When Armour and Company faced a shutdown of six plants, it joined in a cooperative program of vocational retraining with two labor unions; an Automation Fund Committee was formed, with representation from management, the unions, and "public" (college professors); and an experimental program in Oklahoma City provided experience which was applied in Fort Worth, Sioux City (under the MDTA program), and Kansas City. Tentative assessment showed that (1) dropout rates were low in Oklahoma City where selection was rigid and lower in Fort Worth, where the program was on a "continuous cycle" and unemployment benefits were provided, than in Sioux City, where there was a fixed schedule and training allowances under MDTA; (2) employment records were best for Fort Worth and better for all retrainees than for nontrainees; (3) in Sioux City 55.6% of trainees took jobs directly related to their training and in Fort Worth only 35.5% did so; (4) retrainees earned less in new jobs than they had at Armour, with the Sioux City trainees faring better, but in Fort Worth earnings of the entire group rose over 10% in one year. In review, it seems that these programs are feasible, but adequate and unsegregated educational facilities must be provided, the training program must proceed by stages, and the risk of labor market demand must be accepted. (eb)