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ETA News Release: [09/27/2004]
Contact Name: Dirk Fillpot
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Unveils $6.3
Million Automotive Industry Initiative
Announcement Made as Labor Secretary Participates
in Debut of
The New Ford Mustang at Michigan Plant
FLAT ROCK, Mich.—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
joined a host of automotive industry and labor dignitaries in Flat Rock,
Mich., today for the debut of the new 2005 Ford Mustang and the Job 1
Ceremony where she announced good news for the entire industry. A total
of $6.3 million in automotive industry grants, part of the President's
High Growth Job Training Initiative, will be awarded over
the next few weeks to address skills shortages and other challenges identified
by the industry.
“The hiring of 1,400 workers by the Auto Alliance to produce the new Ford
Mustang is an example of the high-value, good paying manufacturing jobs being
created in the United States,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “The
$6.3 million in grants announced today will be used to train workers on the
complex components of today's automobile manufacturing as well as on the
electronic diagnostic equipment and other high-tech systems needed to service
them.”
With today's grant announcement, the Labor Department will have invested
$11.9 million in helping automotive workers transition to new production
processes and increasingly sophisticated technology. In fact, one advanced
manufacturing grant benefiting AutoAlliance International helped train many
of the workers who produced the all-new Ford Mustang introduced during today's
event.
These grants fund solutions to challenges identified by automotive industry
executives. Among those challenges are providing the technical skills training
automotive workers need today; expanding the pipeline of youth entering the
automotive industry; developing alternative training strategies, like apprenticeship,
distance learning and accelerated learning, and developing industry-defined
career ladders and lattices and their corresponding competency models and
curricula.
The President's High Growth Job Training
Initiative is a strategic effort to better prepare workers
to take advantage of new job opportunities in high growth sectors of
the American economy. Through executive forums with leaders of expanding
industries, critical workforce gaps and issues are identified. Solutions
are then created in cooperation with employers, educational institutions
and the public workforce system. The automotive industry grants follow
similar announcements in health care and biotechnology earlier this year.
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