JAY – A community response team will be formed to help mill workers who will lose their jobs at Wausau Paper before the end of the year.

The Tri-Valley Area United Way is holding a meeting from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25, at Murray Hall on Main Street in Livermore Falls to begin the effort.

The agency sent out e-mail invitations on Tuesday, and asked recipients to share the invitation with others who are not on the list.

Wausau Paper announced Aug. 25 that it would idle its No. 10 paper machine and lay off about 150 of the 235 workers at the mill.

Next week’s meeting agenda calls for an overview of job losses and time line, defining the team’s response, including members’ roles and what they can bring to the table, and action steps. A follow-up meeting will be also scheduled.

Kim LaVoie, president of the local chapter of the United Steel Workers Union at the mill, said the union is still in discussions with mill officials about the handling of the pending layoffs.

The way it looks now, LaVoie said, the layoffs won’t start until December.

“Right now people are kind of accepting that something is going to happen,” LaVoie said, and there is some anxiety.

A state Department of Labor team is scheduled to meet with affected employees in October to review options.