Union Members Celebrate Labor Day's Across Maine
PHOTO: Andrew Brogden (IAFF 3106) works the grill at EMLC's Labor Day Celebration in Brewer.
Last weekend, union members and our allies gathered for Labor's Day celebrations in Portland, Skowhegan and Brewer. The festivities kicked off with the Central Maine Labor Council (CMLC) cookout at the Poulin-Turner Union Hall in Skowhegan. CMLC President Pat Wynne, an Augusta firefighter/EMT (IAFF 1650) and a Hallowell Town Councilor, noted that Labor Day was first recognized federally in 1894 in response to widespread worker unrest.
“Just like (Labor Day weekend) was not a benign gift given to us by management — we had to fight for it — these locals have to fight for what they get by sitting down at the table,” said Wynne, according to the Kennebec Journal. “And so we’re here to support them. We’re here to remember that what they get at the table is what goes back into this community — their wages and their safety. Central Maine, without workers like that, would really be a very different place.”
PHOTO: MSEA members with Senate President Troy Jackson at the CMLC Labor Day cookout in Skowhegan.
Senate President Troy Jackson, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Mattie Daughtry and Sen. Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot Cty.), co-chair of the Legislature’s Labor and Housing Committee, as well as Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Jason Moyer Lee, Director of Labor Standards at the Maine Department of Labor were all in attendance.
The CMLC event was also a chance to show support for the nearly 1,000 United Steelworkers members currently in contract negotiations at Huhtamaki mill in Waterville and the Sappi mill in Skowhegan. Justin Shaw, President of USW 4-9, which represents 480 workers at the Sappi mill, said he hopes to complete negotiations with the company by October. The union’s current contract expired in August.
He said one of the points of contention is excessive overtime. The bargaining team previously negotiated some new guardrails on mandatory overtime, but members voted down the proposals because there were too many questions about how management would implement the new regulations. Shaw said a worker at the mill was recently forced to work a 24-hour shift while operating two boilers at the mill.
“Working a (24-hour shift) is dangerous, but having one person operating two boilers is just as dangerous in my mind, if not more so,” Shaw said, according to the Kennebec Journal. “Those are two large bombs, and having one person covering two different boilers is asinine.”
Shaw said senior operators at the mill are getting drafted to work seven days a week and sometimes the only day they get off is the state-mandated one day off every two weeks. He noted that one 70-year old employee worked 150 of a recent 170-night stretch at the mill while having to take his wife to medical appointments during the day. Shaw said the man can only take one day off per two weeks, as mandated by the state.
Negotiations with management have led to more days off for the worker, Shaw said, but the workers filling in for the time he worked are often unqualified.
“It’s a training issue, it’s a staffing issue,” Shaw said. “It’s not okay for them to just keep forcing us to work all these hours.”
PHOTO: Southern Maine Labor Council Labor Day Breakfast.
On Monday morning, around 200 union members and friends gathered for the annual Southern Maine Labor Council Breakfast at the Irish Heritage Center in Portland. Numerous state legislators were in attendance, including House Speaker Rachel Talbot-Ross (D-Portland), Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook), Rep. Matt Beck (D-So. Portland) and many others. Jackson encouraged members to get out the vote for pro-labor candidates including Kamala Harris and Tim Walz at the top of the ticket down to union members running in local legislative races.
“When you’re out there working for Harris-Walz, which I will be also, what you’re doing is actually making it better for people up and down the state to push the legislation that we need,” said Jackson. “That’s how you (make) a union-backed Senate and a union-backed House.”
Speakers talked about this powerfully pro-union moment we are living in and the need to do our organizing, political and ideological work in a way that builds our movement. It was noted that more than 90% of workers under the age of 30 approve of unions and 70% of all workers.
Cassandra Robertson, President Biden’s special assistant for labor policy on the National Economic Council, was also in attendance.
“On behalf of the most pro-union administration in American history, we celebrate you, we celebrate labor unions and we reinforce our commitment to make sure that every American can achieve the American dream,” Robertson said, according to the Portland Press Herald.
PHOTO: Doug Born receives the "Working Class Hero" Award.
Former SMLC President Doug Born (IATSE 114) won the council’s “Working Class Hero” award for his years of dedication to the labor movement. The morning program ended with everyone joining hands and singing “Solidarity Forever,” accompanied by accordionist Richard Burbank.
Over 100 union union and community members attended the Eastern Maine Labor Council’s 21st Labor Day Celebration at the Solidarity Center in Brewer later on Monday. The event featured several speeches from union members like registered nurses, graduate student workers, postal workers and others.
PHOTO: EMLC's Labor Day Celebration.
Senate President Troy Jackson and Senators Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot), Chip Curry (D-Waldo) and Nicole Grohoski (D-Hancock) as well as Reps. Laurie Osher (D-Orono), Jim Dill (D-Old Town) and were in attendance. Also in attendance were Director of Bureau of Labor Standards Jason Moyer Lee, Bangor City Councilor Joe Leonard, Bangor City Council candidate Michael Beck and Maine State Senate candidate and CWA 1400 member Michelle Labree Daniels.
The Eastern Maine Labor Council recognized the following award winners at Labor Day
2024 Affliliate of the Year: APWU Local 536 - APWU Local 536 has demonstrated unwavering strength and solidarity in their efforts to preserve timely mail service by opposing consolidation of mail processing and distribution center in Hampden.
2024 Kickass Organizing Award: Baileyville Strikers - In recognition. of Machinists Local 1490 (IAM District 4) , Firemen & Oilers (SEIU 330-2), NASRCC Millwrights Local 1121 with solidarity from IAM Local S6 for legendary union organizing in their 2023 strike in Baileyville.
2024 Dan Lawson Memorial Solidarity Award: Kimberly Lawson Tobias - An active member of IBEW Local 1253, Kim constantly demonstrates committed activism, fearlessness in the cause of justice and love for her union family, much like her father, Dan Lawson.
2024 Community Solidarity Award: Daniel Carson