Biddeford Textile examines financial options

BIDDEFORD – Biddeford Textile Co. found no quick fix to its financial problems earlier this week as the company met with state officials to examine its options.

Meanwhile, 350 workers went without paychecks and the labor union tried to figure out its stake in the one-third employee-owned mill.

The financially troubled electric-blanket maker is seeking money so it can pay its workers and resume operations. The company all but shut down last Thursday after former owner Sunbeam Corp. reneged on a contractual commitment to buy more than $500,000 in fabric shells it uses to make its own electric blankets.

On Monday, company officials met with representatives of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Finance Authority of Maine, and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

Biddeford Textile’s creditors, including the National Bank of Canada, were unable to attend Monday’s meeting because of travel delays. As a result, the morning gathering at the mill was mostly a fact-finding mission for the economic development agencies.

“At this point, the company needs to do more work on its numbers,” said Charles Spies, FAME’s chief executive officer. “We don’t have a formal application from them. We’ll want to see how the company wants to proceed.”

Company officials said they hoped to pay people Monday and have them back to work by Feb. 12. But those who called or stopped by the mill Monday in search of a paycheck were disappointed.

“They said they were in meetings, that they were going to last all day long, and we should call in tomorrow and we might get paid,” said William Cote, 29, who molds plugs for electric blankets.

Walter Szumita, international representative of the local Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, said he was attempting to clarify the union’s stake in the company.

Despite the lack of pay, a skeleton crew of about 15 employees kept nine looms and a blanket assembly line operating Monday to fill an order for L.L. Bean.

“They’re hoping to fill some orders, get some cash flow and get paid,” Szumita said.

One-quarter of the mill’s 168 looms were operating before last week’s shutdown.