Modern Aluminum Anodizing staff faces shaky future

NORTH ADAMS -- Employees of Modern Aluminum Anodizing Corp. were handed a letter Friday telling them their company was sold to a new owner and that they will have to re-apply for their positions next week.

A copy of the letter was forwarded to New England Newspapers Friday by an employee who wished to remain anonymous. The man said Modern employs at least 30 people at its Hodges Cross Road facility. It's been coating products in aluminum in North County for at least 40 years.

He said employees were bewildered and saddened by the news.

"We got an envelope that had the letter and an application inside," he said. "Basically, they're telling us we have to apply for our jobs on Tuesday. We have no idea who owns the company now."

The letter, written by attorney Steven Weiss of the Springfield firm Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, states that Modern's assets will be sold to Berkshire Anodizing LLC on Jan. 26 "as a going concern, so that the company's operations may continue uninterrupted."

Modern filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2007 and has been drawing up plans for reorganization since.

Attempts at reaching Weiss Friday were unsuccessful. A woman who answered the phone at the home of Modern owner Frank R. Sigsbury, 77, of Bennington, Vt., said he was not available and knew nothing of the sale.

The letter goes on to state "the last day for which you will be employed at MAA is Friday ... I expect that representatives of Berkshire will be contacting each of you concerning the process for applying for employment with Berkshire in the future."
According to Eagle archives, Sigsbury, a longtime employee, bought the business in 1974 and grew it from a small operation to one with more than 100 employees. On Sept. 28, 1996, Sigsbury's son, Douglas Sigsbury, 38, and Richard Parkhurst, 38, were found dead inside a treatment pit where protective films are applied to aluminum.

The men died of asphyxiation. Sigsbury later pleaded guilty to environmental charges connected to the incident. He was ordered to pay a $140,000 fine and served two years probation.

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