The State of Michigan’s No Worker Left Behind (NWLB) Initiative got a $100,000 boost from The Grainger Foundation. The donation will support training and education for NWLB students pursuing careers in high-demand traditional trades like HVAC and plumbing as well as emerging trades in the green sector.

Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholme said, “Grainger’s commitment to Michigan is extraordinary. It is precisely this kind of public/private partnership and investment in NWLB scholarships for emerging-sector businesses that will help us train highly- skilled workers for jobs in the 21st century economy.”

“We are proud to support this important initiative to reinvigorate the Michigan workforce,” said Grainger’s Octavia Matthews. “Grainger is excited to help with the retraining of workers throughout Michigan so they are well prepared as they pursue jobs in the skilled trades.”

The Grainger Foundation is funded by W. W. Grainger, Inc., the leading broad line supplier of facilities maintenance products serving North America and China.

Read more about No Worker Left Behind.

Read the press release here.

The Detroit News is reporting that the higher than expected offers from GM will likely entice as many as 15,000 GM workers into early retirement. Read more here.

A report in Bloomberg.com says that Ford buyouts will eliminate as many as 9,000 jobs. We’ve reported on the Ford buyouts a few weeks ago. The latest report puts an estimate on the number of jobs that will be lost. That number represents 12-14% of Ford’s North American workforce. The full article is here.

Meanwhile, GM has announced that it will offer early retirement incentives. GM has offered early retirement in the past but this time around the offers will be richer than those offered two years ago. Skilled trades workers will be offered $62,500 to leave early while production workers will be given $32,000.

Union workers in Detroit picketed a midtown apartment construction site this week, protesting that the contractor hasn’t hired a proper quota of local workers to complete skilled-trades work. The protest was 250 strong at one point.

Barabas Shabazz, of Carpenters Local 687 said that city policy dictates that at least 50% of skilled-trades workers on any city construction project must residents of Detroit. The construction project involves a parking garage, apartment units and retail space.

Mike Houseman, the owner of Houseman Construction Co., the contractor for the project, stated that the company is trying to reach the 50% mark of Detroit workers, and he also added that the project is privately funded except for the parking garage.

For the week ending Jan. 19, advance figures for seasonally adjusted initial employment insurance claims was 301,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s (revised ) figure of 302,000, according to figures just released by the Employment and Training Administration arm of the US Department of Labor. California was the state hardest hit, with over 25,000 layoffs in the construction and service industries.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has settled a lawsuit against the United Auto Workers (UAW), the Ford Motor Company and two related companies. Ford and its co-defendants will pay $1.6 million in the settlement of a racial discrimination lawsuit over a written test that determined the eligibility for a skilled trades apprenticeship program. In addition the companies will “provide other relief.”

The suit was part of a series of cases begun in 1998 in Cincinnati. In an earlier suit, Ford and the UAW also agreed to payout, in this case $9.2 million covering 3,400 people. The latest settlement accounts for people who were not included in the earlier settlement. The cases were filed in Cincinnati because complaints were generated at plants in Sharonville and Batavia.

The suit alleges that a written test administered at that time was discriminatory against blacks.

Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley denies that the test was discriminatory but it wants to move forward. “[The test] was approved by EEOC when it was developed,” said Kinley. “However, Ford favors the settlement because it is in the company’s and the public’s best interest to work toward developing the best possible test.”

Yesterday’s settlement of $1.6 million goes to the 700 people nationwide who have taken the test (and been denied by its results) since Jan. 1, 1997. The settlement awaits final approval by Cincinnati U.S. District Court Judge S. Arthur Spiegel following a fairness hearing.

While the news at General Motors does not seem so good these days, 64% of skilled trades (and 87% of production workers) workers at Ford have voted to ratify the new contract between the auto giant and the United Auto Workers union. The new labor agreement promises to keep several factories in exchange for a “two tier wage system” that will give new hires lower wages and less benefits than existing union members. The union also agreed to transfer responsibility for its retiree health care fund to a union run trust. Presumable many of those who voted against the agreement are leery of the way in which these compromises sell out union principles.