Because Superior Industries in Rogers is moving jobs to Mexico, workers at the plant will be eligible to apply for more than standard unemployment benefits through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program.
Administered through the U.S. Department of Labor and the state Department of Workforce Services, Trade Adjustment Assistance includes job training, income support, job search and reallocation allowances, and assistance with health care premium costs. Employees 50 years and older also are eligible for a wage supplement in certain cases. According to an application filed by the Department of Workforce Services, 497 employees will be eligible to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Superior announced July 30 that it would end production in Rogers, cutting about 500 jobs. Relocating to Mexico will save the company about $15 million in labor costs.
Whether employees might be eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance is one of the first questions asked by the Governor's Dislocated Worker Task Force, a division of the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services. Communication between Superior and the state began before the announcement became official.
"We are in regular communication with management to identify needs that can most benefit impacted workers," said Jay Bassett, who heads the task force. "Whenever we learn of a dislocation event of this nature, we immediately contact the company and ask if foreign trade might have been a factor. That's part of the information we gather."
Bassett said the review process of applications can take up to 45 days. Superior's group request was submitted July 31 and approved Aug. 18. Individual workers must apply through the local American Job Center to determine eligibility for specific benefits.
Trade Adjustment Assistance was established in 1975. More than 2 million U.S. workers have been aided by the program since it began, according to the Department of Labor.
A Department of Workforce Services spokesman said all Rogers employees, including on-site leased workers from TEC Services who became "totally or partially separated from employment" are eligible to apply for assistance.
During the 2013 fiscal year, more than 2,000 workers in Arkansas participated in the program, a Department of Labor spokesman said. An estimated 1,661 workers are eligible for the service so far in 2014. More than $12 million in federal training funds were allocated in 2012, the most recent year available.
PSC Fabricating in Fort Smith was approved for the foreign trade assistance in July. Since October 2013, there have been seven companies with workforce in Arkansas approved for the program.
Superior opened its Rogers plant in 1981. It is a significant hit to the local economy and a region with a preliminary June unemployment rate of 4.9 percent.
"We're taking an all hands on deck approach," said Steve Cox, economic development officer at the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce. "We're working with Department of Workforce Services, the governor's's task force, the plant. It's important to us that we assist in any way we can."
The Department of Workforce Services and Governor's Dislocated Task Force are among the groups working to find employment for the workers at Superior. A job fair will be held at the plant Sept. 24.
Business on 08/26/2014