Time to prepare for Amfac closure

The depth of the human toll in Amfac Sugar Kauai’s shutdown requires close

attention and intense caring as the day of reckoning approaches for the 400

employees who will lose their jobs next month.

As a Lihu’e psychiatrist

said in staff writer Paul C. Curtis’ report in Saturday’s TGI, “there’s a whole

trickle-down effect” that will have a “devastating” effect on the workers,

their families and the community.

Obvious right off the top are financial

problems arising from the severing of steady income. Accompanying the money

worries will be depression and anxiety. Also in the mix will be feelings of

guilt among breadwinners who no longer will be secure in their ability to

provide for their families, potential embarrassment and angst in children who

realize their families’ plights, and – an issue that hopefully won’t come to

bear – domestic violence stemming from the stress caused by all these

factors.

The loss of jobs through Amfac’s closure and some of the fallout

are inevitable. But there are ways to get ready. The state’s Department of

Labor and Industrial Relations and Department of Human Services are offering

job-hunting and counseling services, the Kaua’i County Office of Economic

Development has similar help available, and Amfac and the employees’ union are

doing what they can to take the sting out of the pending layoffs. Kaua’i

Community College also is offering job training for displaced

workers.

Officials say job fairs Oct. 17 at Wilcox Elementary School and

Oct. 18 at Kekaha Neighborhood Center are good ways for the workers to get

ideas and contacts for new jobs. The fairs will provide job listings, skills

assessments, and various other free services, including information on health

insurance and career exploration.

It’s only through efforts such as these

that hundreds of Kauaians can deal with the Amfac demise, overcome the trauma

and move forward with their lives. An entire community is pulling for

them.