PITTSFIELD, Maine — Sebasticook Valley FCU is stepping in to help employees of the UTC Fire and Security plant here, which will be shutting down next year.
More than 300 employees are facing layoffs after UTC announced plans to shut down its Pittsfield plant.
James Lemieux, president of SVFCU, said the credit union began making plans to assist as soon as it heard the news.
"The first thing we did was take a look at those folks who were members of the credit union," said the CEO, who explained the point was to let affected members know as soon as possible that the credit union was ready to assist.
Approximately 200 UTC employees are members at the $79 million-asset Sebasticook Valley, which has a community charter.
"We're going to help them with the loans they have with us," said Lemieux. "We can do different things, skip payments, restructure the loans and extend the loan terms to make the payments smaller."
The plant will close March 2015. Some employees might be relocated out-of-state, but most will be laid off over the course of the year, according to published reports.
