96 South Swan Street   |   Albany, NY 12210   |   Tel: 518.463.2141

Providing Services to Orange, Sullivan, Ulster, Dutchess, Rockland, Columbia, and Greene County.

UNSEENAMERICA New York State
Working Lives, Working Hands

Opening Reception
July 5, 2008
5 to 8 pm

Workers from the Hudson Valley will display the results of their participation in a unique project, UNSEENAMERICA New York State, on July 5th at KMOCA. UNSEENAMERICA New York State encourages workers to tell the stories of their lives in pictures and words.  Construction workers, bus drivers, teachers, social workers, and others came together in Kingston to discuss, and implement through art, how they are seen.  They learned to focus their cameras and pens on their own lives in order to share their stories. 

This project, conceived by Bread and Roses 1199SEIU in 2000, has taken place with hundreds of groups around the country. Unseenamerica NYS in Kingston is a collaboration of Workforce Development Institute (WDI), NYS AFL-CIO, Bread & Roses 1199SEIU, and the WDI Hudson Valley Regional Office.  The project is underwritten by WDI, with support from Senators John Bonacic, William Larkin, Stephen Saland, and the New York State Senate Majority.  The Nathan Cummings Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, and others support the program nationwide.

March 6 2008

 Hydro Aluminum Displaced Workers Report

Last year Hydro Aluminum (United Steelworkers Local 7834 and 7834AS) announced that they were closing their manufacturing plant in Ellenville slashing close to 300 jobs in Ulster County. The problem was, however, that only about one quarter of the Hydro Aluminum employees participated in the Rapid Response sessions.

We were concerned because these Rapid Response sessions are critical in letting workers know what they have to do to apply and receive their benefits yet so few had attended. So WDI partnered with SUNY Ulster to conduct a survey and place individual outreach calls to all the former employees of Hydro Aluminum. Some had moved, some had found jobs and about half completed the survey.  Many were still unemployed and were advised on training options and supportive services to insure that they were connected to the available programs and services. They were also informed of the Trade Act Adjustment Assistance benefits and clarified what steps they needed to take to ensure they would receive these additional benefits. TAA funding is available if the company closes a plant due to the manufacturing plant moving oversees, as was the case for the Hydro Aluminum plant. WDI also provided stop gap funding for education and training for individuals that were not covered by the usual Workforce Development System displaced worker funds.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Ulster BOCES who offered their facilities to establish the Hydro Worker’s Center in Ellenville. We’d like to acknowledge Christopher Chamberlain, a former union representative, who not only volunteered many hours to staff the Worker’s Center two evenings a week to advocate for fellow displaced workers, but also recruited others to volunteer their time as well. Thanks also to the Hydro Response Team, consisting of representatives of the Ulster One-Stop, SUNY Ulster and BOCES.  We met almost weekly to make sure information was being shared and the displaced workers were being given the time and benefits that they were entitled to.

One-To-One Technical Support

If you would like help developing and completing applications for funding from the WDI Hudson Valley Regional office please call Alma Rodriguez at 845.338.5640 or email arodriguez@wdiny.org to set up an appointment. Applications for 2007-2008 Workforce Education and Training Funds are available at www.wdiny.org/educationtraining.html. Download a Question and Answer sheet to learn more about the training and education program and how it may benefit your organization.