GA colleges helping Albany tire co. workers

Several schools in the Technical College System of Georgia are offering to waive application fees for the some 1,300 employees at Albany's Cooper Tire plant, set to close this year.

Officials estimate that, including secondary suppliers, the closure will affect an estimated 5,000 jobs in south Georgia.

South Georgia Technical College in Americus is offering free enrollment for their winter quarter, commencing Jan. 7 to workers who want to learn new professions and trades, in the wake of the shutdown.

Financial aid and scholarships are available, according to the Cordele Dispatch.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the plant closure.

Albany: applicants swamp job fair

Turnout at an Albany job fair for a Marine Corps contractor on Friday was so great that the contractor, AECOM, says they canceled about 200 interviews that were scheduled for Sunday.

“AECOM has told us that they have so many applications, they will not be honoring those interviews,” Kari Finley, media and events manager for Goodwill Industries of the Southern Rivers and the fair’s host told the Albany Herald newspaper.

More than 1,500 registered for 125 positions, according to the report. The contractor interviewed some 450 applicants.

The more than 10 to one rush for spots comes in the wake of the announcement by the city's Cooper Tire plant that it was shuttering its doors in '09, a move that will put more than 2,000 people out of work.

Georgia unemployment is at a 25-year high.

Click here for more GPB News reports about unemployment.

Cooper Tire Plant closing in Albany

More than 2-thousand full and part time workers in Albany are losing their jobs at the Cooper Tire plant.
The news came in a phone call. Cooper Tire CEO Roy Armes called Governor Sonny Perdue, then notified Albany officials. The plant was selected from four U.S. based Cooper plants to shut down.
The decision came following a two month study that looked at each facility. During that time residents hung 1-thousand blue and white bows to show their appreciation for one of the areas largest employers. Barbara Holmes is with the Albany-Dougherty County Economic Development Commission.

"The most important thing is not just that we're losing these jobs, but these are families that will be affected."

Holmes says the economic impact to southwest Georgia is around 500-million dollars. Cooper blames the closure on higher costs and shrinking demand in the automobile business.