Assistance may end for workers who lose jobs to trade

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Workday Minnesota

By Barb Kucera, Workday editor

ST. PAUL - Trade Adjustment Assistance, a federal program that has helped hundreds of thousands of workers get back on their feet after their jobs went overseas, could soon disappear due to an error by Congress, worker advocates say.

The TAA program was created in the 1970s to aid workers who become unemployed due to the impact of international trade. In the last 20 years, as Congress enacted NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and other free trade pacts, increasing numbers of workers have depended on TAA for support in rebuilding their lives.

Last year, more than 280,000 workers nationwide – and more than 4,000 in Minnesota – were certified to receive Trade Adjustment Assistance, which includes money for training and career counseling and in some cases also covers the cost of health care and relocating to a new job.

“This program has truly been a lifeline for many Minnesota families,” said Mike Goldman, dislocated worker labor liaison for the Minnesota AFL-CIO. “If it disappears, it is going to cause huge havoc – and hardship.”


Read more: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4746

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[pam4water]

1. K&R

[KoKo]

2. I think our Democratic Party is Total Supporter of FREE TRADE..so this is Logical

to let it Expire.

And, don't even mention Obama...because we've been told that we "thought" he "supported American Workers" and we even thought he might REVISE NAFTA TRADE AGREEMENT!

But, "WE HAVE BEEN TOLD" that OBAMA NEVER SAID ANYTHING...in his SPEECHES about what "WE (Stupidly) THOUGHT about what he was saying.

We've been given links to "Obama Speeches" and "Transcripts" to what OBAMA "REALLY SAID" here on DU which shows that a huge Majority of Democrats REALLY UNDERSTOOD what OBAMA WAS SAYING...and that the "REST OF US" were "FOOLS because OUR HEARING IS GONE" and we were "IMAGINING" what "WE THOUGHT" we HEARD FROM HIS WORDS OUT OF HIS MOUTH." OR...the other line is that "OBAMA WAS A BLANK SLATE"...and "some of his voters" MIS-READ his SPEECHES or DID NOT...LISTEN CLOSELY ENOUGH to What HE WAS SAYING.

:shrug: I don't know any more the TRUTH OF ANY OF IT. BUT, I'm a somewhat "Unhappy Dem Camper."

[former9thward]

3. The link says it was a “a technical drafting error”

by the lame duck Congress everyone praised. Who will lose their job over this? No one of course. Everyone in Congress, incompetent staff included, has their job protected while making errors that may cost benefits to unemployed workers.

[Enrique]

8. oopsie...

The legislation was intended to extend some special TAA benefits from Dec. 31 to Feb. 12, but instead had the effect of slating the entire program to expire in mid-February, the journal said.

oh, well, these things happen...

[Populist_Prole]

4. GRRRR

Sounds like another nail in the coffin disguised as oversight or incompetence. Plausible deniability for progressives in name only.

[grahamhgreen]

5. Free trade is slave trade. Sucks for us. Sucked for Egypt.

[Raschel]

6. Good slogan.

[Citizen Worker]

7. Damn good slogan. We should get in the habit of using the term, slave trade, when referring to the

corporate authored agreements.