Maine paperworkers say: 'No more concessions'
1987Art LeClair 1987-09Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 4 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 4
Over 8000 union members and supporters demonstrated to support paperworkers in largest labor action Maine's history. International Paper Co. workers have been on strike since June 16.
Coors boycott settlement:
:43 2271 stop The Liz Green/Impact Visuals Visua don't want a quarter loaf, we want the whole loaf!" says Wallace.
JAY, Maine-On Aug. 1, more than 8000 union members and supporters from the six New England states participated in one of the largest labor demonstrations in Maine's history. A march and rally took place here in support of 1200 striking workers at the International Paper Co. (I.P.) mill.
The workers walked off their jobs on June 16 after rejecting company demands for concessions. The company's proposal includes an end to premium pay for Sundays and holidays and more flexible workrules (which would eliminate 178 jobs). An I.P. spokesman stated that the takeaways "are absolutely necessary if the company is to remain competitive."
I.P. is the largest paper manufacturing company in the country. The union had offered to work under the terms of the previous contract-but the company wanted more.
Some 3400 paper workers are either on strike or locked out of four I.P. mills nationally. Their local unions have begun a coordinated effort to bring the company back to the bargaining table, vowing that no one will return to work unless every one does.
"The number-one item"
People here remember last summer's bitter 11-week strike at the Boise Cascade mill in nearby Rumford, Maine. More than 300 union members lost their jobs when that company hired scabs in their place.
But William Meserve, president of United Paper Workers International Union Local 14, which represents most of the strikers in Jay, vows that the union will not settle with I.P. until all 1200 members are assured that their jobs are waiting for them. "That is the number-one item on our agenda," Meserve stated.
Since the strike began, over 600 scabs have been hired. They include 250 employees from an Alabama-based mill that the union describes as "professional strike-breakers.