Journal Tribune
By Catherine Sengel, Journal Tribune Staff Writer
BIDDEFORD. ME., - Workers at Biddeford Textile Co. have unanimously backed a proposal to accept wage cuts as part of an employee buyout of the Sunbeam Corp.-owned plant.
Michael Cavanaugh, assistant manager of the regional board of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, said BTC workers heard the same presentation Sunday that was given to banks and other potential investors in the plant and agreed to support the planned buyout.
"That's an important piece of the deal," Cavanaugh said Monday.
Should the buyout plan, still in negotiations with Sunbeam, go through, workers would accept a five-year labor contract with initial cuts in wages and benefits but guaranteed wage increases over the life of the contract. In return, they would own a third of the company.
In deciding whether to back the plan, workers had to weigh the possibility of job cuts if outsiders bought the plant against wage cuts if they took part in ownership.
They decided the wage cuts would not be a severe blow because, according to UNITE's Cavanaugh, "Raises for workers in recent years have been well in excess of the cost of living."
Over at least the last seven years, union workers at BTC have seen average annual wage increases of 4 percent, compared to Consumer Price Index increases over the same period averaging 2.8 percent annually.
American Capital Strategies, a Maryland-based investment company specializing in financing and structuring employee stockholder plans, and Portland real estate developer Michael Liberty are said to be among the investors who would own BTC together with UNITE.
Former BTC vice-president Rene Boisvert has also been working as part of the team.
"So far things are on track," Cavanaugh said.
BTC is the primary manufacturer of electric blanket shells for Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,-based Sunbeam. The "Blanket with a brain" is one of the company's most profitable product lines, and Sunbeam is expected to be one of the chief buyers of BTC-made goods after it divests itself of the plant.
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