November 24, 2008 Reported By: Anne Ravana
Unions, community organizers, farmers, businesses and religious leaders gathered in Brewer today to present more than 150 Thanksgiving dinners to laid off workers from northern and eastern Maine. Union activists also used the opportunity for union leaders to give updates on status of their local mills and the number of workers still waiting to go back on the job.
The large office that's shared by the Eastern Maine Labor Council and the workers' rights organization Food and Medicine is a sea of brown paper bags filled with boxed stuffing, fresh rolls and vegetables from local farms. "I really want to stress this program is about solidarity, not charity.” Brent Hall of Food and Medicine is the coordinator of the annual Solidarity Harvest program. “The program is about neighbors helping neighbors, and it’s basically a community response to a community problem.”
This year, more than 150 meals will go to laid off workers from Pinkham Sawmill in Ashland, Katahdin Paper in Millinocket, Domtar in Baileyville, Red Shield in Old Town, DHL Delivery in Brewer and a few other organizations. With the exception of the turkey and stuffing, all ingredients were donated or purchased from local businesses, bakeries and farms. Stephanie Sosinski is a farmer at Rogers Farm in Orono and a manager of the student-run Black Bear Food Guild, which donated squash, potatoes, carrots, beets and leeks. "We had a really successful year, which was good for us and also good for the Solidarity Project, so we were more than happy to donate the produce that we had, and we were lucky to have extra."
Area Union leaders used the gathering as an opportunity to share information about the status of the mills, including Red shield’s pulp mill in Old town, which was closed and recently reopened. "Hi my name's Mike Geroux. I'm a member of the Local 80 and I work at the Old Town mill. Little update, right now, the mill biomass boiler was up and running. There are probably 50 or so, right now, that are still laid off and right now we're waiting for a phone call. We're optimistic that we're going to get started soon, and we're just very hopeful."
Meanwhile at Katahdin Paper Mill, workers are hoping for movement on a shutdown that began nearly three months ago. "The mill has been winterized and prepared for a startup sometime in the, hopefully, not too distant future. I say that because the owners have not spoken with the workers' representatives since the shut down of September second." Kevin Gregory is president of the Millinocket chapter of the Firemen and Oilers union at Katahdin. "That is what is so frustrating. They speak to the Governor, the town and even the press, but not with the unions. The approximately 100 who have been laid off with more to come, myself included, are in for a long hard winter."
Bruce Cox, president of the Katahdin Labor Council and the United Steel Workers union in East Millinocket, says the mill is looking at a total of 70 layoffs. "Presently we have approximately 50 people in layoff. Maintenance is in the process of laying off approximately 20 people. And I want to take a special thanks today to Food and Medicine and the Solidarity Harvest. It's just a blessing for us. And hopefully we will start back up in the near future."
Hope - and gratitude - were the sentiments expressed by the union leaders who accepted the food on behalf of their coworkers. Some were relieved to have received federal Trade Assistance Act funds and others spoke encouragingly of members who have gone back to school to learn a new trade. Eastern Maine Labor Council president Jack McKay called the Solidarity Harvest a "band-aid" that will help families only temporarily. He called for longer term solutions that involve reevaluating international free trade policies.