U.S. Pays to Train 2 Ex-Miners for Fire Fighter Jobs
Two miners who were laid off by a Michigan copper mine received training for employment as fire department drivers through a job-training provision of the federal Trade Readjustment Act of 1974.
The federal government paid for a 240-hour training course conducted by the Lansing, Mich., Fire Department, as well as their room and board while in Lansing. The government also provided money for living expenses of their families during the six-week training course and allowed 15 cents a mile for the 1048-mile round trip from their homes in White Pine. The two men also were authorized to spend up to $100 for clothing, books and other items needed for the training course.
The two miners, Raymond B. Ott and Roger J. Anderson, qualified under the Trade Readjustment Act because their unemployment resulted from the adverse effect of imports on their employer, the White Pine Copper Mine. The act provides funds for retraining and searching for work in other areas.
Ott and Anderson, in looking for work, found that the City of Wakefield, a community of 2757 population 40 miles from White Pine, would hire them as fire department drivers if they were trained for that work.
One of the four field coordinators of the Michigan Fire Fighters Training Council was asked by Wakefield officials if a fire training course was available. He found that the Lansing Fire Department was going to start a recruit training course the following week, and Assistant Chief Clifford Cleyenger accepted the two miners in the training class.
As far as we know, this is the first time the Trade Readjustment Act has been used to train people for the fire service in Michigan. The Fire Fighters Training Council pays a certain amount of money to each community that conducts a 240-hour fire training program provided the training is completed within six months of the employment of the participants.
In addition to the federal funds, the two miners also received money from the copper mine for being laid off.
