Coastal area agencies band together to help laid-off Hinckley employees

ELLSWORTH – Workers who recently were laid off from Hinckley Yachts in Trenton may not know it, but there are at least 25 people working to make sure they have the services they need to get by until they find new jobs.

Those 25 or so people met Monday morning at the local Holiday Inn to discuss how they can work together to address the needs of the 49 former Hinckley workers who lost their jobs at the end of September. The group, made up of officials from area service organizations such as Washington-Hancock Community Agency, Maine Coast Memorial Hospital and Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce, represent the Hancock County Transition Team. The service organizations are working with federal and state agencies such as U.S. Department of Agriculture and Maine Department of Labor to assist the laid-off workers with issues such as health care, heating fuel and financial obligations such as house and car payments.

Betty Rambo of Training & Development Corp. said Monday that members of the coalition have spoken with 28 former Hinckley employees, but the corporation does not have a list of all those who lost their jobs. The company, citing confidentiality reasons, did not release the names of its former employees to the service organizations that make up the transition team, so the team has had to rely on the laid-off workers contacting them, she said.

“People are saying ‘next month I might not be able to make my mortgage [payment],'” Rambo said. “Two or three are really panicking about what they’re supposed to do.”

The group talked for about 90 minutes about how to provide the displaced workers with information about programs or other job possibilities. Organizing a small job fair in the near future and publicizing programs through Web sites such as www.211maine.org were among the priorities discussed by the group.

The transition team plans to meet next from 10 a.m. to noon, Monday, Dec. 15, at Ellsworth City Hall.

Rambo said members of the public who are seeking information about resources available to the recently unemployed can contact her by calling 561-4065 or online at brambo@tdc-usa.org.

btrotter@bangordailynews.net

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