News from around the towns

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Shaw’s layoffs will affect NH

Layoffs at Shaw’s Supermarkets will affect New Hampshire stores, but the supermarket chain is not saying which stores or how many employees in the state will be let go.

The New England chain announced that 4 percent of its retail workers will lose their jobs April 10 at stores in Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.

“It will vary by store and department, and not every store will be affected,” said Shaw’s spokeswoman Judy Chong.

The layoffs are part of efforts to improve efficiency and make the company more streamlined, she said.

There are 176 Shaw’s Supermarkets in New England, and the company employes 25,000 people in retail, corporate office and distribution. There are 34 stores in New Hampshire, including one at Lorden Plaza in Milford, as well as two stores in Nashua and two in Merrimack.

Store associates who are laid off will be offered positions at the Methuen, Mass., distribution center as permanent replacements for 300 striking workers, said Chong.

The layoffs, however, are not related to the labor action, she said.

A spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 791 said the contract stalemate is over increases in health care contributions and “substandard” wage increases that would result in a net loss of money for members.

Last month the company, which was founded in 1860 in Portland, Maine, and is based in West Bridgewater, Mass., announced it was selling all 18 of its Connecticut stores to various buyers.

Rhode Island stores are not affected by the layoffs.

– Kathy Cleveland

AARP offers tax assistance

MILFORD – As the April 15 tax deadline looms, AARP volunteers are providing free tax assistance and preparation for low and middle income taxpayers, with special attention to those age 60 and over.

Volunteers in Milford offer this service at the Wadleigh Memorial Library on Tuesdays from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 3:30 - 6:30 p.m. up until April 15.

The volunteers are local people and their help with both federal and state returns is provided on a first come, first served basis. AARP membership is not required. Electronic filing is used if desired.

All volunteers are trained annually using IRS material and are certified to an advance competence level.

Last year AARP tax volunteers helped 2,274 New Hampshire residents prepare their tax returns for 2008.

In Milford and Amherst, 379 federal returns and 93 state tax returns were submitted. AARP also helped with the submission of another 74 state property tax rebate returns for local citizens.

Drive-in set to open soon

MILFORD – Looking for a seasonal job where you can eat popcorn and watch movies?

The Milford Drive-In Theater is having a job fair Saturday, April 3, from 1-3 p.m. Some positions will start immediately, others will start when they switch to a seven-day operation after school gets out.

According to the theater’s Web site, it needs an assistant manager, ticket booth attendants, concession workers and other positions.

The theater opens for the season Friday, April 9, weather permitting. If not it will open a week later on Friday, April 16.

Owner Bob Scharmett opened the two-screen theater on Elm Street in 1968 and still runs it today.

It is one of the oldest businesses in town and one of only four outdoor theaters left in New Hampshire. During the drive-ins’ heyday in the 1960s there were more than two dozen in the state.

– Kathy Cleveland

Kids raise money for Red Cross

MILFORD – Students in Milford Middle School’s art club raised money by making pins and magnets from plastic and selling them for $3 each during school lunches.

The $160 they raised was donated to the American Red Cross International Response fund to help countries in need of disaster relief such as Haiti and Chile.

Milford building new Web site

MILFORD – The town is getting ready to build a new Web page that will make it a “tool for economic development,” Town Administrator Guy Scaife told selectmen March 22.

The goal is to make it easy for citizens, employees and customers to find information, he said. Requests for proposals have been sent out and a vendor have been tentatively selected.

The committee is also going to develop an overall communications plan that “touches all media capability, Scaife said, and the first step is to examine plans of other communities.

– Kathy Cleveland