OKLAHOMA
CITY, OK – The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission announced today that
displaced workers from the Prague and Seminole facilities of VF Jeanswear, as
well as separated employees in Jackson, Tennessee, are eligible to receive
financial help. The U.S. Department of Labor has ruled that former employees of
both the Prague, OK and Seminole, OK plants meet requirements to receive
trade adjustment assistance according to the Trade Act of 1974 (19 USC 2273) as
amended by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-418).
Under Section 223 of the legislation, workers qualify for adjustment assistance
if three criteria are met: 1) workers must be laid off or threatened with
layoff; 2) sales or production must have decreased; and 3) increases in imports
of products like or directly competitive with products made by the firm must
contribute to layoffs or the threat of layoffs. Trade adjustment assistance is
available to individuals who become unemployed as a result of increased imports
or a shift in production. The goal is to help laid off workers return to
suitable employment as quickly as possible.
The
report concludes that “all workers of VF Jeanswear
Limited Partnership, Prague Facility, Prague, Oklahoma and Seminole Facility,
Seminole, Oklahoma who became totally or partially separated from employment on
or after November 27, 2000 through February 15, 2004, are eligible to apply for
adjustment assistance…” Separated employees who would like to take
advantage of this assistance should contact their nearest Workforce Oklahoma
Local Office at 1-888-840-WORK (9675).
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