MEXICO – An occasional horn tooted in support of two picketers Monday afternoon who protested losing their jobs when the Subway Restaurant moved to Mexico.

Cecile Comeau, former manager of the Rumford Subway, and Bob Ames, former assistant manager, staged their protest on the sidewalk in front of the new Subway in the new mini-mall on Main Street.

Cathy LeBlanc, the co-owner of the Subway, said she had no comment. She and Marvin Mayberry of Windham own seven Subway sandwich shops in western Maine.

“I was stunned,” said Comeau of losing her job. She was a Subway employee for 12 years.

Bob Ames, a Subway employee for nearly two years, said he had no warning that he would lose his job when the Rumford shop closed Friday.

“I worked in the new store helping to set it all up,” he said, adding, “They told us 1 to 2 months ago that our jobs were secure.”

Comeau said the four Rumford Subway employees who were let go were told to report to the Mexico Subway soon after the Rumford business closed Friday to get their schedules. It was then that they were were told that they no longer had jobs. She said four have lost their jobs. Two others found other jobs before the Rumford Subway closed, and two are working at the new sandwich shop in Mexico.

Chantal Karantza, general manager of the seven shops owned by LeBlanc and Mayberry, declined comment on the former employees’ statements.

“That is confidential information,” she said.

The Mexico shop opened Saturday with 12 part-time employees. Karantza said business was “very good.” The Mexico Subway is much larger than the Rumford site with a focus on a more restaurant-type business, rather than a sandwich shop, she said.

Ames said the former employees plan to contact a lawyer to learn their rights. Comeau said she also plans to call the Maine Labor Board.

The Mexico mini-mall houses the Subway and Viewer’s Choice Video. A third unit in the complex has yet to be filled.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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