Jay Strikers & Others Honored at WMLC Workers' Memorial Day/May Day Dinner

Andy O’Brien

04 May, 2023

Last Saturday, the Western Maine Labor Council held its annual Workers' Memorial Day/May Day Dinner to commemorate the Mainers who died from workplace injuries and illnesses over the past year. The winners of this year’s awards included:

Frances Perkins Award winner: Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland)
Bruce Roy Award winner: Don Berry
Workers’ Solidarity Award winner: Jay Local 14 Steelworker retirees

The Local 14 retirees were honored for “keeping solidarity alive in Jay” throughout a bitter 1987-88 International Paper Strike, decertification, closures and mass retirement. Local 14 retirees in attendance included Mike Shank, Francis Gagnon, Dennis Couture, Gary McGrane and Linda Deane. The Pixelle Androscoggin Mill closed earlier this year.

“It’s very nice and it’s an honor and a privilege to receive the award for all the other Local 14 members — all our brothers and sisters, especially from the strike era,” Shank told the Lewiston Sun Journal.

Between 1987 and 1988, Local 14 went on a 17-month strike over the company’s demand to cut nearly 500 jobs, Sunday overtime and the Christmas holiday. While strikers were eventually forced to concede to mill ownership, which was International Paper Co. at the time, the generation of mill workers was described by various attendees as having paved the way for future workers, the Sun Journal reported.

There were 1,200 workers at the mill when the strike hit, but it was down to just 230 employees when it closed in March.

“We don’t really have any dealings with it. We’re on the outside looking in and waiting to see what happens,” Gagnon said, according to the Sun Journal. “Hopefully, something will come in there. The sad part is that mill was only 58 years old. Most paper mills go for 100 years. It’s a sad thing.”

“It’s unfortunate they didn’t see the value in a workforce dedicated to the work it was doing, and, because of that, it’s hurt everyone in the communities,” McGrane said. “I’m just so appreciative that we, as a local, continue to stay together, even though the company has left the room, so to speak.”