Local officials today announced the next step in efforts to keep highly trained workers in Fort Wayne.
The plan was crafted in response to Navistar International Corp.'s August announcement that it plans to "phase down various operations" in Fort Wayne.
In a 2 p.m. news conference in Mayor Tom Henry's office, officials said they hope to bring millions of federal dollars to the region in Trade Adjustment Assistance training money.
Kathleen Randolph, president and CEO of WorkOne Northeast, said her office will help Navistar workers apply for the federal certification. The Labor Department has 60 days to decide whether the employees qualify for TAA services.
Today's announcement comes two weeks and one day after Henry announced plans to:
- Create a $100,000 scholarship fund for worker retraining.
- Offer to match Navistar employees with new employers.
- Use the pool of highly skilled, displaced Navistar workers to attract new employers to the region.
- Lobby Navistar to keep some operations here.
Warrenville, Ill.-based Navistar's local workforce is about 1,400, including consultants. The company makes commercial and military trucks, diesel engines, school and commercial buses, recreational vehicles and chassis for motor homes and step vans.
Navistar has talked openly about wanting to consolidate its headquarters and other operations in one location, an 88-acre corporate campus in Lisle, Ill., a Chicago suburb.
Over the past few months, some Navistar workers have asked local agencies for job placement assistance because they don't want to leave the community even if their jobs do.
In response, WorkOne Northeast established a placement service and a fund to help those workers "up-skill or re-skill," Randolph said.
For more on this story, see Friday's print editions of The Journal Gazette or return to www.journalgazette.net after 3 a.m. Friday.
