PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government has approved funds to support job search and retraining for 300 workers to be laid off at Verso’s Jay mill.
The U.S. Department of Labor recently certified that workers laid off from the mill and 10 other people recently laid off at a Freeport shoe manufacturer and a Newport print shop could apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
That program helps fund job retraining and provides wage subsidies, which can for a period of time bridge the gap between what a person was earning and what they make at a new job.
For Trade Adjustment Assistance to be implemented, the Labor Department must find that the jobs were cut primarily in response to foreign competition.
In addition to the 300 Verso employees in Jay to lose their jobs starting in December through early next year, the Department of Labor will allow seven employees from Eastland Shoe Corp. in Freeport and three employees from Kelly-Smith Printing and Paper in Newport to apply for assistance.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins co-authored a bill that cleared Congress earlier this year to reauthorize the program that covered about 1,000 workers in 2014 and provided about $3.1 million in such assistance.
CNBC reported earlier this year that about 70 percent of all recipients nationwide had lost jobs in manufacturing.