http://www.americaneconomicalert.com/ne ... ID=2407700
Third wave of layoffs hits Birds Eye plant
By James Hohmann
Mercury News
Aug. 10: Chill descends as jobs vanish
The Birds Eye frozen-food factory in Watsonville was the kind of place where workers would arrive an hour or two before their shifts to sip coffee and talk with friends in the cafeteria.
It was more than a place to work. It was a home. The workers were family.
Now, it's Christmastime and the plant on Harvest Drive is closing, taking 550 jobs with it. About 200 workers have already left the factory. Twenty more will lose jobs today.
``It's a different time,'' said Maria Sanchez, 58, who has been slicing, dicing and packaging spinach, broccoli and cauliflower for 29 years. ``This has been my company. I've been happy here. Now I'm going.''
Inside the plant, workers say, the reaction has been a mixture of fear, sadness and acceptance. As the nation's frozen-food industry and high-paying factory jobs disappear, the workers are faced with the daunting challenge of finding steady jobs and acquiring the skills necessary to compete in today's economy.
The company threw a goodbye party for the workers Dec. 8. Salsa music from a hired band pulsated through the drab industrial park, as a local Mexican eatery catered a final dinner. Decorations and poinsettias were handed out to workers, still wearing the blue smocks and green hard hats of their shifts.
Workers at the Birds Eye factory in Watsonville earn $10 to $22 an hour -- roughly 10 times more than those doing comparable work in Mexico and Central America. The average employee has worked at the plant for 16 years.
Most are Latino immigrants who speak some English. Many are losing high-paying, relatively low-skill jobs. Watsonville's unemployment rate in October -- before the layoffs began -- was 8.6 percent. The 550 jobs represent 2.6 percent of the city's labor force. (Legal or Illegal??)
Birds Eye workers were notified July 25 that the factory would close by the end of the year. But few have arranged for new jobs.
``A big positive for these workers is that employers hiring them will be getting people that have a good work history and work ethic,'' said Janeen Dittrick, a manager at the state Employment Development Department in Santa Cruz County.
The layoffs could not come at a worse time, said Rito Mendoza, 48, a maintenance worker who has been at the plant for 17 years. It's too late to be hired as a seasonal worker at Kmart, Target or other retailers looking for holiday help -- and farmers aren't looking for help in the fields.``During December, January, February and March, there are no jobs in agriculture,'' Mendoza said, while smoking a cigarette in the pelting rain and frigid night air after his shift ended. ``There is nothing to harvest.''
Local government and the Teamsters union, which represents the workers, have mobilized to help those being laid off cope and readjust. Career centers and retraining programs are available. Specialists have been invited into the factory to help workers set up e-mail accounts and fill out job applications.
But workers with bills to pay face hard choices.
Zeraida Calderon, who has worked on the assembly line in the factory for 21 years, would like to go to school and become a bookkeeper or typist. But to take care of her young boy and girl, the single mother expects to take a job in retail -- if she can find one.
``The unemployment benefits help for now, but they are not going to be there in the future,'' said Calderon, who will lose her job three days before Christmas.
Marcela Tavantzis, Watsonville's assistant city manager, said many of the workers are losing ``their opportunity for retraining in order to accept a $10-an-hour job, even though retraining could give them a better job.''
But Emily Balli, career center manager for Workforce Santa Cruz County, a program that helps residents find jobs, said her office is being flexible to help ensure those who land jobs get training.
``We understand that they have to go out and probably get jobs quickly,'' she said. ``To live in this area and have the luxury to go to training full time is not very realistic.''
When Balli's staff was deployed, they had workers fill out a survey to assess their needs. Many expressed interest in becoming certified nurse assistants, truck drivers and landscapers.
About 40 percent said they were interested in classroom training; 30 percent said they would like to learn office skills. And most said they wanted to learn English.
The company has asked the U.S. government to certify the plant is closing because of increased foreign imports. The Labor Department is considering the request, which would provide extra weeks of unemployment benefits.
Watsonville also has been declared an ``enterprise zone'' by the state, which gives companies tax breaks for moving to the city or hiring laid-off employees.
Santa Cruz County's Workforce Investment Board has been trying to get a special grant from the state Labor & Workforce Development Agency. And the state's secretary of labor is considering a request for $1.3 million over 18 months to help with training.
More than 100 people were let go Nov. 29. An additional 99 were terminated Dec. 13. And more than 20 will be laid off today. The rest will leave as the last of the vegetables from the region's farms are processed. By the end of the year, only a few supervisors and salvagers will remain.
Said Aurelio Campos, 47, whose last day is today: ``Every time you look around, another group is missing.''
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Contact James Hohmann at jhohmann@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5460.
So, with globalization, tax payers lose their jobs here, pay taxes for unemployment to laid off workers, then tax payers pay for additional education....and globalization is supposed to be good for us?????
