Senator Witkos Seeks Aid for Ovation Workers

Hartford – State Senator Kevin Witkos (R-8) released the following statement today regarding the announcement of the Ovation factory closing in New Hartford.

“I am shocked and saddened to see Ovation close. Our community is not only losing a huge piece of local history, we are also losing over 40 jobs that support local families. At a time when unemployment is high and jobs are few and far between, this is a damaging loss for our community. Many of the people losing their jobs have been with Ovation for decades. These hardworking, talented people face an incredibly difficult situation.

“As a community, we now have to focus on helping the families hurt by this closure and seek out resources to connect workers to new employment opportunities. We also need to continue fighting for legislation to improve Connecticut’s job environment. Seeing this business close is a chilling sign that Connecticut’s economy continues to struggle and our business environment is not ideal. We need immediate action to help displaced workers, and also a long term plan to prevent future job loss across our state,” said Witkos.

In an effort to help the community, Senator Witkos sent a letter to Department of Labor Commissioner Sharon Palmer today expressing his concerns and requesting that the department’s Rapid Response Team be dispatched to educate the workers about training opportunities, job search assistance and unemployment benefits.