Thursday, 4:30 PM
Mayor wants factory restored
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff
NEW BEDFORD -- Mayor Scott W. Lang of New Bedford is trying to keep open a leather goods factory raided by immigration agents earlier this month, saying his city can ill afford to lose the hundreds of jobs at Michael Bianco Inc., one of the city’s largest employers.
The leather goods factory, which had a workforce of 600, has lost $91 million in Defense Department contracts since owner Francesco Insolia and three senior managers were charged with knowingly hiring illegal immigrants to stitch military vests and backpacks.
Lang is suggesting that Insolia step aside and that the federal government appoint a trustee to take over the company, reinstate the contracts, and save the jobs.
In the March 6 raid, 361 of the company’s employees were arrested under suspicion of being illegal immigrants. Lang said he wants the military contracts reinstated, the factory to remain open, and New Bedford residents who are in the country legally to take the jobs left vacant by arrested workers.
"The fortune of the factory itself shouldn’t be determined by whether [Insolia] is convicted," Lang said in an interview in his office earlier this week. "These jobs can benefit the city of New Bedford. I’d like to see if there’s a way we can keep them. I don’t want to have our city penalized."
