ORONO, Maine — Three days after an Orono call center announced the need for 400 full-time workers to staff emergency FEMA phone lines in the wake of superstorm Sandy, the company said the hiring has been canceled.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency contracted NexxLinx, a Georgia company, to create the temporary jobs in Orono. Since then, the government agency determined its existing emergency call line support structure is good enough.
“We’re all pretty disappointed,” said Jerry Anthony, senior program manager at NexxLinx Maine, on Saturday. “We had everything rolling to provide the area at least some temporary employment.”
A press release from NexxLinx explained that in the aftermath of a disaster such as Sandy, emergency response assessment is conducted constantly, meaning that plans can change quickly as readiness is assessed.
People who applied for the jobs will receive phone calls and letters explaining the change in plans, according to the release.
“As soon as we learned of the cancellation of the additional call support needs, we started contacting all applicants,” said Kim Williams, chief human resources officer of NexxLinx.
The Maine Department of Labor had been helping NexxLinx with initial application intake and decided, upon hearing the hiring was canceled, to open the doors of its Bangor Career Center on Monday to give job assistance to those who had sought the call center work.
“Although we are disappointed that we may not be able to provide Mainers with these temporary jobs, what this does mean is that fewer people affected by Hurricane Sandy need FEMA assistance — that’s good news,” said Jeanne Paquette, commissioner of the Department of Labor, in a press release.
The Labor Department’s other call centers will be closed Monday in observance of Veterans Day, as planned.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
Not shocking here, they did this before, got a bunch of people excited and then do not hire them.
And Shaw’s in Bangor only laid off 4 people but those 4 where full time.
4 for now. More are expected this week
Are those going to be full time as well?
Yes, i heard today that one of the good ones is gone. She was the hardest working one there. Well two of them that left were hard working. Next layoffs are supposed to be this week. (One manager is expected to go so who it will be who knows)
Every applicant should get, 2 weeks severance of promise, pay.
Why?
Never happen, I can just picture this place closing in Orono soon, the management there is not as good as it was when it was the other name
Afraid to say it? Gee what a shock!
I was gonna say what a shock, but i wanted you to say it first lol
Most the “management” are the same ones that were there when it was Microdyne. Yes owners have change and a few top dogs have left but it is not anything different then when it was Microdyne. There was plenty of turn over and there always will be in that kind of place. Nexxlinx is not going any where any time soon. Trust me.
Why?
Hey…that is the unemployment YOU voted for! You all should be very happy!
No Bill, that is FEMA the worst creation in the history of our government. I suspect the grass roots volunteers are making more of a difference in the NY/NJ area than FEMA.
How did I vote for this. Please explain.
I’m sorry, there was no unemployment in this article. You cant have unemployment till you have been laid off of a job. No one was laid off here, the possibility of jobs was there, it sounds like some applications were made out. I not familiar with being laid off of an application and collecting unemployment for that. Really now, some over reaching here.
Nexxlinx has a terrible reputation as being a poor option for employment. They are dishonest in their hiring procedures and have lost many quality employees due to “misunderstandings” after the hiring process. They state that they will work around preexisting schedules and when you are hired they schedule as THEY need and not as agreed upon during the recruitment process. I was told that I would need to “Choose between school or your job”. While supervisors seem sympathetic, they could not change scheduling conflicts without permission which is always denied. I am suspicious of anything that this company says.I would recommend that everyone stay far away from Nexxlinx and believe nothing of what they advertise for.
Sure looks like they’re up to their old tricks.
i agree!
Oh but re-electing Obama was going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread….ha ha ha
Eh… no, not really. It was more that electing the other chucklenuts would’ve been even worse.
In either case, it’s not relevant, since this news story has precisely nothing whatever to do with the election outcome.
Really, you would have been all over Bush if it was the other way and you would have been after Romney. Give me a break will you! And how can it be even worse if this didn’t happen? Do you have any idea what comes out of your mouth?
I would’ve taken the previous president to task about a small-time call center’s and/or FEMA’s management being mendacious and/or indecisive twits? How do you figure that?
NOTE: Rhetorical; I don’t actually care how you figure that.
Another lousy prediction. About as (in)valid as your election results predictions.
Oh, man, was he the one who was going around last week posting all the comments predicting that everything that didn’t happen was going to happen? El, as the young persons nowadays say, oh el.
do you?
when you vote for the lesser of two evils, you still end up with evil.
True. OTOH, the poet tells us that if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
I believe Confucius was down with that concept. “Not to decide is to decide.”
You complain about the government spending too much…hands outs…then you complain when they cut back.
From the Independent column, it looks as if neither side has any real principles. The Republicans say “bama is spending too much, then when budgets are cut, they say he’s being insensitive. The Democrats say the Republicans don’t care about people, but when Bush adds prescription drugs to Medicare and medicaid pay-outs (The biggest rise in entitlement spending since LBJ, Democrats either ignore this, or say that it isn’t enough.
I think everyone who runs for President should be required to undergo extensive therapy for self-abuse.
