Help on the way for some laid-off workers in WA

If you happened to visit a grocery store over the weekend, then you probably couldn’t help but notice the newest item in stock: hard liquor. Back in November voters approved Initiative 1183 which privatized liquor sales, meaning that supermarkets and mass merchants can sell hard liquor for the first time in our state’s history. While this may mean greater convenience for the consumer, it also meant that a couple of hundred state liquor store employees lost their jobs.

Quite fortunately, last week the U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $1.5 million National  Emergency Grant to Washington. The dollars will provide re-training and re-employment assistance to the liquor store employees, as well as laid-off workers at the Washington State Department of Corrections, Employment Security Department, Parks and Recreation Commission, and other state and local agencies.

You can learn more about the grant here.

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