Dixie Chopper workers qualify for federal program

Workers impacted by the closure of the Dixie Chopper manufacturing facility have qualified for a form of assistance from the federal government.

The United State Department of Labor has approved a petition on behalf of the displaced Dixie Chopper workers for Trade Adjustment Assistance.

In November, Jacobsen, a Textron Inc. company, told more than 100 workers that the plant east of Fillmore would be shuttered.

The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program is a federal entitlement program that assists U.S. workers who have lost or may lose their jobs as a result of foreign trade.

The program seeks to provide adversely affected workers with opportunities to obtain the skills, credentials, resources and support necessary to become reemployed. Since 1975, TAA has served more than 2 million U.S. workers.

To introduce the program, WorkOne Western Indiana is offering a pair of TAA informational sessions on Wednesday, April 10 at Area 30 Career Center Community Room, 1 N. Calbert Way, Greencastle.

Sessions will be offered at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Intended for workers and their spouses who were laid off from this location on or after Dec. 20, 2017, the sessions will give an overview of TAA benefits such as training, job search and placement, relocation assistance, health care tax credit and wage subsidy for workers 50 and older.

For additional information and questions regarding TAA benefits or the scheduled orientation, workers are encouraged to contact Mike Smith at (812) 238-5616, Ext. 4 or msmith@workforcenet.org.

Any former Dixie Chopper employees who cannot attend should visit a WorkOne office to learn more about services available to them.

Dixie Chopper was founded by Art Evans when he and a few helpers built their very first zero-turning-radius mower in an old dairy barn on his parents’ small farm east of Fillmore on April 15, 1980.

Every single Dixie Chopper ever manufactured and assembled was made right at home in Putnam County. The company also remained headquartered in Fillmore from 1980 until the sale to Jacobsen/Textron in 2014.