Workers at plant closing in Mercer to get training
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said job training assistance has been approved for former employees of Reynolds Food Packaging in Pine Township, Mercer County. In January, Reynolds announced that the plant would close in October, leaving 145 employees out of work. The plant will be closed to consolidate operations, and its equipment will be moved to Reynolds plants in New York and Illinois. Assistance includes up to 104 weeks of approved training in occupational skills, basic and remedial education for a different job or career, as well as income support, job search allowance and relocation allowance. Anna Rickert, Mercer County president of the United Steelworkers Association, said she got word of the approval Tuesday night. “I am so excited that these people got this. When I got the e-mail, I cried,” Rickert said this morning. Casey is the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, and wrote to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration to support the Reynolds employees’ original request for Trade Adjustment Assistance in March, which was denied.
