WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb announced today that the U.S. Department of Labor has approved Transition Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for employees of International Paper (IP) Co.’s paper mill in Franklin, Va. The mill, which employs about 1,100 people, began shutting-down operations in Franklin last month. The company has said it plans to complete its shut-down next spring.

The TAA program helps workers who have lost their jobs as a result of foreign trade. The TAA program offers a variety of benefits and services to eligible workers, including job retraining, income support while enrolled full-time in a training program, job search and relocation allowances, a tax credit to help offset the costs of health insurance, and a wage supplement to certain reemployed, trade-affected workers 50 years of age and older.

"This is timely and welcome news for more than a thousand families across southeastern Virginia, and I appreciate the Labor Department’s efforts to issue this certification as quickly as possible,” Senator Warner said. "This assistance can be a lifeline to these workers who simply need some temporary help as they transition to new jobs in a tough economy."

“It is a great relief that the Department of Labor today has granted necessary adjustment assistance to International Paper’s displaced workers in time for the holidays and before IP completes its plant closure next spring,” said Senator Webb. “Trade Adjustment Assistance will help these workers make the difficult transition to new jobs at a time when Virginia’s manufacturing industry faces hard times.”

More information on benefits provided under the TAA program is available at http://www.doleta.gov/tradeact/benefits.cfm.

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