A plunging stock market, crunched credit market and general economic malaise are taking a toll on producers of luxury goods like the Hinckley Picnic Boats that were tied up at the company’s Manset dock this summer. Fewer orders have forced the company to lay off some 50 employees, mostly from its Trenton Picnic Boat production facility.—FILE PHOTO

The group known as the Hancock County Transition Team was created in 2005 at the behest of the congressional staffs of U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine). The teams consist of congressional delegation staff, CareerCenter staff and other organizations interested in providing services to displaced workers.

Betty Rambo of the Training and Development Corp. has been working one on one with those who have been laid off.

“They were really blindsided,” Rambo said. “They had no idea until Sept. 30 what was happening.”

Rambo said most of those laid off were highly skilled carpenters and mechanics as well as project managers. Most had been with Hinckley at least five years or more.

Each employee received a severance package of one week’s pay for each year worked, but that has not been sufficient because workers were used to working several hours of overtime a week, Rambo said. Unemployment will not be sufficient to help them make their payments. At least two or three workers are “really panicking,” she said.

They are anxious to get back to work but haven’t been able to find jobs that pay $15 to $20 an hour and provide several hours of overtime a week, Rambo said.

Most people who were laid off are networking within the boat building community but have not been able to find anything because other boat companies are also laying off employees, said Rambo.

Another issue the employees are facing is lack of health insurance.

Their health insurance ended the day they were laid off unless they signed up to pay for their full health insurance premiums which most could not afford to do.

“They couldn’t fill their prescriptions,” Rambo said. “They couldn’t do anything.”

Janet Toth, community development coordinator for the city of Ellsworth, said the workers need to be aware of the possibility of payment extensions — not just on mortgages but vehicles or “whatever it might be.”

Micki Sumpter, executive director of the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce, suggested the group arrange a series of “mini job fairs” with a couple of employers each round.

“There’s got to be some businesses who need personnel,” Sumpter said.

The transition team is working on putting a health care/financial planning event together.

Besides finding health care resources, the workers expressed a need for financial planning information.