NESHANNOCK TOWNSHIP Bryan China's unemployed can seek federal benefits

About 70 workers were laid off.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Unemployed workers from Bryan China are eligible for federal job-training benefits.
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & amp; Industry announced Wednesday that employees of the Neshannock Township company are eligible to apply for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits.
The benefits are available to manufacturing workers who lose their jobs or have their work hours reduced because of foreign competition or shifts of production to a foreign country.
Matt Keagy, plant manager, said about 70 people were laid off in January as a result of poor market conditions and foreign competition.
About the business
Bryan China decorates china and has been in business for the last 25 years. Keagy said the business, in Northgate Industrial Park in Neshannock, generally operates on a seasonal basis and employs about 100 people from in the fall through January. However, they won't be calling people laid off in January back to work, he said. They have about 20 employees.
The federal designation allows laid-off workers to receive up to 104 weeks of job training, including classroom, on-the-job, employer or basic and up to an additional 26 weeks for remedial education training. Claimants may also receive re-employment services, including job search, relocation and transportation and subsistence allowances; up to 130 weeks of cash benefits if enrolled in full-time training and a 65-percent health coverage tax credit.
Workers 50 or older may obtain new employment at a lower salary, but not more than $50,000 per year, and receive cash benefits up to 50 percent of the difference between their former salary and their new wages, up to a maximum cash benefit of $10,000.