A job is just a job until it’s gone.
Reno Rodriguez lost his job as a machinist more than two years
ago. He was working as a CNC laser operator at the Wonik Quartz
Group in Gilroy, when the plant gradually began laying people off
because of a severe decline in demand in the semi-conductor
industry, he said.
A job is just a job until it’s gone.
Reno Rodriguez lost his job as a machinist more than two years ago. He was working as a CNC laser operator at the Wonik Quartz Group in Gilroy, when the plant gradually began laying people off because of a severe decline in demand in the semi-conductor industry, he said.
The company went from an employee base of about 60 to less than 30, and after four years of service Rodriguez was out of work.
“I’m not a rich man,” Rodriguez said. “Someone like me who doesn’t have a college degree – I didn’t have the experience that other people have.”
Because there were no openings for machinists dealing with semi-conductors, he was out of a job for almost nine months, he said.
“There wasn’t enough work,” Rodriguez said. “I was basically dependent on my family to help me out. Fortunately, I had my father who was able to help me financially – giving me money to help me support my family.”
Before he got laid off from Wonik his hours were cut, so he began supplementing his income with a part-time job at Jack’s Pool Service. He had been in the pool cleaning business for more than 12 years, but when he lost his job completely at Wonik his employer, Jack Herren, couldn’t afford to take him on full time, he said.
Herren needed someone who could do repairs as well as servicing the pools, Rodriguez said.
“I didn’t have the experience for him to pay me what I needed to go full time with him,” Rodriguez said. “And when I got laid off (from Wonik) Jack couldn’t afford to pay me so I didn’t have a job.”
After months of looking for a job unsuccessfully and barely getting by on unemployment, he heard about a training program through the One Stop Career Center that gave on-the-job training to dislocated workers.
The state-funded program provides training opportunities to people who have been laid off by allowing their employers to train them for six months while the program allocates money to augment the employee’s salary.
“They were paying basically half of my wages, so that way (Herren) could train me on what I needed to do to get to where the money that I’m making now is expectable in his eyes,” Rodriguez said. “When you go to a new job they’re not going to pay you $20 an hour if you don’t know the job – you have to work up to it.”
To qualify for the program an individual must have exhausted any and all job leads the career center has to offer; they must be currently receiving or have stopped receiving unemployment, they must have been laid off from a company’s substantial layoff or permanent closure and are unlikely to return to the same job, according to the One Stop Career Center.
After filling out reams of paperwork Rodriguez had to wait to find out if he qualified for the program.
“Once you start going through the process you’re kind of nervous, because you’re thinking ‘please God, if you just give me this I’m set,'” Rodriguez said. “It goes from being kind of down and out because you don’t have anything, and once you know that you qualify it is a big relief. Now you don’t have to depend on anybody – I could be the man of the house instead of having my parents do what I should already be doing.”
Without the dislocated worker program Rodriguez wouldn’t have be able to find work, he said. His job now pays more than his previous job, he works less and he gets to spend more time outdoors, which he enjoys.
He also gets to spend more time with his six year-old daughter, Matea and his wife, Brandy.
“My boss even told me, if it wasn’t for this program he wouldn’t have been able to hire me and pay me what I needed to pay my bills monthly,” he said. “I probably would have had to end up moving out of (Hollister) and moving in with my parents just to survive.”
Rodriguez has been employed with Jack’s Pool Service now for more than a year, and attributes his success to the assistance of the employees at the One Stop center, especially his worker, Brenda Wilson.
Wilson’s professional service, along with her personal support even after Rodriguez finished the program, elevated her status from one of just a worker to part of their family, he said.
“I don’t know how to express the thanks for what they’ve done for me to help me provide for my family,” he said.
The instances Rodriguez spent at the unemployment office made him realize that most people who are out of work don’t know about the program, or more people would be utilizing it, he said.
Anyone who is out of work and looking for a job that becomes involved with the dislocated worker program will benefit, he said.
“It was a blessing in disguise,” he said. “One door was closed when I lost my job and another bigger door was opened when I came across this. It’s one of the great pieces of information I’ve gotten.”
