Tester announces retraining for Weyerhaeuser workers

Weyerhaeuser workers who were laid off when two mills and the administrative offices were closed in Columbia Falls should see greater federal assistance in getting retrained for new jobs, Montana Sen. Jon Tester announced Monday.

Under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act, workers get their unemployment benefits extended for two years as long as they’re in retraining, whereas normal unemployment lasts just six months. That allows them to go back to college or other trade studies and still have an income.

The program also allows for relocation benefits if a person has to move to find another job and it also offers a wage subsidy for up to two years if an employee has to take a lower paying job, noted Laura Gardner, manager of the Kalispell Job Service office.

The program is available to wood products division workers who lost their jobs since Aug. 23, 2015 and includes contract workers who worked at the company from LC Staffing, Gardner noted. The program may not, however, cover all of the workers at the company’s cedar palace administrative offices, who may have worked in other divisions, Gardner noted. The Job Service is investigating that matter further, she noted Tuesday morning.

Earlier this year during a roundtable in Columbia Falls, Tester called on the Montana Department of Labor to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance on behalf of more than 100 employees who were terminated when Weyerhaeuser closed its plywood and lumber mills and its administrative offices at the “cedar palace.” The last of the Cedar Palace employees are scheduled to be laid off by year’s end.

“Every Montanan who was laid off by Weyerhaeuser deserves an opportunity to land a new good-paying job at home in the Flathead Valley,” Tester said Monday. “I’m pleased to have worked with folks on the ground to secure this important job training resource for workers who were unfairly laid off. I’ll continue working with folks in Columbia Falls and the surrounding communities to ensure they have a renewed shot at success.”

The Trade Adjustment Assistance Act was renewed last year to help assist manufacturing, agriculture, timber, and service employees retrain for new jobs if their job is outsourced or if their employers go out of business due to trade.

The law also provides funding which community colleges and other career training programs can use to retrain workers in skilled work fields and also provides health care tax credits to help eligible unemployed workers afford health insurance.

The Trade Adjustment program has been used in other area layoffs. When the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. had layoffs in 2004, workers benefited from the program and took up training at Flathead Valley Community College.

Interested workers should call the Job Service in Kalispell at (406) 758-6200. Gardner said she plans on setting up workshop for workers soon.