Ex-Kaiser workers can get special aid
Trade Adjustment Assistance provides retraining, income
Jim Camden - Staff writer
Some 1,900 workers laid off from Kaiser Aluminum plants in Washington state are eligible for special aid from the U.S. Department of Labor, Sen. Maria Cantwell said Wednesday.
The workers are eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits because they lost jobs due to increased aluminum imports. Under the program, Kaiser workers from Spokane and Tacoma could be eligible for nearly $60 million in aid for retraining and supplemental income payments.
Faced with high energy costs and low aluminum prices, Kaiser has shut down its smelters in Mead and Tacoma. It has also reduced staff at its Trentwood rolling mill.
The layoffs affected 1,600 workers in the Spokane area and another 350 in Tacoma.
The United Steelworkers of America applied for the trade adjustment aid late last year, saying the job losses were due in part to aluminum imports. On Wednesday, the Labor Department agreed they were eligible for benefits under the 1974 Trade Act.
The department's decision means the workers can apply for as much as $9,000 to cover the cost of retraining, occupational skills or basic education at a state-funded school or college, a spokesman for Cantwell said.
They can also apply for weekly cash payments of $450 per week for as long as 52 weeks, after their other unemployment compensation is exhausted.
The program also covers some relocation costs for workers who must move to find work in another area.
The Steelworkers said Cantwell was instrumental in getting the department's certification.
She said the announcement gives Kaiser workers "more certainty about their future."