Closed plant provides workers a fresh start

Warren -- Ray Joseph still wakes up at 4 a.m., anxious to get to a job he no longer has. Joseph's dream of retiring from Noble Metal Processing with a comfortable living for his wife and three children came to a devastating halt when the plant closed last summer -- another casualty of the auto industry's decline.

Noble's 410 workers joined the ranks of Michigan's more than 700,000 unemployed. But unlike most, Noble's faithful get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restart their careers. They receive up to $15,000 annually for three years for education, compared to $5,000 in tuition assistance for two years under the state's worker retraining program. But for Joseph, 55, and other Noble workers, the golden ticket comes with heavy doubts over whether he could acclimate to the classroom after a lifetime on the line.

"I'm still struggling with it," Joseph said. "I'm not a school-minded person, I'm more of a 'show me what to do and I'll get it' type of person. I've looked at all the fields and I keep on shaking my head."

Noble filed for bankruptcy and a federal judge's order dissolved the company in December, according to reports. The company was the world's largest supplier of laser-welded blanks and serviced the auto industry. That order transferred Noble's assets to a trust, so they could be distributed to creditors. Earlier in the year, the company's stock had been delisted from NYSE before the judge approved a liquidation plan.

Now, some of Noble's workers are cashing in their college benefits. Others are searching frantically for another job to ward off foreclosure. And, much like Michigan itself, many are struggling to figure out what they are able to do after a painful breakup with an industry that's defined them.

"Most people want to take advantage of it," said Fred Dowell, 65, a former Noble employee whose new job is tracking down former co-workers and getting them signed up for the benefits. "The problem is: What shall I do?"

A family atmosphere

Noble workers operated machines to laser weld hundreds of large steel blanks that would be shipped to Detroit Three stamping plants. Their sweat -- and later a robot's power -- produced materials that comprised car doors and other parts.

The work had been three-shifts steady and offered a decent living with overtime benefits. There was an atmosphere of jokes, nicknames and family.

That camaraderie supported Laura LaForme, 38, when she spent 80 nights in the hospital with her 4-year-old son, who is battling cancer.

"I would have probably worked there until I retired," said LaForme, who scheduled materials coming in and out of the plant. "I loved that company. I loved the people who worked there."

There was no severance package, no more health insurance and no more stability. Joseph had to cut everything from landline phone to life insurance. No longer able to pay tuition for two children in college, "we are getting further in debt as far as ... loans," said Joseph, whose unemployment benefit is just a fraction of his general foreman's income. "The kids have got to have education."

On Sept. 2, the federal government approved the Noble plant's Trade Adjustment Assistance certification.

The program provides expanded education and unemployment benefits to workers who lost jobs due to U.S. trade policies. While Noble's jobs didn't get shipped overseas, the company supplied Chrysler, whose workers have lost jobs due to foreign imports, the feds ruled. All Noble workers who were laid off after May 19, 2008, qualify.

Michigan has more trade certifications than any other state. While representing 3 percent of the nation's population, the state last year was home to 14 percent of the workers covered by this program.

New opportunities

On Oct. 22, 222 former Noble workers filed into a Warren auditorium to learn about their new opportunities. It had been months since many had seen each other. The greetings in hallways and over cigarettes outside was like a warm reunion rather than a sober meeting over the fact they were still out of work.

They clenched their yellow and purple handouts and crowded around sign-up sheets for the next meeting to get their benefits. Optimism was in the air.

Sean Lyte, 39, thought he'd enroll in health care training. He's now leaning toward computers or information technology.

"I'm just really trying to relax now and get my mind together to really make sure this is what I want to do" said Lyte of Detroit. "You only get one chance."

The good news is that Lyte has a lifetime to decide. The educational benefit is a one-time, one-program opportunity that doesn't expire.

However, the opportunity to get a cash allowance during school is limited. The combination of free tuition and cash benefit meant Tony Betts, former director of sales for North America, is on his way to earning a debt-free MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy.

"It's a huge benefit. I hope people understand that it's out there and take a hard look at it," Betts, 39, said.

Looking ahead

For the Noble workers who didn't attend the benefits meeting in October, Fred Dowell is out to find them.

The ex-Noble worker landed a contract job this year to call some 200 former workers and encourage them to take advantage of the opportunity.

The former union steward with a warm chuckle, heavy cough and fond nicknames for his former co-worker like "Bean-o" and "Shaw-Shaw" doesn't believe in excuses.

"Bring the babies with you," he told one former co-worker, offering to babysit while dad meets with a caseworker.

But Dowell hasn't sold himself on retraining.

Though 65, he can't retire yet. He was hoping for another five years at Noble where he made more than $40,000 a year as a quality technician.

"It's the age factor with me," said Dowell. "I don't know if I'm employable."

Dowell started his career at Ford, where he said he touched his toes, read an eye chart and got a pair of safety goggles and gloves to go to work the next day. His generation may represent the last of the lifers on the line, yet Dowell is pragmatic about the future.

"This may have been more helpful than harmful," he said of Noble's closing. "Sure we lost jobs. But look at the people who were doing the manual labor jobs that had no skills whatsoever. Going to the future, automotives is gone. Manual labor is gone. You got to have some sort of training or degree for anything now."

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