EU aid for sacked Portuguese

Social funds released for workers sacked from Portuguese shoe industry.

Hundreds of Portuguese people made redundant from the shoe manufacturing industry are to benefit from a grant of €1.4 million approved today by the European Commission.

The money from the EU Global Adjustment Fund (EGF) will help 680 former workers find new jobs.

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Portugal’s shoe industry was hit hard during the recession. Insolvency proceedings against Rohde, a shoe manufacturer based in Santa Maria da Feira, in northern Portugal, started in September 2009, leading to the factory’s closure and the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs.

László Andor, the European commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, said that the grant would be used to get former Rohde workers “on the road to new jobs through training to give them the necessary skills”.

“The EGF is an effective financial instrument of the EU to help workers facing large-scale redundancies,” he added.

“Those in the Portuguese shoe manufacturing industry have been hit by changing world trade patterns as well as the economic and financial crisis of the recent years.”

The grant will have to be approved by the European Parliament and EU member states.

The European Commission said that the money would be used to give vocational and entrepreneurship training, support for business creating and hiring incentives.