MF 038 Labor Relations in Maine

Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History: MF 038 Labor Relations in Maine

Number of accession: 53
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1969-1974
Time period covered: early-to-mid 20th century
Principal interviewers: Charles O’Leary, Jay McCloskey, Ken Morgan, Kevin Madigan
Finding aides: indexes and some transcripts
Access restrictions: yes
Description: This is a combination of two collections that both deal with labor issues in Maine (MF 038 Maine State Federated Labor Council Collection and MF 127 Labor Relations Project). The original MF 038 is “A collection of 24 accessions featuring interviews conducted from 1969-1973 under the auspices of the Maine State Federated Labor Council. Topics range widely over the spectrum of organized labor issues in Maine, but seem to deal primarily with unions, union organizing, and elections. Interviewees include top ranking union officials as well as lobstermen, longshoremen, bricklayers, quarry workers, textile and paper millworkers, sulfite workers, iron workers, shipbuilders, railroad workers, typesetters, building trade workers, electricians, garment workers, and shoe makers. Also represented are union organizers, labor historians, and publishers of labor periodicals such as “Labor News.” MF 127 is “a series of five interviews conducted in the spring and summer of 1974 , one by Charles O’Leary and four by Kevin Madigan. Focus of the interviews includes labor unions, right to work laws, strikes, featherbedding, union negotiations, State Labor Council, labor-management relations, carpenters, boot and shoe workers, women in industry, and relations between the international and the locals of individual unions.”

0574 George Jabar, interviewed by Charles O’Leary, June 25, 1969, Waterville, Maine. Jabar, former Maine CIO president, discussed the failure of NRA to help unionization; 1934 general strike for higher wages; lack of clarity and effectiveness of state picketing laws; split of textile workers from AFL and role of Textile Workers Organizing Committee (TWOC) and United Textile Workers in union organizing; positive impact of National Labor Relations Act on labor organizing; importance of checkoff collection of union dues; competition which AFL; president 1942-54; other active members; attending national conventions; Ben Dorsky; Jean D’Avagnon; James George. Maine State Federation of Labor Council collection. Text: 12 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0298 CD 0594 1 hour.

0584 Benjamin Dorsky, interviewed by Charles O’Leary, July 1969, Waterville Maine. Dorsky talks about early activities of labor movement; increased worker activity during Depression; NIRA creates conflicts between industry and labor; NIRA’s legislative accomplishments and failures; differences between craft and industrial unions; effects of Wagner Act on unions; politicians’ use of unions as tool for change; his attitude about personal sacrifice for greater good. Text: 27 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0328 / PM 0759 / CD 0595 – CD 0596 1 hour.

0585 Harold Noddin, interviewed by Charles O’Leary, February 1971, Bangor, Maine. Noddin, who was at the time of the interview was Secretary-Treasurer of Maine State Federated Labor Council, talks about being involved in labor organizations for many years; 1962 Labor Convention; his involvement with the campaign to elect Benjamin Dorsky as president; run-off between Dorsky and George Jabar; differences and animosities that appear at the convention between the CIO and AFL although the two are united at this time. Text: 14 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0328 / PM 0765 / CD 0593 1/2 hour.

0600 Wilfred D. Gagnon, interviewed by Charles O’Leary, May 4, 1971, Bangor, Maine. 1) Tape begins with an interview with an unidentified man who discusses strike in Livermore Falls-Jay area; violence between strike breakers and union; attitudes of general populace and law about strike; interviewee is barred from union due to position as paper inspector. 2) Gagnon talks about his efforts to bring inspectors into union after strike; safety factors at mill. Gagnon discusses Pulp and Sulfite unions, Labor Day celebrations; poor pay and co-op store for workers at mill; effect of strike on families of workers; discussion of violence at strike; closing of Orono Mill; contracts, conventions and management; agreements between U.S. and Canada regarding paper production. (starts 12:33 into the tape). 3) Tape concludes with speech on benefits of union membership. (starts 57:48 into the tape). Text: 52 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0337, CD 0597 1 hour 20 minutes.

