Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Staff report
Youngstown
Workers laid off from a Youngstown packing- products manufacturing facility will be eligible to receive federal trade- adjustment assistance benefits, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announced Monday.
About 70 former employees of the Polyair Corp. plant here will qualify for the trade-assistance program, which provides aid to workers who have lost their jobs as a result of increased imports and overseas competition.
The Youngstown facility, one of eight plants operated by Toronto-based Polyair Inter Pack, closed in March. The plant employed 41 workers at the time of its closing, all of whom were offered jobs at the Polyair facility in Bardstown, Ky.
The U.S. Department of Labor, which administers the trade-adjustment assistance program, ruled last week that an increase in imports of polyethylene foam, a packing material made by Polyair, led to the closure of the company’s Youngstown plant.
“Losing a job can devastate families and affect whole communities,” Brown, a Democrat, said in a news release. “These funds will help ensure that these displaced workers in Youngstown have the financial support and training opportunities to get a fresh start.”
The trade-assistance program includes career- training opportunities, income support and allowances for job searches and relocation. Workers laid off from the local Polyair facility after Aug. 13, 2009, may be eligible for the benefits, which expire Nov. 12, 2012.