Union starts job, aid program for former Farmer Jack workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/010708/loc_jack.shtml

PUBLISHED: Monday, January 7, 2008

By Catherine Kavanaugh
Daily Tribune Staff Writer

MADISON HEIGHTS - Even if they were lucky enough to find a new job, former Farmer Jack employees are struggling.

The grocery chain closed 21 stores in metro Detroit last year, displacing 4,500 employees. Between 1,200 and 2,000 found work at Kroger and other stores but not at the same pay rates.

"We estimate 3,500 people are still without work or are underemployed," said Brad Wilson, community development director for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 876. "Some have gone from making $15 to $18 an hour to minimum wage."

Thousands more are looking for work at a time when wary employers have clamped down on hiring. The unemployment rate hit a two-year high of 5 percent in December, fueling fears of a national recession along with the housing slump and credit crunch.

Wilson and his union brothers and sisters want to help. The UFCW partnered with the Michigan State AFL/CIO and state of Michigan to launch "Peer Program" this month -- an effort to assist families with all the issues related to job loss.

Peer Program workers will connect former Farmer Jack employees with employment opportunities, job training, job fairs, debt and bill paying solutions and other human service agencies.

FULL story at link.