Union Members Speak to Fair Goers, Hold Workshop on How to Form a Union

PHOTO: Steve Keaten & Jane Gilbert (MSEA-SEIU 1989) at the Common Ground Fair.

Members of several unions as well as a few friends of labor teamed up to staff the Maine AFL-CIO booth at the Common Ground Fair in late September. Over the three days (nine shifts of table volunteers, two or three people on each shift) many conversations took place, including inquiries questions about current labor issues in the public eye, interest in the materials available at the table, sign-ups for the Maine AFL-CIO e-newsletter, questions about how to form unions, and sometimes just greetings from other union members and union retirees who were visiting the Fair and strolling through the tents.

On Sunday, Maine AFL-CIO president Cynthia Phinney along with Sarah Bigney McCabe joined up with Matthew Emmick and Katie Schools from the Scontras Center to present a workshop “What is a Union and How Do I Form One at My Workplace?” where they also talked some about labor laws and farm workers.

Employees at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, which sponsors the Fair, had recently submitted a request for voluntary recognition of a union of workers at the organization, based on a majority having signed union authorization cards. Buttons and stickers supporting the workers were a popular item at the Maine AFL-CIO table, as were Solidarity bumper stickers.