Laid-off airline workers get help ST. LOUIS (AP) =97 Troy Vuillemot was laid off in January after 18 years= with=20 TWA and American Airlines. With the help of a grant to complete his=20 bachelor's degree in architecture, he's off to a new start. "This (grant)=20 has been a dream come true," said Vuillemot, who graduates Friday from=20 Washington University. "..... I'm looking forward to hitting the job=20 market." Vuillemot has some advice for the 4,080 Missouri-based airline=20 workers who have been laid off since Sept. 11, 2001. Consider other=20 professions, research those industries and find a support network. "I've=20 learned that I can't live in the past, and I have to remind myself that for= =20 every door that closes, another opens," he said. The Missouri Career=20 Centers will be offering similar advice to thousands of laid-off airline=20 workers who will seek job counseling and retraining in coming months. The=20 centers will use a grant of $2.1 million awarded to the Missouri Division=20 of Workforce Development by the Labor Department. It's aimed specifically=20 at helping displaced airline employees find new jobs and careers, said=20 Debra Minish, the division's rapid-response coordinator. And the agency has asked the Labor Department for another $1.3 million,=20 based on the large number of airline layoffs statewide, Minish said. More than 90 percent worked for Fort Worth, Texas-based American, which=20 became Missouri's largest airline employer after it bought bankrupt Trans=20 World Airlines in 2001. American recently notified the state that it plans= =20 to lay off 1,897 people, including all former TWA flight attendants,=20 beginning in June, said Tom Jones, executive director of the St. Louis=20 Agency on Training and Employment. Former TWA workers lost their seniority= =20 when American's unions began representing them. The workers will need the=20 centers' help. Neither American nor the unions offer job-placement or=20 training assistance to laid-off workers beyond referrals. Labor contract=20 changes that took effect May 1 at American will put pressure on many=20 laid-off workers to find other jobs soon. Under the new contracts, designed= =20 to save American $1.6 billion a year, many laid-off workers will get less=20 severance and fewer benefits than colleagues who lost jobs earlier. Flight= =20 attendants won't get any severance. Attendants who were laid off before got= =20 up to two months' salary, pay for accumulated sick time, vacation pay and=20 three months of paid medical coverage, said Tim Kirkwood, 49, an attendant= =20 who recently got a furlough notice. So when hundreds of flight attendants=20 are laid off on July 1, the only source of income for many will be a weekly= =20 $250 unemployment benefit, which is taxable. "I think a lot of us are still in denial," Kirkwood said. Counselors at the Missouri Career Centers hope they can place many of the=20 flight attendants, mechanics and ground workers with companies around the=20 state because their skills are transferable, Jones said. Many airline=20 workers who have sought help from the centers are considering career=20 changes, Jones said. Counselors help them with resume writing and=20 interviewing and in identifying other careers. Jones said some airline=20 workers may qualify for grants to finish college, obtain a professional or= =20 trade license or an advanced degree. He said some furloughed pilots have=20 received grants to learn to fly other types of planes. To get the funding,= =20 they had to show proof that a job is waiting. But most Missouri-based=20 airline workers who apply for an education grant simply need to be enrolled= =20 in a certified training program that could help them get a job in a stable= =20 or growth occupation, he said. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************