Ouch. I meant to hit the “reply” button and accidentally clicked “liked”. Kindly deduct, subtract, and remove one of the “likes” in your tally. As for the reply, I want to say I am most grateful that I’ll never live to see how much worse this nation would be if Romney had won the election.
Obama’s job plan……………
Not.
My, my, what a scathing comment ………….. I’m cut to the quick, bleeding all over the keyboard as I type …………….
I guess that explains why your period key stuck.
He hired at least 100 caddies in the last 4 years !
The jobs are not needed, would you want money to be spent when it’s not needed? All of the ones that are bitzhing, get over it, nothing would make you happy.
Heck of a job, FEMA!
If you thought Obamo didn’t care about unemployment the first four years, wait until you see how much he cares when his re-election doesn’t depend on it.
How about LePage putting Mainers to work? Where is the…we are open for business?
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.
Again, what did the President have to do with this?
i was thinking the same thing. everyone has to bring politics into everything. it’s annoying
Sally N., that’s because politics is IN everything. What don’t you get about that? And I agree with you that it’s annoying.
Actually Bill – this is good news. It means that the clean-up and recovery from the storm is happening faster than expected. It means that FEMA is meeting the need without having to spend more of YOUR tax money.
You really need to get over the fact that your guy lost the election. It’s time to move on.
Actually things are moving along nicely without FEMA’s help. By the way did you move on when when issues near and dear to your heart lost? No, you sat at your computer day and night in your nighty pounding out comments. Yes, it’s time to regroup.
How would you know this. A chapter out of ” I Spy”. :^)
Yikes – creepy to know that you’re keeping tabs on me – probably times for you to find a new hobby. As far as things moving along nicely without FEMA – you might want to talk to someone who actually lives in one of the affected parts of New Jersey. You’ll find that they are quite happy with the services that FEMA is providing.
As usual you have no clue what you are talking about. I happen to be from NJ and have talked to relatives there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIlcWDjg1To
No I’m not creepy but I happen to see your constant posting, you have to comment on every story. You think your are an important person. My dear you need to get a life. I’m leaving for a few days to help down in NJ. Why don’t you get off your @## and do something useful once in a while.
I thank you for posting a positive blog. People are so stuck in the past. So when I see someone trying to make a positive comment either side, is a good thing.
Can I quote you on your last two lines the next time you coment about govenor LePage?
It also means tax dollars will not be expended here, to this fiscal conservative that’s a good thing.
“It means that FEMA is meeting the need without having to spend more of YOUR tax money. ” That’s not what the locals are saying.
– O – ……….
Good
wow another blow to those folks who are unemployed and looking forward to at least a little something even though it would have been just a temporary job. Something is better than nothing…:(
IF the orono call center is still the same as it was in 2002 when my foster son worked there, it is CRAMMED full of UMO students who spend most of their earnings in the local taverns.
This is not about families surviving. NO ONE can survive on call center wages.
Folks get use to it. There are no jobs out there.
Stop blaming Obama for this… he had nothing to do with this they should have just figured out that there current call structure was good enough first before hiring more people
Before you protect your Obama from critics ask why they are not helping people in Jersey and NY. Why are they preventing people from going in and helping… They are letting people starve and freeze to death with the are standing around watch it happen.. Research it, look up the suffwering going on there.. Is Obama punishing the working class for any secial reason?
Those folks are getting help, everything takes time. People down there have not dealt with the loss of power very well.
The power being on isn’t President Obamas fault. FEMA has handed out a lot of money so far.
People are frustrated that’s to be expected.
Actually I have Friends who live in Tottenville, and they say the Feds are doing a much better job than the State. Also, they say that there is not much need for a call center as there aer people walking through neighborhoods with clipboards taking the same information.
That has nothing to do with the Orono Call Center… way to go off topic
oh but Bush caused the katrina storm, all you folks did is slam bush during that one, obama said the govt is your big brother so where are they on this one, it would not tak that long to get generators to all the gas stations and get them power, where was obama during the Tenn flood, a few years back did he ever go there?
where are the Obama jobs!!!!!!!
Where are the jobs LePage promised?
where is the temporary housing for the cold and starving people.. Hey last not sell them fuel because they might just stay warm. courpt bunch..The fema Head ought to be arrested for harming americans.
Agreed. And once again, private individuals step up to the plate because of the massive fraud and failure of highly-paid robot-people.
How hard is it for two companies to have an agreement to how many workers or calls are projected for a need like this? It is really no that hard, someone exaggerated things along the way.
Again, the feds! Build Mainers up, then pull out the rug. When you bang your head on the floor enough times, you really should pick up the scatter rugs and wash the floors.
The election is over now to h… with the victims of Sandy. They will just have to wait like Louisiana did. Obama said no red tape– everything would be taken care of asap. Yeah right…
My experience with my local career center was this. They made me spend weeks taking a program on how to find work. Then they told me to find a job on my own via the computer or the postings on their bulletin board. So much for the help. I think those career centers are in business to sustain the jobs of the people who work there. Nice work….if you can get it.
LOL WHAT A JOKE…glad i have my full time job with my company