CFAC offers worker retraining

Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. workers won't be left out in the cold when the plant shuts down later this week.

Workers will be eligible for re-training under a federal law known as Trade Adjustment Assistance, which helps those who lost jobs due to foreign competition.

Under the law, workers who have lost their jobs to foreign competition are eligible for up to two years of retraining, said Laura Gardner, supervisor of the Flathead Job Service.

Because CFAC had petitioned the U.S. Department of Labor for the assistance in previous company layoffs, the workers who will lose their jobs at the end of the week already qualified.

"We're happy to have these benefits in place right now," Gardner said last week.

The program pays for unemployment and college simultaneously. It will also help pay for job search expenses, such as relocation.

Workers over age 50 can also get a subsidy if they have to take a lower paying job. Say, for example, a worker takes a job that pays $10 an hour as opposed to the $20 an hour they were making. The program will pay 50 percent of the difference, or up to $10,000 annually for two years.

That program is designed to bridge wage-earning gaps for older workers looking to retire, Gardner said.

The TAA program doesn't allow carte blanche training, however. For example, a worker couldn't use the funds to go to law school, Gardner noted.

The training has to be cost effective and also in a field that's in demand. TAA will also help with health insurance premiums for laid-off workers, paying 80 percent of the premiums through either a monthly reimbursement or year-end tax credit.

Gardner said her office held an initial talk with workers at the plant on Tuesday about the basics, like filing for unemployment insurance. More specifics on the retraining program will be held on Nov. 17 at Flathead Valley Community College.

Plenty of workers in the county have already taken advantage of the TAA program. Gardner said about 350 laid off workers in Flathead County have already taken advantage of the program and hundreds more are enrolled.