N.C. gets $2.4M to assist displaced autoworkers
The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded a $2.4 million grant to the N.C. Department of Commerce to assist autoworkers affected by permanent closures and layoffs.
Many of the workers also have been previously certified as eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, which provides financial aid and retraining to workers laid off by companies affected by imports.
"This $2.4 million grant will provide these North Carolina workers with important re-employment services to help them find and succeed in new jobs," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.
The grant will provide workers with services not covered under the TAA program, including skills assessment, career counseling and case management. Services and benefits available to the workers under TAA include training, job-search and relocation benefits and a health-coverage tax credit.
In April, Portland-based Daimler Trucks North America said it would cut about 1,500 jobs at its truck-manufacturing plant in Cleveland, N.C., roughly 40 miles north of Charlotte. The company, previously known as Freightliner, said a drop in demand for its heavy trucks prompted the cuts.
The plant had about 2,900 workers before the layoffs. On May 12, all of the affected Daimler Trucks employees were certified as eligible for the TAA program.
Earlier this month, Daimler Trucks also said its Thomas Built Buses unit would eliminate 190 jobs from its Triad-area work force of nearly 1,600 fast cash loans. Company officials blamed the weak economy for a slump in orders for new school buses.
Meanwhile, Daimler Trucks is preparing to move more than 300 employees to Fort Mill, 15 miles south of Charlotte, from its Portland headquarters as it opens a 150,000-square-foot sales and marketing center in July. The company is relocating the operation to Koll Development Co.’s Intellicenter in Charlotte.
Last year, Daimler Trucks announced it would move the unit to North Carolina to be closer to its manufacturing operations in the Carolinas. Those facilities include a pair of plants in Gaston County, west of Charlotte, as well as the truck-assembly plant in Rowan County, between Charlotte and Greenboro.
The company also has an option to buy about 400 acres along S.C. Highway 274 in western York County, southwest of Charlotte, which local officials hope will eventually become the new headquarters of Daimler Trucks. That facility could be a part of Crescent Resources’ planned 2,300-acre Allison Creek development.
Filed under: term by Finance Boss