What we know about LePage's 900 job loss claim one day later
PHOTO COURTESY / Matthew Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons
Maine Governor Paul LePage announced at a town hall meeting in Orono that an unnamed southern Maine company will be cutting 900 jobs.
News reports about Gov. Paul LePage’s revelation at a town hall meeting in Orono that an unnamed southern Maine company would be shedding 900 jobs spread like wildfire on Thursday, with everyone wondering the same thing: Which company is it?
LePage isn’t answering, explaining at the Wednesday evening meeting in Orono he was “sworn to secrecy” until the company made a public announcement.
But within minutes of Maine Public Broadcasting Network broadcasting the story on Thursday morning, journalistic sleuths across the state began narrowing down companies in southern Maine that fit the description of having 900 jobs to lose.
Julie Rabinowitz, a spokeswoman for the Department of Labor, told the Portland Press Herald that the state hasn’t received any notifications from a company planning such a large-scale layoff anywhere in the state.
“The governor hasn’t shared his information with us,” Rabinowitz told the Press Herald.
Federal law requires that a company planning mass layoffs would need to notify both federal and state labor officials, in addition to municipality official, at least 60 days before the job losses are to take effect.
LePage hasn’t told the state Labor Department what company he was referring to, and the governor’s communications director, Peter Steele, has refused to answer questions from both the Bangor Daily News and the Press Herald about how and when LePage became aware of the job losses — or, if any steps had been taken to prevent them.
Speculation and the news in November that ON Semiconductor of Phoenix, Ariz., offered to purchase the San Jose, Calif.-based Fairchild Semiconductor, led to an onslaught of calls to South Portland City Manager James Gailey’s office.
On April 1, ON announced that it extended its offer to purchase all of Fairchild’s outstanding shares of common stock for $20.00 per share in cash by before midnight on April 14.
In January, Fairchild also received an unsolicited offer from China Resources Microelectronics Ltd. and Hua Capital Management Co., which offered to pay $21.70 per share — Fairchild ultimately rejected the proposal in February.
Fairchild employs approximately 530 at a chip manufacturing plant in the city. Company officials told Mainebiz on Friday that it's company policy not to comment on speculation.
“At this time the city has no information of an impending closure or layoff at any major employer within the city of South Portland,” Gailey said in a prepared statement about the possibility of job losses. “The city recognizes that corporate mergers and acquisitions often result in changes to the structure of the new corporation, and therefore, we are following this potential acquisition with interest.”
City managers in Portland, Scarborough and North Berwick shared a similar sentiment, saying that they also haven’t heard any news about large-scale job losses in their communities.
LePage cited high energy costs behind the reasoning for the yet-to-be-named company to shed the jobs — saying that the company is competing against low nuclear power costs in China.
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