Letters: Factory workers need to train for backup career

Mar 10, 2010 — USA Today

Factory workers need to train for backup career

Wendell Mott - Big Rapids, Mich.

The moral of USA TODAY's article "The new ghost towns" is clear (Cover story, News, March 2).

Laid-off workers like Tim Shumaker, who get unemployment insurance plus $400 a month in layoff pay and full health coverage - and know these benefits will end in two years - should use this precious time to re-tool for another career, not as a "vacation," as some did. Go back to school. Two years would qualify them as computer repairmen, nurses, auto mechanics and more.

There's a moral for unions too. If their rank-and-file earn $51,000 a year and can afford a three-bedroom house, as Shumaker did, but are vulnerable to layoffs, they should push their members into evening and weekend classes, even while they're still employed.

These workers wanting to secure their middle class lifestyles should realize they need backup careers.

Rebuild manufacturing

Paul Shemansky - East Stroudsburg, Pa.

The USA TODAY article "The new ghost towns" demonstrates why so many Americans are angry and feel that their elected officials don't care about them. The story showed that American towns and families thrived during the periods of strong American manufacturing economies and that without a blue-collar workforce that gets paid a living wage, our country's future is not looking very promising for many people and their communities.

The president and Congress need to focus their energies on how they can help rebuild our manufacturing economy and entice corporations to stop their labor outsourcing to foreign countries. The American workforce and our towns need real help and solutions from our elected officials before it's too late.