Workers who get laid off from the Boeing Co. in the coming months will get additional federal retraining assistance.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced last week that it is increasing benefits workers can qualify for under its Trade Adjustment Assistance program. The new benefits will take affect Friday.
The changes include:
In addition, a new rule allows workers older than 50 to take another job, rather than try to retrain for a new career. Under this rule, if those workers take a lower-paying job, they can receive federal payments worth half the difference between their new paycheck and their old Boeing pay for up to two years. There’s a $10,000 cap on the payments. Those who qualify may also get health care assistance.
The new benefits are available to all Boeing Commercial Airplanes workers laid off from jobs around the Puget Sound region, Portland, Ore., and Wichita, Kan., as well as workers at the Triumph Group factory in Spokane that used to be owned by Boeing.
The changes were hailed by the Machinists union, which had lobbied for the benefits.
"Having benefits throughout a two-year training program will enable our members, as well as other laid-off Boeing workers, to focus their efforts on retraining," union district president Mark Blondin said in a prepared statement.
The union "will not forget about the members who are out on layoffs," he said.
Since the start of the year, Boeing has cut 306 people from its Washington payroll, which stands at more than 53,000. The company had 80,000 workers in the state before it started layoffs in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
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