SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - As 140 furloughed CRRC employees wrap their first week off the job, they learned on Thursday that their layoff is more like an unpaid vacation.

It’s thanks to an unexpected change at U.S. ports, where car shells — made by CRRC — had been held up by Customs and Border Protection for a year, up until this week.

On Friday, Congressman Richard Neal shared the role he played in making it happen, “we couldn’t understand what the needless and endless holdup was.”

After major railcar manufacturer, CRRC, announced the release of Chinese parts AT U.S. Ports, Congressman Richard Neal stopped by Western Mass News on Friday to explain the change from the federal government, “I had an opportunity, as part of a strategy with Governor Healey, to talk to Susie Wiles, the President’s Chief of Staff.”

That meeting happened on March 17th, one day after the CRRC furlough started, and two months after it was first announced. shipments had been held up by federal authorities as they spent the past year verifying if the parts were made through forced labor.

“We have asserted for months that all the data that had been requested had been submitted, showing that there had been no forced labor as it related to the frames of these Chinese cars,” Neal said.

Congressman Neal told Western Mass News he was three seats away from Susie Wiles during the annual Saint Patrick’s luncheon with the president.

He said he saw the opportunity, and took it, “I saw her and made eye contact with her and laid out the challenge. I could tell that during the conversation, when I said 140 to 150 unionized manufacturing, high-skilled jobs, that got her attention. I also then used what I think is an important mechanism. I handed her a card. One page. Nothing more complicated than what I’ve just described.”

That interaction led to Thursday’s statement from CRRC, “With the release of the shells, CRRC MA’s business operations will gradually resume with the goal to recall affected employees from furlough to resume the work of providing safe quality vehicles to MBTA and Los Angeles metro.”

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