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67 disadvantaged workers employed as insulators with Try Insulation around Latrobe Valley and South East Melbourne have staved off redundancy after the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations announced $500,000 of Jobs Fund payments to fund the social enterprise to the end of the financial year. Try had sought an injection of $1.25 million to fund a residential construction project that would have created 120 jobs in the disadvantaged areas of South East Melbourne and Latrobe Valley but that was not granted.

The workers, many of whom have a history of long-term unemployment and other disadvantage, are employed by charity Try Youth and Community Services, a 127-year-old charity which created the social enterprise Try Insulation.

Try must now find new work outside insulation installation for its staff and to counter the loss of expected income.

“Sixty-seven people have been given a lifeline but the future beyond July 1 is very uncertain,” says CEO of Try Youth and Community Services, Damien Mowlam.

As for the “worker adjustment packages” announced by the Prime Minister Mr Mowlam commented: “It’s too early to tell but as a quality insulation business, employing a disadvantaged group we feel that we should be at the front of the queue.