STEUBENVILLE - Workers who've lost their jobs at RG Steel can learn about unemployment claims and the different types of training that might be available to them at a special informational meeting set for 10 a.m. Thursday at the United Steelworkers of America Local 1190 hall in Steubenville.
Local 1190 President Ernie Gambolin said the meeting is intended to "help them through the process."
"It's important for them to know what's available, the programs that are out there available for people displaced from their jobs," Gambolin said. "If we didn't have these meetings, they could really be left out."
RG Steel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 31, seeking protection from creditors while it attempted to find buyers for its properties in Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio. Within a matter of days the company began scaling back its already thin staffing levels.
Gambolin said there are about 200 people still on the job in the area, less than half of the number working when RG Steel filed for Chapter 11. "There were over a thousand in 2009, when Severstal shut (operations) down and never restarted them."
Gambolin said Mike McGlumphy, director of the Jefferson County Workforce Investment Act One-Stop Center, contacted union leaders to offer assistance to the laid-off workers.
Other topics to be addressed are veterans services and employment and one-stop services.
"He's going to go over everything that's available, whether there's funding for training and trade benefits available, how to file unemployment and the type of schooling that's available," Gambolin said.
