In a recent letter to the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) urged Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao to approve a National Emergency Grant request for workers who were displaced by the outsourcing of jobs at Sensata Technologies in Standish, Maine. The Maine Department of Labor, in collaboration with the Cumberland County Training Resource Center and the Coastal Counties Workforce Board, requested $779,362 in NEG funding last week.
“This National Emergency Grant funding will help provide essential services to the Sensata employees who were displaced earlier this year,” said Snowe and Collins in a joint statement. “It is our hope that the Department of Labor can immediately approve this request and help these employees and the Standish community gets the resources they need to move forward.”
Earlier this year, Sensata Technologies announced that its production operations would be moving overseas to the Dominican Republic and subsequently 200 employees would be dislocated. Senators Snowe and Collins have worked diligently to ensure that emergency funding is provided to workers to help with career counseling and training services.
Included is text of the letter:
The Honorable Elaine L. Chao
Secretary
U.S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20210
Dear Secretary Chao:
We are writing to follow up on a National Emergency Grant (NEG) application that the Maine Department of Labor, in collaboration with the Cumberland County Training Resource Center and the Coastal Counties Workforce Board, electronically filed with your office on behalf of the employees of Sensata Technologies in Standish, Maine. On January 10, 2007, Sensata Technologies announced that they will be moving their production operations to the Dominican Republic and that approximately 200 employees will be dislocated as a result.
The National Emergency Grant request is for $779,362 to provide support services to the unemployed workers and to provide on-site career counseling and training services to the workers. In addition, classroom training, on-the-job training, job readiness, adult education, skills upgrading, entrepreneurial training and apprenticeship opportunities in stable and growing occupations will be emphasized. This training is critical if these employees are to find and obtain stable and meaningful employment in the region.
Due to this layoff announcement, we urge you to promptly review this NEG proposal and arrive at a favorable decision as soon as possible, allowing the Maine Department of Labor, the Cumberland County Training Resource Center and the Coastal Counties Workforce Board to continue to assist these workers with unemployment services.
Please notify us when you reach a decision on this matter. Thank you for your attention to this pressing issue on behalf of the Maine Department of Labor, and more importantly, the dislocated workers and their families from Sensata Technologies.
Sincerely,
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE SUSAN M. COLLINS
United States Senator United States Senator
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