SENATORS SNOWE AND COLLINS ANNOUNCE $2.5 MILLION FOR DISPLACED WORKERS AT BATH IRON WORKS, SANMINA-SCI AND JORDAN MEATS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) today announced that the Maine Department of Labor will receive over $2.5 million in National Emergency Grants from the U.S. Department of Labor to assist displaced workers at Bath Iron Works, Sanmina-SCI in Westbrook, and Jordan Meats in Portland. The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, Elaine Chao, personally telephoned Senators Snowe and Collins this afternoon to inform them of these grants.

" We are pleased that Secretary Chao and others at the Department of Labor share our concern about displaced workers in Maine and the need to do as much as possible to help them access job training, education, and social services programs that are available ," said Senators Snowe and Collins in a joint statement. "These National Emergency Grants will offer real assistance to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. It is imperative that workers get all the support we can provide to help them cope with the disruption and hardship that layoffs cause."

The grants were allocated as follows:

· Bath: $708,561 to Maine DOL Bureau of Employment Services for 151 workers dislocated as a result of layoffs at the Bath Iron Works Company in Bath, Maine.

· Westbrook and Portland: $1,798,574 to Maine DOL Bureau of Employment Services for 320 workers dislocated from the Sanmina-SCI facility in Westbrook, Maine and the Jordan Meats plant (a division of Tyson Foods) in Portland, Maine.

Grant funds will provide skills assessment, classroom and on-the-job training, job search assistance, career exploration, and counseling and other core services to assist workers in connecting to employers in the current job market.