Former workers for 11 oil exploration and drilling companies have been certified as eligible for Federal Trade Act benefits, the Utah Employment Security Department says.
The workers "are eligible for the Trade Act benefits if they were separated from any of the companies within the designated certification period," department spokesman Roger Slagowski said Friday."There's probably a couple of hundred workers eligible for retroactive unemployment insurance," Slagowski said, or for financial help in job retraining, finding new work or relocating.
"The workers are determined to be basically unemployed because of foreign competition," he said.
The companies are: BJ Titan and General Well Service, both of Roosevelt; Adcor Drilling, Dowell-Schlumberger, Gearhart Industries, Halliburton, Halliburton Wellex Division, Loffland Bros. Drilling, RJ Mauning Co., Tuboscope Inc., and Western Company of North America, all of Vernal.
The certification period began on Oct. 1, 1985, for all of the companies except General Well Service, where the eligibility period began Aug. 2, 1986.