With plant set to close, some workers start fresh
 Alcatel-Lucent worker Mike Lanza is studying biotechnology at Middlesex Community College. (Essdras M Suarez / Globe Staff Photo) |
Chinese hamster ovary cells weren't exactly in Mike Lanza's career path when he got a job at the old Western Electric telecom plant 28 years ago.
Now the cells are a big part of Lanza's future, as he trains for a new job in the state's biotechnology industry. "Cambridge is loaded with jobs," said Lanza, 48, who lives in Haverhill. "I only see the opportunities growing."
Lanza is one of 120 blue-collar workers due to be laid off July 2 from the plant on the North Andover/Haverhill line. The factory, which manufactures fiber-optic network systems, is now owned by
The closing has forced workers to reinvent themselves for a new economy driven by life sciences, healthcare, and finance instead of old-line manufacturing. Some, such as Lanza, have wasted little time preparing for a new world of work. He enrolled in a biotech degree program at Middlesex Community College even before the closing of the 65-year-old plant was announced last year.
"You could see the writing on the wall," Lanza said of the thousands of layoffs that have hit the facility since 2001. "The last five years at Lucent were slow. We weren't developing new products, and if we did, the [production] went overseas."
Already, he's in class 16 hours per week, often peering into a microscope to determine if cell lines are dead or alive. "It's not like anything I've ever done before," said Lanza, dressed in a white lab coat and protective blue gloves. "I'm actually excited to be learning something new."
He hopes the state's new $1 billion life science initiative, which aims to boost the biotech sector, will lead to a future filled with promise. "I think that's going to do a lot for the industry," said Lanza, who is married with a college-age stepson. "I read an article that said 80 percent of manufacturing [in the state] will be biotech-related."
But others struggle with the reality of life without Alcatel-Lucent. "For a lot of us, it's hard to think about going somewhere else," said Debbie Mills, 50, of Kingston, N.H., a plant worker for 28 1/2 years who is thinking about computer training. "When we started, this was the place to work. If you could get in here, you were lucky."
At its peak, the former Merrimack ValleyWorks plant employed 12,000, with workers earning $18 to $27 per hour, plus benefits. "My uncle told me he could get me in here," recalled Joel Finochiaro, 48, an assembler from Haverhill who has worked at the plant there for 28 years. "He told me I could work here for 30 years and leave with a nice retirement. He was close."
Alcatel-Lucent, the world's largest telecom firm, has said the plant must be closed as part of a global cost-cutting strategy. But the loss of a once-storied employer, and its impact on employees, has not been lost on the company, a spokeswoman said.
"Certainly, it was a very difficult decision to do something like this," said Mary Ward, a spokeswoman at the company's North American headquarters in Murray Hill, N.J. "The company fully understands the impact on employees."
But Lucent workers are also hitting the market at a time when the economy is weak. The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in June, according to the US Department of Labor. The Bay State's unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in April, the most recent month available, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Job training dollars are in the offing for laid-off Lucent workers. The state has applied for a federal National Emergency Grant from the US Department of Labor to provide retraining money for workers. The state's Rapid Response Team, which has been on-site helping workers prepare for a job search, will receive an additional $105,385 state grant starting July 1 to continue helping workers, a state spokeswoman said.
The state also certified the plant for Trade Adjustment Assistance, which provides additional funding and job training opportunities for workers whose jobs have been lost to foreign competition.
As part of its contract with its union, Alcatel-Lucent agreed to provide tuition benefits to workers. The fund will pay as much as $3,250, depending on the years of service, through 2012, according to Ward. "We are doing what we can to help people transition to the next phase of their careers," she said.
Some workers have already moved on. Donald Frechette of Methuen, who worked at the plant for 28 1/2 years, landed a job as a bench hand at
He applied for the position at a job fair held for Lucent workers last spring at the plant.
"There is life after Lucent," said Frechette, 50. "You just have to look for it."
Frechette retired from Alcatel-Lucent on June 6. Three days later, he started at Raytheon, working on the Patriot missile project. He's earning $11.27 per hour, about half of what he earned at Alcatel-Lucent.
But Raytheon has promised a $1 per hour raise every six months, he said. He also plans to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance, whose funds can be used to make up for lost wages.
"I figure in four years, I should be almost back up to what I was making when I left," Frechette said. "Manufacturing is all I know. When I was kid, if you got out of high school and didn't go to college, you went to work in the big companies."
After July 2, Lanza will be a full-time student. He has one year left to complete his degree. He hopes the sheepskin will position him for a steady paycheck for at least the next 10 years.
"When I was 18 years old, I could go to a neighborhood factory and get a job," he said. "But now you need more than a high school education.
"I am too old to be a laborer, and too honest to be a salesman," Lanza added with a deep chuckle. "So I decided to go back to school."
Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com.
