The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) has joined Representative Linda T. Sanchez (D-Calif.) and other labor advocates in introducing the Trade Adjustment Assistance Modernization Act. The bill aims to renew and update the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, which lost congressional funding in 2022.
Laura Ewan, IAM Legislative Chief Counsel, represented the union at the announcement. Ewan stated, “TAA must be reauthorized, modernized, and properly funded to help assist and retrain workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Their job losses are caused by greedy corporate decisions that rely on bad trade policy and trade loopholes to prioritize shareholder profits over people.”
The TAA program offers support for U.S. workers displaced by trade-related job losses, including job training, income support, health care assistance, and services to help them find new employment. According to data from previous years, participants in the program earned an average of $50,000 more over a decade than those who did not use its services.
Since Congress allowed TAA’s authorization to expire in 2022, nearly 200,000 workers have filed petitions for assistance that remain unresolved due to lack of funding. The number of pending cases continues to increase.
Ranking Member Sanchez commented on the urgency: “Every day Congress fails to act, American workers and their families are left to struggle. They are not economic statistics. They are our friends and neighbors who unfairly lost their jobs to outsourcing. Trade Adjustment Assistance is a lifeline to them, helping them rebuild their careers, protect their families and hold on to hope. Congress cannot abandon them any longer.”
If passed, the proposed legislation would reauthorize TAA programs for workers, firms, and farmers for seven years; expand eligibility; increase funding; improve benefits such as childcare support; establish a new TAA Communities program; and restore funding for the TAA for Community Colleges initiative.
The bill has multiple cosponsors including Representatives Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), John Larson (D-Conn.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Don Beyer (D-Va.), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.), Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.) and Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.).
Rep. Morgan McGarvey emphasized local impact: “Louisville is powered by unions, our workers deserve to be made whole if they lose their jobs due to trade changes,” he said. “I’m proud to join Rep. Sanchez to introduce the Trade Adjustment Assistance Modernization Act, a bill that makes good on our promise to American workers.”
IAM International President Brian Bryant cited examples where TAA provided crucial support after significant layoffs due to plant closures or relocations abroad: “The IAM knows firsthand how critical the TAA program is to workers who lost their jobs as a result of outsourcing and unfair trade practices,” Bryant said. “When Caterpillar shuttered its Joliet, Ill., facility in 2018 and 2019 and moved roughly 600 IAM jobs to Mexico, TAA was there. When Truck-Lite closed its Falconer, N.Y., plant in early 2020 and shipped more than 150 jobs to Mexico and China, TAA was there. Now, nearly 400 Whirlpool workers in Amana, Iowa, are losing their jobs to Mexico, with hundreds more cuts expected later this year. Without TAA reauthorization, these workers lose not just their paychecks but the job training and financial support they need to rebuild their lives. That’s not just a blow to workers—it’s a blow to their families and their communities.”
