischer said at the press conference.
Officials acknowledged that public access to the new posts is limited by returning union workers, their friends and family members, or UAW transfers from elsewhere. Still, they were jubilant about the news.
“The bottom line, this is 1,800 new jobs for our city,” Reagan said.
Laid off Ford worker David Brangers, 49, plans to return to the plant and gave his red referral slip to his son Jeremy, who just graduated from high school in Bullitt County. Since being laid off from Louisville Assembly two years ago, Brangers now works the night shift loading washer parts for General Electric at Appliance Park for $14 per hour — a wage that will double if he gets his Ford job back.
“With all these announcements, people are saying we are really going to go back,” Brangers said. “It is starting to happen.”
Those who apply will enter a lottery. Even if they proceed in the hiring process, they won’t be able to take a post until Ford members of the United Auto Workers on layoff or seeking a transfer get a chance to claim a job.
a lottery for JOBS!!! for J O B S!!! pick you're name out of hat to see if you can buy food for dinner????
The announcement that Ford is ready to start offering $15.51 per hour factory jobs sent welders, salesmen, recent high school graduates, painters, warehouse workers and retail clerks to the downtown unemployment office Thursday to apply.
About 200 trickled into the office in the hours following the mayor’s afternoon announcement. Today, officials are bracing for a flood of applicants for about 1,450 jobs through the July 14 deadline. A tent has been erected at the Kentucky Office of Employment & Training at Sixth and Cedar to process applicants starting at 8 a.m. today.
Nearly all who heeded Mayor Greg Fischer’s announcement that applications were being taken Thursday, however, were told to come back today. Federal law requires that military veterans get the first opportunity to apply for new jobs processed through the state office.
Those who apply will enter a lottery. Even if they proceed in the hiring process, they won’t be able to take a post until Ford members of the United Auto Workers on layoff or seeking a transfer get a chance to claim a job.
Unemployed workers remain desperate for jobs that pay above minimum wage, and state unemployment officials said they expect at least 12,000 people to visit the downtown unemployment office, the only location taking applications. In addition to putting up a tent, Connie Schnell, regional program manager of the state Office of Employment & Training, doubled her staff to eight and beefed up security in the parking lot.
“They will be out the door and around the corner waiting to get in there tomorrow morning,” Schnell said Thursday.
Ford has been planning to add 1,800 positions at the Louisville Assembly Plant since announcing the start of a $600 million renovation last fall to make the next generation Escape sport utility vehicle. Because Ford UAW workers at other plants can claim one of the jobs, it remains unclear how many new applicants have a shot at one of the new jobs.
In all, the plant will employ 2,900 when it reopens in late November. First in line to fill those positions will be 1,150 laid off from Louisville Assembly when the renovation began nearly a year ago. Another 300 Ford UAW workers expecting to be laid off from Indianapolis and Kansas City facilities have begun the process of transferring, according to Steven M. Stone, UAW building chairman of the Louisville Assembly Plant.
That would leave about 1,450 new jobs for “production assemblers” starting at $15.51 per hour receive health benefits after clearing an eight month probationary period, a Ford notice said. UAW Ford workers returning to the automaker will resume earning their union scale of about $28 hourly.
“It would be good to hire from the community,” Stone said. “First we have to see how many people we have apply from within.”
“In this economy, these are good jobs. I expect the crowds to be massive,” Schnell said, adding that last month her office processed 5,000 applications for 275 similar posts working the line at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant.
“I don’t have a specific number on how many new employees will be hired from the community,” company spokeswoman Marcey Evans said.
Ford workers have a chance to refer a friend or family member for consideration for each new job, Evans added. Last week, each Ford employee in Louisville was mailed red referral slips, good for a friend or family member to have a chance to apply for the new jobs, Stone added.
“This has been a long time coming,” he said of Louisville Assembly's long wait for a product to succeed the Explorer, which was redesigned and is now made in Chicago. “It will be good to employ people instead of laying them off.”
While Fischer announced that citizens could begin applying Thursday, nearly all of the estimated 200 people who responded were turned away. Federal law requires that only military veterans can apply through the state office on the first day new jobs are posted, Schnell said.
Chris Poynter, a spokesman for Fischer, said the mayor’s office was unaware of the limitation before he made the announcement Thursday. As people began arriving at the unemployment office in mid-afternoon, Schnell was on a conference call with Ford and city officials to make federal rules plain and plan for the week ahead.
“We didn’t know the mayor was going to announce this until today,” she said.
That frustrated Dilanjan Watson, a 32-year-old welder laid off since September. Alerted by a phone call from a friend who saw the news on television, Watson walked 1.8 miles, resume in hand, from his apartment in Old Louisville at First and Oak Streets to the Office of Employment & Training at 600 Cedar Street.
“Are you a veteran?” security guard Don Peak asked Watson as he arrived sweating inside the state office. “Come back tomorrow at 8 a.m.,” Peak answered when Watson shook his head.
Regardless of who fills the posts, new Ford jobs will generate as many as 10 additional jobs apiece in the region in the auto supply and other industries, said Fischer and Joe Reagan, president of Greater Louisville Inc.
“This is the biggest expansion of jobs in Louisville by an individual company in years,” Fischer said at the press conference.
Officials acknowledged that public access to the new posts is limited by returning union workers, their friends and family members, or UAW transfers from elsewhere. Still, they were jubilant about the news.
“The bottom line, this is 1,800 new jobs for our city,” Reagan said.
Laid off Ford worker David Brangers, 49, plans to return to the plant and gave his red referral slip to his son Jeremy, who just graduated from high school in Bullitt County. Since being laid off from Louisville Assembly two years ago, Brangers now works the night shift loading washer parts for General Electric at Appliance Park for $14 per hour — a wage that will double if he gets his Ford job back.
“With all these announcements, people are saying we are really going to go back,” Brangers said. “It is starting to happen.”
Those who apply will enter a lottery. Even if they proceed in the hiring process, they won’t be able to take a post until Ford members of the United Auto Workers on layoff or seeking a transfer get a chance to claim a job.
a lottery for JOBS!!! for J O B S!!! pick you're name out of hat to see if you can buy food for dinner????
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