0667 Edward Holmes and wife, interviewed by Jay McCloskey, December 22, 1971, Bangor, Maine. The Holmes talks about Vinalhaven lobster cooperative, 1938; credit unions as organizing device due to apprehensions of fishermen and their affect on Bass Harbor; poverty due to fishing lifestyle; effect of World War II on economy of fishermen; hazards of selling lobster and need for organization; investigation of Holmes due to community suspicions of being a Nazi; Maine Lobstermen’s Association and problems with Department of Justice; description of the chicken-lobster law. Text: 68 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0367 / CD 0598 2 hours.

0668 Bob Ewer, interviewed by Bill Griffith, Bangor area, ca 1972. Griffith talks about organization of the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen (engineers and the firemen); organization of Order of Railway Conductors and United Transportation Union; working for Aroostook and grievance committee; annulment of passenger trains on Central Maine, Bangor and Aroostook; strike on B and A 1913-21; Republican and Democratic parties, Roosevelt; need for educated leadership of unions; management of unions and strike breaking. Text: 68 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0368 / CD 0601 2 hours.

0670 Ralph Leavitt, interviewed by Bill Griffith, February 1, 1972. Leavitt talks about his experience with unions and paper mills. Recording: T 2023.

0671 Floyd Craig, interviewed by John Hanson, February 15, 1972, Bangor, Maine. Craig, who worked with Labor News, discusses problems with it 1938-1939; carpenters local union 1377 in Bangor; lack of violence in 1930s movement in Bangor; loyalties to Benjamin Dorsky; successful effort to create class on labor at UMaine; effects of World War II on building trades and the establishment of Ted Cunningham’s construction company at this time; poor reputation of labor in Bar Harbor. Text: 20 pp. partial transcript with brief catalog. Recording: T 0373 / CD 0603.

0672 Joseph White, interviewed by Charles O’Leary, Harold Noddin, and John Hanson, March 14, 1972, Woodland, Maine. White talks about working in woods of Lincoln, moving to Woodland, joining Local #27 Pulp and Sulfite Workers; difficulties during Depression; trying to change dangerous working conditions at mill during 1920s and 1930s; involvement of union in politics; Ben Dorsky’s visit to Washington Co.; Labor Day celebrations in Woodland; running of the mill during WWII; spy in mill reports workers actions to management; fire in mill in 1925 or 1926; Noddin and White speak of Lincoln mill. Text: 35 pp. transcript with brief catalog. Recording: T 0375 / CD 0607.

0682 Mike Schoojons, interviewed by Bill Griffith, April 4, 1972, Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Schoojons discusses background in Europe in WWI; lack of human rights in plant and relation to Constitution; first strike interests him in the union; strikes, such as Lawrence, MA, not organized; CIO organization of clothing and textile mill workers; difficulties in Biddeford, ME; 1955 strike against Bates and Pepperel; organization in Cranford, Brunswick, Kennebunk with lack of success in Brunswick strike; French-Canadians loyal to union; bill presented by Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (S-314); political endorsements by union for Jim Oliver; lack of union members reading Labor News; Miami convention of 1960; defeats of union in Pittsfield and Am. Woolen Co.; strike in 1943 and 1931 in Lawrence, MA; discussion of NRA; training for shop stewards. Recording: T 0392 (Side 1), CD 0608.

0683 C. Arnold Browne, interviewed by Charles O’Leary, John Hanson, and Harold Noddin, March 27, 1972, Woodland, Maine; mill safety; Central Labor Body and accomplishments; Labor Day celebrations in Woodland; position of International representative and territory; John P. Burke; organization of mill in Franklin,VA and competition with CIO; election to Maine State Legislature; relationship with Ben Dorsky; efforts to organize S.D. Warren in Westbrook, Maine, and difficulties; split between AFL and CIO; experiences with Jimmy George and Charlie Dunton; institution of the 8 hour day; Maine Federation of Labor; anti-labor union groups. Recording: T 0393 / CD 0609.

0685 Jon Wheeler, interviewed by Jay McCloskey, Ben Dorsky, and Charles O’Leary, April 12, 1972, Bangor, Maine. Wheeler talks about joining union in 1920-21; being laid off and became projectionist; paid holidays; attending conference for International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulfite and Mill workers; discussions of rights of workers such as vacations; strikes; celebrations of mill workers in 1915 with parades; effects of 1930s Depression on Millinocket economy; organizing in Lincoln in 1936 and problems with getting paid by CIO; organized quarry workers in the 1940s through AFL; effects of 1937 minimum wage act in Millinocket; 1951 AFL attempts to get part of 27 million to fix state roads into Millinocket; John P. Burke, International president; hours and wages at plant when he first arrived vs. when he left; organization of Bemis Express. Recording: T 0395 / CD 0610.

