Helping a job change succeed

Bryan Motter lost his engineering job last year at Glatfelter’s paper mill in Spring Grove. The Penn State graduate is now working on his teaching certificate at York College, with a goal of becoming a high school science teacher. Bryan Motter had always thought about becoming a teacher one day. Changing careers didn’t become a priority, though, until May 2004.

That’s when Motter, 43, lost his job as an engineer at Glatfelter’s Spring Grove mill.

Motter, whose father retired from the 141-year-old paper company, worked at the plant for 18 years.

The company announced that it was going to eliminate 175 positions at the plant. “I didn’t anticipate I would be one of them,” Motter said.

Motter left the company with a severance package, a referral to a career counselor, and several tough decisions to make regarding what he should do with the rest of his life.

“It was definitely a shock for the first few weeks and months,” he said.

Motter visited the career counselor and asked for help developing his resume — something he hadn’t had to do in 18 years.

“That was a task,” he said. “I didn’t have one prepared, because I didn’t think I was leaving.”

Motter sent his resume to various places but didn’t get any nibbles. The employment counselor warned him that might happen.

Motter found out in July that he was eligible for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance.

The TAA program offers workers, who have lost manufacturing jobs to imports or outsourcing, money to go back to school to train for a new profession.

Glatfelter applied for assistance on behalf of its workers. The federal government approved the company’s application, agreeing that 53 workers at the Spring Grove plant had lost their jobs because of foreign competition. Motter didn’t even know the program existed.

He decided he would go ahead and give teaching a try.

He already had a college degree. The TAA program enabled him to get his teaching certificate.

Motter attended his first class at York College in January, and is expected to receive his teaching certificate by the end of May 2006.

Motter considers himself fortunate to have gotten accepted into the program.

But going to college at 43 is a lot different from going to school when you’re 18.

“It was a little something to get used to it,” he said.

Bill Kreiger, Motter’s college adviser, sees a lot of potential in the former Glatfelter employee.

“He has a goal, and he’s working diligently toward that,” Kreiger said.

“He’s a good student — very conscientious. He’ll do well in education.”

That’s what the federal government is banking on. The TAA program is paying Motter’s tuition. That has made the transition from unemployment to full-time student easier.

“They want you to be able to succeed,” Motter said.

Without having to worry about paying for college, Motter is focusing on his future career.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “I look forward to being able to work with kids.”

To expedite things and to keep costs under control, Motter is taking a full load of courses. Pennsylvania tries to keep its TAA training costs at $16,000 per student.

Motter said he’s cutting it close. If he goes over that limit, the program does not allow him to make up the difference in costs.

Ultimately, he’s hoping to land a job as a high school science teacher when he gets his certificate. Motter’s chemical engineering background and work experience will come in handy in the classroom.

His new job won’t pay as much as his job at Glatfelter, but that’s fine with him.

“The money thing isn’t always the most important thing,” he said.

With summers off, teaching does have its perks, though.

“That’s an appeal,” he said.

Motter knows by watching his wife, Brenda Motter, who is a teacher at Shrewsbury Christian Academy, that teaching isn’t an easy profession.

“Believe me, being married to a teacher, they work plenty of hours throughout the year,” he said.

“During the year, you’re correcting papers every night.”

But after 15 months without a job, Motter is longing for those long nights with a red marker and a stack of papers.

“I’m anxious to get started,” he said.

Trade Adjustment Assistance

Q: How much time does a company or its workers have to apply for assistance?

A: The petition must be filed no later than one year after worker separations.

Q: How does the U.S. Department of Labor investigate a petition?

A: DOL has 40 days to conduct the petition investigation to determine if there has been a shift in production and if increased imports played a key role in the decline in employment and sales or production at a firm or subdivision.

Q: What happens after a petition is certified or denied?

A: The determination is sent to petitioners, the company official, the state agency and a regional office. The finding is published in the Federal Register.

Q: Are only workers who produce something eligible for TAA benefits?

A: The petitioning worker group must produce an article. If the worker group provides a service they might be eligible if the service provided is related to the production of an article by their firm.

Q: When should a petition be filed?

A: A petition should be filed on behalf of the workers as soon as the layoffs are announced.

Q: How many workers have to lose their jobs to qualify for benefits?

A: If the firm has fewer than 50 workers, employment must decline by 3 percent. If the firm has more than 50 workers, employment must decline by 5 percent.

Q: If imports contributed to a decline in sales, does it matter from which country those imports came?

A: No, imports can involve any foreign country, including Canada and Mexico.

Q: Does the U.S. Department of Labor require a certain percentage of sales to be lost to imports before workers would qualify for benefits? If so, what’s the percentage?

A: No percentage is applied.

Q: Typically, how does a company prove to the Department of Labor that’s what happened?

A: It is not the company’s responsibility to prove that its workers have been impacted by imports or a shift. DOL obtains information from the petitioners, collects data from the petitioning workers’ firm, customers and import statistics to support the petition determination.

Q: What specifically is the difference between TAA and ATAA? Under ATAA, how old do you have to be to qualify?

A: Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits include training, job search and relocation allowances, income support and the Health Care Tax Credit (HCTC). Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) is available to workers 50 years of age or older who find new employment at a wage lower than they made in adversely affected employment. DOL will pay 50 percent of the wage difference between the old and new employment, not to exceed $5,000 per year for 2 years.

Q: Under TAA benefits, how much income support could somebody get?

A: The income support, or Trade Readjustment Allowances (TRA), is based on the individual’s unemployment insurance amount. The individual may receive up to 104 weeks of income support (with weeks of UI counting), and an additional 26 weeks if required for remedial training.

Q: Under TAA, how much can someone get for a relocation allowance?

A: There is no cap. The state agency determines the amount based on federal travel regulations.
Q: Is retraining a given if you qualify for benefits?

A: Members of a worker group certified to apply for TAA may apply for training. The state agency will determine if individuals meet the requirements for approval of TAA-funded training.

Q: Once a company’s petition is certified, how long is the certification good for?

A: A certification covers about a three-year period. It establishes an impact date going back one year from the date of the petition and does not expire until two years after the certification is issued.

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