Workers Tear Up Rug at Local 14 Solidarity Center

PHOTO: The new Solidarity rock band, The Rug Rippers, featuring Mike Allen, Jimmy McHugh, Steve Sill, MJ Covey, Bruce Bryant, Arlie Hetrick & Randy Berry

A great crew of troublemakers showed up at the Local 14 Solidarity Center on Wednesday to rip up the rug, saving the center $1000 to have it removed by a professional. The group included State House candidate Arlie Hetrick (IUPAT) and members of Local 14, IBEW 567, the National Writers Union and Boilermakers. A new rug will be installed soon.

“That old brown carpet saw a lot of organizing over the years, and we hope the new one will see even more,” said Lorri Nandrea, treasurer of the Western Maine Labor Council.

On Labor Day weekend U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson spoke at the Solidarity Center and took questions from the audience. Nandrea said several people who had never met Troy in person got to ask him questions and the energy was strong in the room. An impromptu band even played a bluegrass version of “Solidarity Forever.”

“Troy was especially moving when he talked about the way that workers are robbed of time with their kids, their time to be with their aging parents,” said Nandrea. “He talked about how he had to work so much, it was hard to be there for his kids and hard for his dad to be there for him and that this is something that working people have struggled with for too long.”

This Saturday gubernatorial candidate Hannah Pingree will be visiting the hall to meet with residents of the Hidden Circle mobile home park who recently purchased their park from an investment firm that had raised lot rents and deferred maintenance. The residents organized themselves with help from the Maine Labor Climate Council.