Training For A Better Life Despite Its Popularity, Program For Unemployed Not Without Foes

Leon Franks of Soap Lake couldn’t make it raising a family on wages from a six-months-a-year seasonal job.

He struggled financially before deciding it was time to change.

“Life will be better,” he said about his plans to be a utility lineman. “It’s better than sitting around in the winter.”

Franks is one of thousands of workers in Washington enrolled in a new training program for the unemployed.

The idea is to plug people like Franks into steady jobs so they won’t have to depend on unemployment checks, and can contribute taxes.

The state pays for a share of the training costs through the community college system. Students pay tuition, and continue to get their regular unemployment checks.

The program, known as work force training, is so popular the Legislature is talking about adding as many as 2,200 students in the next two years.

But work force training has its opponents. The state’s business lobby objects to what it calls a raid on the unemployment fund, which now has a surplus of $1.4 billion.

For years, the business lobby fought efforts to tap that surplus, which comes from taxes on businesses. The surplus is held in case the state suffers an economic recession.

Business officials say unemployment money is not intended for college classes, but to support workers who lose their jobs. The state should find another way to pay for the training, business lobbyists said.

“You can find thousands of ways to justify how to spend money from the unemployment insurance fund,” said Don Brunnell, president of the Association of Washington Businesses.

“Once you start diverting unemployment tax money, where do you stop?” he said.

College officials say it makes sense to use unemployment tax money to help workers get training for steady jobs.

“We think it’s logical for people on unemployment to get more than that benefit check to tide them over until they find another job,” said Bruce Botka, spokesman for the state’s community college system. The program so far has served more than 8,500 full-time students at a cost of about $43 million over two years.

Workers who’ve lost their jobs don’t much care about the politics.

Jim Neihouse was one of 100 people laid off when SNE Enterprises closed its wood-working plant in Spokane. At age 43, it was the second time he had lost a job in the wood products industry, he said.

“Unfortunately, a lot of us have found out we have no choice but to change,” said Neihouse, who wants to become a photographer.

Workers who lose their jobs frequently find themselves questioning their self-worth.

College instructors said losing a job may seem bad at the time, but it can open new doors that could be highly rewarding in the long run.

“In our society when we are without work, we are without identity,” instructor Mary Everett said during a class for unemployed workers. “We have to be aware everything is changing and we constantly have to be learning all our lives.”

Instructors stress the need to learn job skills that are marketable in an economy that is moving toward technology and service delivery.

“The computer is a tool that is going to determine whether you get a decent paying job or not,” said instructor Bill Holcomb.

The work force training program came out of a growing awareness that the economy is changing so quickly that workers are frequently being forced to adjust their skills.

State government, business and labor have been studying the problem.

The business lobby argues the current training program is inadequate. A more comprehensive program should be implemented, said the AWB’s Brunnell.

The community college’s Botka said work force training is better than nothing, particularly in the political climate of tight budgets.

Washington’s public colleges and universities have suffered from funding cuts, and work force training gives those institutions the chance to serve more students, college officials said.

Work force training costs the unemployment fund about $22 million a year, a fraction of the total surplus.

Work force training must be successful, or it is likely to be killed when it comes up for reapproval in 1997.

When it was approved in 1993, the Legislature told colleges to keep track of how many students find jobs in new careers through work force training.

That information will be used to decide whether the program continues.

So far, there isn’t much information on placement rates statewide, but one of the programs offered in Spokane appears to be successful, officials said.

SCC is teaming up with Washington Water Power Co. to offer a preapprenticeship in utility line construction. Utility companies in the Inland Northwest were having trouble finding qualified job applicants from the local area, said Joanne Murcar, director of work force training for the colleges.

Of the 22 people who completed the training last year, preliminary reports indicated that 19 found jobs, some of them with WWP, she said.

Franks, a newer enrollee to the program, said he hopes to get a job with Grant County PUD so he and his family can continue to live in Soap Lake.

Since they pay their tuition, workers get to choose what types of training to get.

They might take something as simple as classes in how to handle a job interview, or they could get started on a four-year degree.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Training available Work force training is available to workers laid off by a Washington employer within the past two years. Workers are eligible even after their unemployment benefits expire. Students in the program can get financial aid, and they may qualify for money to help buy equipment needed for training programs. Registration is through the community colleges. Referrals are made by the state Employment Security Department. Workers who want to enter the program can contact either agency. Joanne Murcar of the community colleges said, “We don’t have a waiting list.”