Millwrights Local 1121 Hires New Labor Rep in Maine

PHOTO: Millwrights 1121 labor rep Eriq Stewart.

Millwrights Local 1121 member Eriq Stewart of Waterville has just started work as an organizer/council representative for Millwrights Local 1121 and the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters with a focus on organizing in the Northern New England area.

“Eriq already has a lot of strong relationships in that area and will be able to help us gain more work and market share in the future. Please help us give Eriq a warm welcome!,” the union announced on Facebook.

Stewart is a lifelong Mainer who began his career working in construction briefly before moving on to Kirby Offshore Marine, the largest US operator of coastal tank barges and towing vessels doing regional distribution of oil and other products. It was there where he had his first experience as a union member and learned what it meant to be part of brother and sisterhood.

“I pretty much loved it from the start,” he said.

Stewart was working for a captain one day when he learned the power and support being part of a union provides. While hauling a barge through a narrow passage way from New York into Connecticut, the boat caught a sandbar that had not been dredged in several years, but nobody had been made aware of it. The captain was unable to navigate the tug and the barge through the rotating bridge to the docks and he ended up clipping one of the old bridge pilings. Fortunately, the bridge had been decommissioned and was no longer being used.

“It wasn’t a catastrophic event but it’s something to be reported and the coast guard comes," said Steward. "But the union is there to back you 100 percent and they were there to back the captain 100 percent."

Later on, he worked on oil rigs in Texas where he developed his skills as a millwright before getting married and moving back to Maine. He started out working as a union millwright at the Old Town mill and most recently was a superintendent for the Hermon-based industrial contractor Sullivan and Merritt.

“When this opportunity presented itself I couldn’t help but jump on it to spread awareness around the state and try to grow this lovely union that we’ve got here,” said Stewart.

A millwright performs a very specialized trade involving anything that “spins, rotates, pumps something, has nuts and bolts and is a mechanical piece of equipment,” say Stewart. This includes everything from the contraption that raises and lowers nets to separate courts at the local YMCA, to ski chair lifts, factory conveyor belts and even the generation of electricity.

“I know everyone wants to give credit to linemen, and I have a lot of buddies who are linemen so I don’t want to put them down, but without a millwright you would have no power to distribute,” said Stewart. “We work in power plants and have a pretty good marketshare of it so we’re very proud of that.”

Stewart says he wants to create more public awareness about the trade and the benefits of being in a union.

"Most of the time once people understand what we do they’re like, ‘Oh that’s a actually really good trade. I like that profession, I like working with my hands and the benefits of being a union millwright,’” he said. “Once they become aware and understand how it can benefit their lives the more in tune they become.”