BYD Signs Jobs Agreement at Lancaster Plant

BYD Motors Inc. announced Monday signing a community benefits agreement with Jobs to Move America to create job opportunities for underserved people at the company’s Lancaster manufacturing plant. The agreement calls for BYD to create pre-apprenticeship and training programs for veterans, returning citizens, women and African Americans at its Antelope Valley plant that makes electric buses. BYD has committed to a goal of recruiting and hiring 40 percent of its workers from the groups facing barriers to manufacturing jobs, the company said. Jobs to Move America is a national coalition based in Los Angeles of labor, environmental, civil rights and other groups advocating for good jobs in the transportation industry. BYD Motors is the U.S. subsidiary of Chinese electric vehicle and battery manufacturer BYD Co. Ltd. Its Lancaster facility opened in 2013 and now employs more than 600 workers. In 2014, Jobs to Move America reached a similar agreement with Kinkisharyo International, the El Segundo-based U.S. arm of Kinki Sharyo Co. Ltd. of Osaka, that is making light rail cars in Palmdale. The agreement is to develop readiness training programs for veterans, women and other disadvantaged workers to be qualified for manufacturing jobs in Palmdale.