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(November 16, 2012)
Employees laid off by Hostess last year, including 177 workers in Connecticut, have been certified as eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, U.S. Labor Department officials said Tuesday.
The certification comes after a Labor Department investigation to determine whether the layoff met the group eligibility criteria set forth by the Trade Act of 1974. An investigation found that increased imports of baked products contributed importantly to the company's sales declines and worker separations.
The Connecticut-based Hostess workers were employed in Cheshire, East Windsor, Norwich, Bridgeport and Montville. About 18,000 workers in 48 states have been certified to receive the benefits.
Those benefits include re-employment services, training in new occupational skills, trade readjustment allowances that provide income support for workers enrolled in training, as well as job search and relocation allowances.
"The various departments of labor will contact the affected workers and tell them what they need to do to take advantage of these benefits," said Ted Fitzgerald, a New England regional spokesman for the Labor Department.
Hostess Brands Inc. closed at the end of 2012 and is trying to auction it's various brands.
While TAA is open to workers of all ages, those who are 50 and older may elect to receive re-employment trade adjustment assistance instead. If a worker obtains new employment at wages less than $50,000, and less than those earned in the trade-impacted employment, the program will pay 50 percent of the difference between the old wage and the new wage, up to $10,000 over two years.
