The U.S. Department of Labor has approved federal aid for displaced employees at the Madison Paper Industries Inc. mill in Madison, Maine, USA. The company had announced this past month that the mill would close by the end of May, with some 214 mill workers losing their jobs.

The mill employees will be aided by the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which helps workers who have lost their jobs as a result of foreign competition or production moving offshore. Madison recently won a trade case in which it accused a Canadian mill of receiving illegal subsidies.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins, independent Sen. Angus King and Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin praised the assistance as providing a "crucial lifeline" to displaced workers.

The decision to close the Madison mill was made by the mill's corporate parents, Finland-based UPM-Kymmene Inc. and New York Times Co. subsidiary Northern SC Paper Corp., after they decided there was no path to profitability. Only a handful of maintenance workers out of the 214 employees are to be retained to maintain buildings and a hydro facility at the mill after June 1.

Madison Paper Industries, Inc. produces pressurized groundwood pulp and supercalendered paper. The company was founded in 1889 and in addition to the mill in Madison, also has offices in Norwalk, Conn., and Chicago, Ill. Madison Paper Industries operates as a subsidiary of Myllykoski North America.