VECO employees eligible for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

As many as 1,000 workers at VECO Corp. who may be laid off between February 1998 and May 2001 would be eligible for special federal assistance administered by the state Department of Labor.

The services available through Trade Adjustment Assistance include on-the-job training and payments equal to an individual’s previous unemployment insurance weekly benefit amount.

VECO’s eligible workers would be laid off from the company’s oil-field services operations.

A Labor Department investigation showed that increased imports of crude oil from abroad have led to a decline in U.S. exploration and production, the agency said.

The oil imports have contributed or will contribute to layoffs at VECO, the Labor Department said.

As of June 15, TAA-certified companies are Baker Hughes Inteq, Baroid Drilling, BJ Services, BP Exploration, Doyon Drilling, Fairweather Inc., Halliburton Energy Services, Nabors Alaska Drilling, Parker Drilling, Pool Arctic Alaska, Quadco Inc., Schlumberger/Anadrill, Sperry Sun and VECO Corp.

Certifications are pending for Arctic Slope Consulting Group Inspection, Natchiq (Alaska Petroleum Contractors), Forcenergy and Arco.

Certifications were denied for NANA Corporate Services, Peak Oilfield and Production Testing Services.

For more information about TAA, call Shawna Harper, TAA program coordinator for the state Department of Labor, at (907) 465-1882.

—The Associated Press contributed to this article