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VII.
Coordination of Workforce Investment Activities within the Local
Area with Statewide Rapid Response Activities
VII
A. Identify the local entity responsible to coordinate Rapid
Response Activities with the state.
Local
Contact:
Rapid Response Coordinator
Regional Reemployment Center
667 N. 7th Tucson, AZ 85705
Voice (520)-629-0450
Fax (520)-622-3676
Regional Reemployment Center is part of the One Stop system
and is a program of Pima County Community Services.
VII
B. Describe how the LWIB and chief elected official(s) will
coordinate rapid response activities in your area with your
overall workforce investment activities.
The
Pima County Workforce Investment Board's Rapid Response program
is housed at the Regional Reemployment Center, which is part
of the One-Stop system.
The Rapid Response Coordinator works closely with the State
Rapid Response unit, the Trade Adjustment Assistance Unit, Unemployment
Insurance, the AFL-CIO, local unions, the One Stop Center, business
organizations, Job Service and community groups in coordinating
local rapid response activities. Representatives of these and
other groups form response teams. Local elected officials join
the response team for major layoffs and sometimes lead special
teams to identify and meet special population needs.
Local WARNs and other notices of layoff and closure are forwarded
by the Rapid Response Coordinator to the State, and the State
forwards WARNs and other notices it receives that affect our
area to our Rapid Response Coordinator. In addition to formal
processes, information regarding layoffs and closures often
comes through staff contacts, local labor organizations, businesses
groups, and other sources.
Once
the Rapid Response Coordinator receives a notice, she contacts
the employer within 48 hours to provide the employer with an
orientation and arrange to provide affected employees with an
orientation to services that are available. The Coordinator
obtains information regarding number of affected employees,
occupations, wages, COBRA benefits, severance packages, and
other pertinent information in order to appraise the response
team and forward information to the state. Each team member
participates in the orientation, providing information about
services available through his/her organization. The Rapid Response
Coordinator prepares monthly reports for the State's Rapid Response
Unit.
VII.
C. Services Available for Rapid Response
The
RRC employs activities designed to outreach to:
- Companies
planning layoffs and/or closures
- Companies
that are hiring
- Workers
who are about to be laid off
- Dislocated
workers.
A business in the process of layoff or closure contacting RRC
will be provided with an orientation. Depending on its needs,
services available for a company may include:
-
Assistance in preparing for the layoff
- Quick
processing of dislocated workers
- A
review of worker training needs
-
Supervisory/management training in handling the workers being
laid off, and the workers surviving the layoff.
RRC contacts workers
- At
the company
- Through
Unemployment Insurance and Job Service
- Through
community networking.
The Unemployment Insurance (UI) administration collaborates
with the RRC on the cases of dislocated workers in "approved
training;" takes claims at company locations during large layoffs;
processes UI claims for many dislocated workers; assists in
the transferring of claims for dislocated workers who need to
transfer to another labor market; and i Identifies and refers
UI claimants to RRC through the profiling system.
Labor Unions and the RRC coordinate the development of apprentice
opportunities for dislocated workers and labor-management committees
during large layoffs.
Dislocated workers are eligible for core services and the progression
of core-intensive-training that is described earlier in this
chapter.
Whenever possible, dislocated workers are provided with as many
core services as possible on site, including but not limited
to applications for WIA, UI, Job Service, testing of basic skills,
labor market information, job leads, assistance in preparing
resumes. In some situations, workshops to help affected employees
identify transferrable skills and brush up on job seeking skills
are conducted.
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