Laid Off Foundry Workers Train for New Careers at Centralia College

Posted

Sixty days after Bradken-Engineered Products announced its Chehalis facility would close in 2015, 91 workers lost their jobs.

The employees were approved for job retraining through the federal Trade Adjustment Act, and were eligible to receive up to two years of college tuition, plus the costs of books, fees, supplies and tools, according to a press release from the college.

This allowed them to retrain for new jobs and careers in a variety of technical and professional programs.

“These workers are now being trained for new careers, not just jobs, through the Worker Retraining program at Centralia College,” said Worker Retraining Manager Joan Meister. “We’re committed to their success, and always working to make sure they reach their goals.”

One of the students who attended Centralia College took advantage of the welding program at Centralia College and is now in his second year.



“When the foundry closed, I had to change jobs,” Doug Both said. “CC had the training I needed.”

Fifteen of the 16 original people who entered the program at Central College are now in their second year at the college.

Six are in the diesel technology program; three in business; two in welding; and one person is in each of the accounting, medical assistant, information technology, and electronics robotics and automation programs.

For more information about the Worker Retraining Program, visit www.centralia.edu, or call (360) 736-9391, ext. 385.