0687 Benjamin Dorsky, interviewed by Charles O’Leary, April 25, 1972, Bangor, Maine. Dorsky talks about problems organizing workers in Maine during the 1930s; role of Wagner Act in organization of workers; methods of organization by AFL and CIO; strikes and work stoppages during early years; violence during 1937 shoe strike; communism in Maine labor movement and purging unions; organizing shoe workers during 1930s; Dorsky speaks of his history in labor movement and activities in the legislature. Recording: T 0397 / CD 0611.

0688 Percy Flanders, interviewed by Jay McCloskey and Chris Lavin, May 15, 1972, Hampden, Maine. Flanders talks about early days as bricklayer and indention into union as an apprentice; bargaining power and advantages of union; working conditions before and after it was put in place; AFL and contacts with bricklayers; reactions to union; rules of union and how elections were held; wage scale for masons and bricklayers; remembrances of different jobs; art of stone laying. Recording: T 0398 / CD 0612.

0689 Al Page, interviewed by Jay McCloskey and Chris Lavin, May 16, 1972, Oquossoc, Maine. Progression in and affiliation w/union; working conditions of truck drivers; problems with organization before Wagner Act; legislation and education for union members; bond between teamsters and Jimmy Hoffa; International’s role and effectiveness with organization; connections with Maine State Federated Labor Council; merger of AFL and CIO; Taft-Hartley Act and violent strikes affect union; view of unions and if getting too powerful; organizes teachers; press coverage of union; relationship with John Kennedy and Ed Muskie. Recording: T 0399 – 0400 / CD 0613.

0691 Fred Parent, interviewed by Jay McCloskey, May 22, 1972, Bangor, Maine. Parent talks about the beginnings at Bangor and Aroostook Railroad; history of union as he knew it; accomplishments of union and problems with recognition; grievances procedures before and after union; pay decrease during Depression; safety conditions and feather bending at railroad; opinion of passenger curtailment; formation of United Transportation Union and absence of strikes; representative at International conventions; wage station and difficulties establishing a union shop; connections with and effects of state legislature. Recording: T 0404 / CD 0615.

0694 Bob Toole, interviewed by Jay McCloskey, June 6, 1972, Bangor, Maine. Toole talks about his career as typographer at Bangor Daily News; involvement with typographer’s union; progression in labor movement and problems with management; strengths of union and the effects of technology on it; strikes; organization at other newspapers and the procedure to do so; attempt to gain office of president of Maine State Federated Labor Council in 1966; foreman of the composing room at Bangor Daily; Bangor Labor Body’s attempts acquire new building; discussion of attitudes towards union and lack of education about it. Text: 22 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0408.

0696 Carl Russell, interviewed by Jay McCloskey and Ken Morgan, July 7, 1972, Bangor, Maine. Russell talks about early experience with Electric Car Union in Portland; tells of joining United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in Augusta; specialization of carpentry work years ago; the carpenter’s union as a craft union and their outlook towards the AFL and CIO; contact with the International and impressions of the president, Bill Hutchinson; duties of the Deputy Commissioner of Labor and Commissioner of Labor and remembrances of who filled these positions; association with the ME State Apprenticeship Council; minority groups in building trades; success of carpenters bargaining for wage increases and safety measures; joining of Waterville and Augusta unions; memories of Pat Fitzgerald, head of the central labor union in Augusta at one point. Recording: T 0411, CD 0617.

0703 Ed Boulos, interviewed by Ken Morgan, July 26, 1972. Boulos talks about the difficulties of, and role in organizing unions of electrical workers in Portland, Maine around 1915; involvement with Portland Building Trades Council and accomplishments as president of ME State Federation of Labor Council; early conditions at electrical company; role in and difficulties of organizing related trades; success of the Portland Building Trades Council; discontent with members who don’t uphold union principles; looks at unions from the point of a businessman, which he became after 1925; apprenticeship of electrical workers; NIRA and its good and bad points; shifting attitudes of the public towards union after 1930; relations between union and politics; wage increases and hour reductions over the years. Recording: T 0426 / CD 0618.

