Mayor James J. Fiorentini > Press Release

For Immediate Release: June 14, 2007

Mayor Offers Help for Laid Off Lucent Employees

Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini today announced the creation of a Mayoral Task Force to assist the 450 workers who are being laid off from Lucent Technologies.

Mayor Fiorentini has assembled officials from the Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board [MVWIB] and its Lucent Career Center (part of the ValleyWorks Career Center) in Haverhill, CWA Lucent Union, the Commonwealth’s Rapid Response Team (part of Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development) along with the City of Haverhill personnel office and other local industry and labor leaders in an attempt to help find jobs for workers who are laid off at Lucent.

Fiorentini called the impending layoff:

“A tremendous tragedy for 450 families in this area. It is the basic job of government to help people. It is a sad day when good jobs with good benefits are sent overseas and our people are left to fend for themselves. We cannot bring back in these good jobs, but we should and must do everything that we can to help these families. The task force I am putting together will try to provide outplacement services, job skills and coaching and we will try to work both with existing City jobs and with industries to find good jobs for as many of these people as we can. We know that this is going to be a tough and difficult blow. It is our job as government officials to help and we intend to do so.”