Laid-off Lenze workers attended a “rapid response” meeting Tuesday designed to help them work through unemployment.
Twenty-eight workers attended the meeting at the Lenze plant, some with their spouses. All will soon have to find new work or other options after the plant closes April 30 and moves operations to Massachusetts.
The news of Lenze’s closing had come as a surprise to all but a few workers at the plant, which began operations in Emporia 10 years ago. Betty Senn of the Workforce Development Center, which sponsored Tuesday’s meeting, said some of that shock was still there, but that the workers were ready to ask questions and get answers.
“Some were curious if TAA benefits were available — they’d heard about them when Modine closed,” said Senn. “I was kind of surprised.”
TAA stands for Trade Adjustment Assistance, a federal program for workers who lose their job or see wages and hours cut because of increased imports. Lenze is currently not part of TAA, but an application can be made by either the company, three workers or the Topeka workforce office. If Lenze is approved for TAA, additional dollars become available for retraining workers.
Even without TAA, Senn said, there is still some retraining money available through the Workforce Investment Act. That could include courses at Flint Hills Technical College and Emporia State University, both of which had representatives at the meeting.
Senn said the Workforce Development Center would work with the technical college on its March 29 job fair, so that Lenze workers can have a crack at the opportunities. The fair will be open to the general public between 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Senn and others reviewed a number of the basics: how to look for a job and prepare a resume, how unemployment works, how to handle the grieving process that comes with losing a job. Investment advisers Jon Geitz and Todd Osborn were there to handle questions about 401 (k) investments, while a representative of SRS explained what services might be available there if needed.
In addition to holding the meeting on site, the Lenze management provided pizza for the workers.
The company has about 30 employees.
In an interview last week, general manager Gene Wood said the company had decided to consolidate operations in its main U.S. office at Uxbridge, Mass. Lenze is German-owned.
“Our product is imported from Germany and logistics were getting more and more difficult,” Wood said in a Feb. 14 interview.
Lenze was the first company to come into Emporia’s Industrial Park III on the southeast side of town. Its neighbors include Norfolk Iron & Metal, Menu Foods and Camoplast Rockland.
Senn said that closings like Lenze’s are becoming too common nationwide. According to one study, she said, 50,000 American workers are laid off each month and most end up working for 30 percent of what they made before.