FORT WAYNE – Local officials announced new details Thursday about efforts to keep highly trained workers in the region.
The plans were crafted in response to Navistar International Corp.’s August announcement that it plans to “phase down various operations” in Fort Wayne.
Training and job search assistance are now available to all local Navistar employees who choose to stay in the area after the company leaves – not just engineers, Mayor Tom Henry said.
Efforts also are under way 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 given to workers who lose jobs related to global trade.
The U.S. Labor Department has 60 days to decide whether the employees qualify for TAA services, which are usually given to manufacturing workers who have lost jobs after production has been moved out of the country.
Although this would be a case of Indiana jobs moving – most likely – to Illinois, Randolph expressed confidence that the situation falls under the program in spirit and will be approved.
Warrenville, Ill.-based Navistar’s local workforce is about 1,400, including consultants. The company makes commercial and military trucks, diesel engines, buses and other vehicles.
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.
The company also talked privately about those plans Aug. 27 with Mark Williams, a consultant hired by the city of Fort Wayne to woo Navistar.
Henry confirmed the meeting happened but gave few details. Navistar officials reiterated the company’s intention to move work from Fort Wayne, but they agreed to a follow-up meeting with Williams to discuss options available to the company if it keeps some portion of the work here, Henry said.
Some Navistar workers have contacted WorkOne to request job placement and training assistance since the first announcement two weeks ago. And some companies have approached WorkOne to discuss their need to hire engineers.
But Randolph declined Thursday to put a number on either group, citing promises of confidentiality. She did say, however, that the numbers of both workers and employers is larger than one or two.
