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950 jobs lost in Raeford...
As plant closes, 950 face uncertain future, stricter unemployment rules
....
The company has not been without controversy, with both labor and environmental issues in the past. In a 2008 series on the poultry industry the Charlotte Observer found workers suffered significant injuries while worker safety was underreported at the company’s Greenville, S.C. plant and a raid that year at that plant by federal officials found numerous immigration violations in the company’s hiring. Then, a federal jury convicted the company last year of dodging the Clean Waters Act in 2006 by sending wastewater clogged with blood, grease and turkey parts into the Raeford city water system.
The jobs at the House of Raeford were low-skill, and low-wage positions, but were steady paychecks for many in a four-county area that has unemployment rates in the double digits. The company also regularly hired workers many employers reject – those without high school degrees or with criminal pasts.
The nearly 1,000 without jobs will unwittingly become the first large-scale test of controversial new rules governing the state’s unemployment insurance system. The unemployed, as of July 1, saw their maximum weekly benefits cut from $535 to $350 a month, and instead of six months of coverage will now have between 12 to 20 weeks of benefits.
The changes were passed by the Republican-led legislature and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory to pay back more than $2.5 billion borrowed by the system, which is funded by participating businesses, during the height of the recession. The July 1st start date also prevented 70,000 long-term unemployed from receiving federally-funded benefits, making North Carolina the only state to reject the federal money.
....
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2013/07/17/as-plant-closes-950-face-uncertain-future-stricter-unemployment-rules/
....
The company has not been without controversy, with both labor and environmental issues in the past. In a 2008 series on the poultry industry the Charlotte Observer found workers suffered significant injuries while worker safety was underreported at the company’s Greenville, S.C. plant and a raid that year at that plant by federal officials found numerous immigration violations in the company’s hiring. Then, a federal jury convicted the company last year of dodging the Clean Waters Act in 2006 by sending wastewater clogged with blood, grease and turkey parts into the Raeford city water system.
The jobs at the House of Raeford were low-skill, and low-wage positions, but were steady paychecks for many in a four-county area that has unemployment rates in the double digits. The company also regularly hired workers many employers reject – those without high school degrees or with criminal pasts.
The nearly 1,000 without jobs will unwittingly become the first large-scale test of controversial new rules governing the state’s unemployment insurance system. The unemployed, as of July 1, saw their maximum weekly benefits cut from $535 to $350 a month, and instead of six months of coverage will now have between 12 to 20 weeks of benefits.
The changes were passed by the Republican-led legislature and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory to pay back more than $2.5 billion borrowed by the system, which is funded by participating businesses, during the height of the recession. The July 1st start date also prevented 70,000 long-term unemployed from receiving federally-funded benefits, making North Carolina the only state to reject the federal money.
....
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2013/07/17/as-plant-closes-950-face-uncertain-future-stricter-unemployment-rules/
I've said it before and I'll say it again, "The Jungle" should be required reading for all Americans. What's going to happen to these poor people? No income, no insurance, more strain on WakeMed, more WakeMed layoffs... the vicious cycle continues.
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