A mixed bag of emotions is flooding the agricultural town of Truro, N.S., in the aftermath of Tandus Carpets announcing it will be closing operations in the town after decades of opportunity for generations of families who were employed there.

“It’s still all shock factor. It’s very sombre in there right now. We’re all just giving each other support and just trying to wade through and figure this all out for everybody,” Melissa Martell said, the President of Local 4612 at Tandus Carpets.

Martell says upwards of 200 people will be impacted by the company moving its operations to the United States this summer.

One of her main concerns is the aging workforce of many of the current employees.

“We have people that are very close to retiring and they’ve been working there for 30 or 40 years, there’s no way that they can get retrained on something and get back out in the workforce. They’re so close to their retirement and they’ve invested so much of their energy and family time and work into that place,” Martell said.

Optimistic for new business 

Bill Mills has been the mayor of Truro for over 20 years. He’s seen multiple families put food on their tables through employment at Tandus Carpets.

“Two hundred and forty jobs to an area such as Truro and Colchester is significant,” he said.

In his eyes, the company has given indicators over the years that their operations may not be a guarantee for the provincial hub town.

“At its peak, Crossley Carpet which is now Tandus, had 400 employees. So the number has slid significantly to 240, so we could see writing on the wall years ago,” Mills said.

With new entrepreneur opportunities in town, like the Truro Herbal Company (THC), Mills is optimistic the Tandus building can generate new employment for the town.

“I’ve had calls with regards to the building, from New Brunswick for example and perhaps an opportunity for an industry that’s looking for a building. Don’t know much about it right now but we’ll follow up on that. A professor from Saint Mary’s University called this morning, with suggestions, like we can grow rhubarb in Nova Scotia, maybe a processing plant, maybe a cold storage,” Mills said.

Retraining employees with new skills 

The MLA for the area, Lenore Zann, says she has reached out to Premier Stephen McNeil, asking him to consider providing the hundreds of people facing layoffs with assistance for retraining.

“The other thing I’m worried about is people’s Pharmacare issues. A lot of their Pharmacare is tied to their job, their insurance with their job. So they’re worried about what are they going to do if they need drugs for their children or themselves in the next year. So maybe the province can help with something like that,” she said.

McNeil says the province will conduct an assessment to help employees transition into different work opportunities.

“How do we take this manufacturing workforce that we have and try to market that to others who potentially could come in and do some other kind of manufacturing in that community,” McNeil said.

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