The U.S. Department of Labor has notified U.S. Senator Jack Reed that they are granting his request to provide additional unemployment benefits and worker retraining funds to workers who lost their jobs when Presto Lifts, Inc. of Pawtucket closed its plant in March of 2002. One hundred workers lost their jobs.
The additional federal assistance will be provided through the Trade Adjustment Assistance fund, a program designed to assist workers hurt by foreign competition. TAA funds to towards job training, job-search help, relocation aid and cash to workers who lose their job due to foreign competition. To be eligible for the program, the U.S. Labor Department must find that the jobs were lost as a result of foreign competition.
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In a response to a letter Reed sent to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao in May, Department of Labor officials wrote that “increases of imports of articles like or directly competitive with forklifts produced at Presto Lifts contributed importantly to the decline in sales (of forklifts.”
In an investigation initiated in April, the department found employment at Presto Lifts declined while imports of foreign made pallet trucks increased during the same period.
“With the slow down in the economy this additional federal assistance is essential to ensuring that these workers are able to stay on their feet during a difficult period in their lives,” said Reed.
