October 23, 1995
Web posted at: 9:15 p.m. EDT
From Correspondent Jim Hill
LOS ANGELES (CNN)-- As U.S. companies re-tool to stay competitive, some find many of their workers can't make the change because they are illiterate.
In California, some companies have begun a program that's teaching workers the three-R's.
For years, workers have turned out office furniture at the Steelcase plant in Southern California. What's changed today is that many of the machines the workers use are now run by computers, electronic minds that must be run by the human minds of their operators. The trouble is many factory workers are functionally illiterate or not fluent in English.
"To ask a person that cannot read or write to learn how to push the buttons on a $6 million machine is like asking a pilot to go out and fly a plane without reading the instructions," said Pablo Gonzalez, Steelcase vice president.
In Orange County, California, the number of students with limited English skills has jumped 109 percent in the past five years. In 1991, the county seat of Santa Ana had the lowest high school graduation rate in the U.S.. That's why three community colleges and nine companies have teamed up to teach workers basic skills.
"What may have been appropriate and totally fine five or ten years ago isn't going to now make a person successful," said Karen Klammer of Joblink.
The classes run by Joblink teach everything from basic reading to math and other subjects that allow people to keep their jobs in a changing workplace. It also gives a feeling of self-respect. "I feel good, I feel proud, and my kids they like it too," said a student.
Illiterate workers are often very bright. They've managed to memorize their jobs so well that no one knows they can barely read or write. But when a factory upgrades, with computers and thick instruction manuals, an illiterate worker's cover is blown.
At the nine companies now in the Joblink program, up to 60 percent of the workers need to learn basic skills if the firms are to remain competitive.
"It cannot be by working harder, it has to be by working smarter.," said Gonzalez.
For some workers, it means learning a computer language or maybe algebra. But, for others, basic English is the goal. The advantage in the end for the companies means keeping loyal workers who in many cases have been with them for years.
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