Sunday, June 3, 2001

Never-say-die town poises itself for another comeback

By GISELLE GOODMAN, Portland Press Herald Writer

SANFORD — A few years ago, Jo-Ann Roy decided if she ever left her job at Vishay-Sprague, she would go back to school to train for a higher-skilled career.

That chance came sooner than expected. After 14 years as an inspector at the company, Roy lost her job on April 6, when Vishay-Sprague laid off more than 320 workers. Then last week, Sanford's largest employer announced it is putting another 500 people out of work.

The Vishay announcement came just six months after another electronics company in Sanford, Thomas & Betts, announced it was closing and laying off its 275 workers.

"I don't want to go back into a factory," Roy said of her decision to return to school, "because there is no future in a factory."

She may be right. The manufacturing jobs that for decades have been the lifeblood of blue-collar towns like Sanford-Springvale are disappearing across Maine at a rate faster than the rest of the United States, economists say.

Over the past decade the country has experienced a 5 percent reduction in the number of manufacturing jobs, while Maine has seen a 20 percent reduction. The state lost 3,800 manufacturing jobs in the past year alone, according to the state labor department.

The downturn has nearly crippled towns such as Wilton, Corrina, Milo and Winslow. Shoe companies, it seems, can't leave the state fast enough, with textile and paper manufacturing companies quick to follow.

Experts say the reason Maine differs from the rest of the country is an abnormally strong dependence on industry. In the 1940s, for example, one in every two jobs in Maine was in manufacturing.

But economists and labor experts say there is hope. The service industry in Maine is booming and according to Duane Gushee, president of Maine Metal Products Association, there is a great need in the state for machinists.

"Our industry seems to be doing well," he said. "We have labor shortages."

Even Sanford is benefiting from the machine-shop industry. In April, Atlantic Precision Products Inc., a high-tech machine shop, moved from Biddeford into the former Thomas & Betts building. The company plans to expand and hire new workers.

Nevertheless, it's been a hard year for this western York County community of 25,000. Yet residents remain hopeful that something will be found to fill the void left by Vishay, if only because Sanford is, historically, the town that refused to die.

That at least was the slogan townspeople used in the 1950s to bring Sanford back from the brink after the Goodall-Sanford Mills closed. The closure put nearly 4,000 people – 85 percent of the town's payroll – out of work.

A group of business owners came to Sanford's rescue and went on a nationwide crusade to encourage companies to relocate in Sanford.

"It was about survival," said Allen Mapes, one of the men who toured the country then. "We had the space, people, water."

Their campaign, featured in Life magazine in 1957, worked.

"We were announcing one new industry every month," Mapes said. "They weren't all monsters, but they came in looking for people to work."

One of those industries was Sprague Electric, which moved to a building constructed on speculation in the town's new industrial park in the early 1960s. Other manufacturers soon followed Sprague, which was purchased by Vishay Intertechnology in 1992. Today, Sanford boasts companies that make acrylic products, airplane components, rugs and greeting cards.

No one denies that losing Vishay and Thomas & Betts is difficult, but town officials say it is not as critical a situation as 50 years ago because of the town's diversification of industry.

"In the 1950s all our eggs were in one basket," said Rick Stanley, Sanford's economic development director. "Today, with more diversity, you can absorb that type of a loss. It isn't as drastic a thing."

But diversity doesn't always assure equal pay.

Richard Fifield, manager of the Saco and Sanford Career Centers, said there are enough jobs in the area to absorb the layoffs at Vishay. The unemployment rate in Maine is better than it was a year ago with nearly 9,600 jobs available, many of them in retail and food service.

"But are they jobs that pay them what they were getting with benefits?" Fifield asked. "No. What we reach for is for someone to get back where they were."

Experts say the global market plays a significant role in what's happening to Maine's manufacturing industry.

Because consumers desire cheaper goods, companies are encouraged to pack up and produce in countries with cheaper labor. No industry has been hit harder by this in Maine than the shoe industry, which has seen dramatic manufacturing job losses in the past decade.

"The industries that sell a commodity product, something that can be bought anywhere, and the labor-intensive industries are the ones hardest hit," said Laurie Lachance, the state economist. "That labor force can be replaced very cheaply in other countries."

In Vishay's case, according to senior vice president Robert Freece, the downturn is due to supply and demand. The Sanford plant makes components for cellular phones and computers, and the market for those goods is saturated.

Lachance said trends such as these should send Maine a clear message that low-skill industries are a bad investment.

"We are in a position now where if you choose the low road, industries that are low skill, you will always lose," she said. "Towns are learning that the big smokestack is not worth chasing because they can leave as fast as they come. You have to choose the high road."

A good example of high-road jobs, she said, are found in machine shops. Currently, there are 1,400 machinist job openings in the state, but they take a higher skill level than a factory job.

That is why Lachance supports investing in workers. Retrain them. Educate them. Then, after the layoff, they will be able to find jobs with wages comparable to the $10 to $12 an hour they made at factories.

"We need to take our workers and try and lift them up in skill level and education level," said Lachance. "We need to give them new skills and new approaches. That's where we have to go for success."

That is the direction Roy is taking.

Over the next 10 months, through a federally funded retraining program, the 37-year-old Springvale resident will take night classes to become a certified administrative assistant. She is working with the Career Center in Sanford, which has assured her that with her training she'll have no trouble finding a job comparable to the $12 an hour she made at Vishay.

She admits she was angry when Vishay laid her off, but she can now see the good that has come of it.

"I think, honestly, it's going to be a blessing for a lot of people," she said. "The way I see it is, hey, there's life beyond that place. I'm looking forward to the future."

Staff Writer Giselle Goodman can be contacted at 324-4888 or at: ggoodman@pressherald.com

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