LIBERTY Ð When Patty Luttrell and her co-workers found out they would lose their jobs by Christma... A job was exported; a futu
LIBERTY Ð When Patty Luttrell and her co-workers found out they would lose their jobs by Christmas, they bought a bunch of lottery tickets and hoped fate would answer bad news with good.
Forty-six employees of OBG Manufacturing put in a dollar each for the $340 million Powerball drawing on Oct. 19, but didn't win even one dollar.
These days, Luttrell and other OBG employees are figuring out where to look for jobs and what expenses to cut, and wondering if they'll receive government aid to train for a new career.
Unemployment checks will cover the monthly payment on Luttrell's mobile home, but she won't be able to afford her current health insurance policy. And she doubts a job in Casey County will replace her $11.50-an-hour paycheck, meaning a drive of 30 or 40 miles for a new job.
OBG Manufacturing is a distribution facility for a children's clothing manufacturer. It was once an OshKosh B'Gosh factory, where more than 900 workers sewed and screen-printed kids' clothes.
That was before the company moved production to Central America five or six years ago, said Arlen Sanders, former economic-development director for Casey County.
Officials scrambled to hang on to some jobs. The state approved $30,000 in training money and a $50,000 cash grant in 2002 to convert the facility to a distribution center, shipping clothes made by foreign workers.
But Carter's Inc., another children's clothing company, bought OshKosh this year. On Oct. 17, managers called employees at Liberty into the cafeteria to tell them the center didn't fit corporate needs. "I regret to inform you ...," an official read from a statement.
Luttrell plans to use her severance to pay off her car, leaving only food, utilities, insurance and her trailer payment to worry about. She will try to get health insurance for her 10-year-old son, Dustin, through a state program.
Luttrell hopes OBG workers will qualify for federal education benefits, which are marked for those put out of work by foreign competition. OshKosh workers laid off earlier received them. She's not sure what she would study -- maybe computers or physical therapy.
Luttrell quit high school to get married. When she divorced in the early 1980s and came home to Casey County, the only job she could find right away was at a sewing factory -- and she continued her career stitching clothes for 20 years.
If the government does not certify OBG workers for education aid, she'll have to look for another factory job. She hopes she doesn't have to go back to sewing.
Luttrell got her GED more than 20 years ago, but she knows she will need more education to get a good job. It may not be easy, she said, but it will be even tougher for her co-workers who don't have a high school diploma or GED.
She reads with Dustin every night and makes sure he does his homework, and vows he will at least finish high school. She hopes he'll get even more education, because the day is coming when 12 years of school won't be enough, she said.
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