Graham puts in ‘Workday’ at Chipley textile factory

CHIPLEY — Hours into her work on the floor of a North Florida textile factory, Rep. Gwen Graham summed up how she felt.

“A little sweaty.”

Flashing a smile, the District 2 Democrat turned around to show her still-damp shirt.

Moving from station to station, Graham spent the better part of the day unloading boxes, assembling bedding and packaging finished items for sale, all under the supervision of current employees and management.

Alongside Andrea Cota, Graham inserted batting into fabric shells, and then folded the nearly finished comforters and stacked them for transport, with Dee Dee Myrick on hand to check the quality of the visiting politician’s folds and stacks.

The taste of physical labor didn’t dampen the freshman congresswoman’s spirits; there were plenty of trademark hugs to go around.

Continuing a tradition she learned from her father, the Graham “workday” gives the politician a feel for the work life of the people she represents in Washington, and, on this day, the staged event made an ideal backdrop for introducing legislation aimed at protecting manufacturing jobs like those at WestPoint Home.

The Northwest Florida Jobs Certainty Act extends a free-trade provision between the United States and Bahrain.

“It comes down to a tax over yarn,” Graham said.

WestPoint Home sells textiles direct to consumers under several brand names, through retail outlets and online; its products are also sold through several stores, including Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Dillard’s, TJ Maxx and HomeGoods. The Chipley factory employs roughly 250 from Washington County and the surrounding area.

Without the extension, that tax, according to WestPoint executive Terry Ellis, would make it difficult for the nation’s last large-scale manufacturer of home textiles to stay competitive with overseas operations.

The legislation, which is co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Jeff Miller (D-1), was also introduced by Steve Southerland last year.

“I appreciate the work Representative Southerland and his staff did on this bill in the last Congress,” Graham said.

“Working with Jeff Miller and the bipartisan Florida delegation, I’m hopeful we can pass the Northwest Florida Job Certainty Act and save these jobs.”

With the recent announcement of her campaign’s record-breaking, first-quarter fundraising effort of more than $525,000, Graham may not be changing careers again anytime soon. But if the political winds shift, she may have a line on something in Chipley.

“For a one-day learner, I’d hire her in a heartbeat,” manufacturing executive Steve Alford said of the factory’s temporary worker.

Alford estimated that Graham Workday activities were slowing production by 10-20 percent, but he and Ellis agreed that the attention the event brings to the company and the morale boost the famously personable congresswoman brings to employees more than made up for the disruption.

Smiles coming from the crowd of employees gathered to hear Graham speak near the end of the day seemed to echo that welcoming sentiment.

Near the front of the group, Blanche Godwin, a supervisor who’s been with WestPoint nearly 32 years, was quick to admit she’s a Graham admirer.

"I’m her number one fan.”