COLUMBIA FALLS – Former employees of the Plum Creek Timber Co. sawmill in Columbia Falls are eligible to receive training and other assistance from a federal government program.
The company says 29 workers laid off at the sawmill this summer are eligible for the help.
The U.S. Trade Adjustment Assistance program helps manufacturing workers whose jobs were affected by foreign trade. The program helps former workers with job search, relocation, wage assistance, health care tax credits and training.
Several other Plum Creek manufacturing facilities that laid off workers also qualified for program.
Plum Creek has lost business because of the poor market for new housing construction.
At least 23 mills in Montana have been closed since 1990, resulting in the loss of more than 2,000 jobs.