Washington, DC, Sept. 11--The government on Wednesday cleared the way for special aid to 5,000 former Pillowtex Corp. workers who lost their jobs when the sheet and towel maker gave in to foreign competition and shut its 16 plants in July.
The aid, known as Trade Adjustment Assistance, includes retraining and an array of other benefits and services for workers who lose their jobs to foreign competitors.
"This administration is committed to getting help as quickly as possible to the workers who worked at Pillowtex," Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said in a statement.
Pillowtex Corp., the Kannapolis, NC maker of Cannon and Fieldcrest home furnishings, declared on July 30 that it would lay off 6,450 workers and file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time in two years because it does not have the cash to continue operating.
The aid for which the workers are eligible is in addition to earlier federal grants of $20.6 million to North Carolina and more than $4 million to Virginia to help displaced Pillowtex workers in those states, the Labor Department said. Other idled Pillowtex workers are in Mississippi, Pennsylvania, California, Alabama, Illinois, Texas and South Carolina.
The department said the package includes up to two years of training and weekly payments at varying levels in addition to state unemployment benefits, career counseling, job search help, relocation assistance and a health insurance tax credit on up to 65 percent of monthly premiums for workers and their families.
