Several Hopkinsville manufacturing plants and workforce agencies are offering assistance to Ebonite International workers who learned Friday that the longtime plant was closing immediately.
Among the companies seeking Ebonite employees to apply for work are Toyoda Gosei Automotive Sealing Kentucky, Comefri USA and T.RAD.
“We believe our own employees have family members and friends who have been impacted with this recent news and therefore will target helping those effected find employment first,” a Toyota Gosei spokesman said in a news release.
Better known as TGASK, the company makes automotive weather stripping and plastic interior parts. It is taking application online at http://toyodagosei.com/careers.
At Comefri USA, company executive Sissi Braun posted a Facebook message encourage Ebonite workers to apply at Comefri, 330 Bill Bryan Blvd, Hopkinsville. Comefri makes HVAC centrifugal fans, industrial fans and axial fans.
T.RAD, a radiator manufacturer, announced it will have a job fair for interested workers from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, at the plant, 750 Frank Yost Lane, Hopkinsville.
Ebonite employed 171 people. Of those, about 100 were production workers in the bowling ball factory that had operated at its West Seventh Street plant since 1967. Local officials have said the employees will receive severance pay through Jan. 13. Brunswick bought Ebonite and will move all production to a plant it has operated in Mexico for approximately 15 years.
Additional information to help workers will be available Thursday, Nov. 21, at Hopkinsville Community College during three Rapid Response Events organized by West Kentucky Workforce Board, the Kentucky Career Center and American Job Center. They will begin at 9:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Coordinator Juliet Allen told WKMS the event will share information on state and federal resources for finding a new job, understanding unemployment insurance and accessing referrals to other agencies. In addition, Ebonite workers can learn about the dislocated worker program, which assists with additional training needed for their next job. She said all of the services are federally funded and free to employees.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