0709 Phil Place, interviewed by Ken Morgan, July 25, 1972, South Portland, Maine. Place talks about first joining the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; strike in 1916 by car men in Portland; views of union management after his term as president of the union had expressed; safety conditions on the job and accident experiences; union’s experience in bettering benefits, gaining safety regulations, insurance, and pensions; union now and then and the changing attitudes of management towards it; relationship between local and the International; affiliations of the IBEW with the AFL and the Maine State Federation of Labor; conventions, especially one in Augusta are remembered; represented Bangor union in grievance with company; discusses CIO and AFL; discussed opinion that unions should remain unaffiliated with political parties. Recording: T 0433 – 0434 / CD 0631.

0711 Bill MacLeod, interviewed by Ken Morgan and Jay McCloskey, August 1972, East Millinocket, Maine. MacLeod talks about organizing labor in the State of Maine and at Great Northern Paper Company. Text: 71 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0450 – T 0451 / CD 0630 2 hours.

0712 Arthur Lebel, interviewed by Jay McCloskey, August 19, 1972, at the offices of the Maine State Federated Labor Council, Bangor, Maine. Lebel talks about being employed at Bath Iron Works as an electric arc welder until 1935; joined union in 1934; worked at Four River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts for two years then returned to Bath; participated in the organization of a union at Bath; learning to be arc welder; attitudes of citizens toward union and elections; rates of pay and benefits over the years; helped organize shipyards in Portland and South Portland; compares CIO and the AFL; effects of WWII on labor in Maine; changes in CIO and AFL through the 1950s and 1960s; opinions of union then and now. Text: 22 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0452 / CD 0622.

0728 Cecil Crawford, interviewed by Ken Morgan, July 28, 1972 in Lancaster, New Hampshire. Crawford talks about being a member of “District 50” Pulp and Sulfite Workers, and Quarry Workers; American Plan Drive of 1922 and National Association of Manufacturers; the International Brotherhood of Pulp and the United Maine Workers’ Union; the Standard Granite Company and the affects of the Great Depression on the industry; National Recovery Act; Quarry Workers International charted by the AFL in 1903; quarries unorganized until 1937; 1936 strike in the marble industry; United Stone and Allied Products Workers formed in 1940; salaries of stone workers over the years; Scott Paper Company’s affects on stone industry and locals; general philosophy of the unions and management’s response; changing format and philosophy of the union in 1960s and 1970s; rights of laborers and laws to protect them, such as the Landon-Griffin Act; predictions of union’s future. Text: 57 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0545 – T 0546.

0779 Leslie King, interviewed by Richard Davies, August 15, 1973, Mercer, Maine. King talks about organized labor in Maine. Text: 2 pp. tape catalog. Recording: T 0651 – T 0652 / PM 0818 / CD 1008 – CD 1009.

0976 Gov. John Reed, interviewed by Charles O’Leary, spring 1974, Augusta, Maine. 4 pp. Tape: 1/4 hr. w/ cat. Gov. Reed talks about Ben Dorsky; right-to-work laws; labor appointments. Text: catalog. Recording: T 0976 1/4 hour.

0977 John MacDonald, interviewed by Kevin Madigan, June 1974, Brewer, Maine. 12 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ cat. MacDonald, business agent for PPF Local 321, talks about the union and experiences since joining, changes in labor/management relations from 1960s to 1974. Text: catalog. Recording: T 0977 1 hour.

0978 Hollis A. Ward, interviewed by Kevin Madigan, summer 1974, Waterville, Maine. 10 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ cat. Ward talks about offices held in the union; strikes; and union organization. Text: catalog. Recording: T 0978 1 hour.

0980 Ken Wormell, interviewed by Kevin Madigan, summer 1974, Brewer, Maine. 6 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ brief cat. Wormell talks about union activities; strikes; walkouts; relations between carpenters and other building trades; State Labor Council; featherbedding; negotiating. Text: brief catalog. Recording: T 0980 1 hour.

0981 John Ezhaya, interviewed by Kevin Madigan, summer 1974, Skowhegan, Maine. 6 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ brief cat. Ezhaya talks about union activities; organizing; benefits; labor management relations; Boot and Shoe workers; women in the industry; relationship between the International and the locals. Text: brief catalog. Recording: T 0981 1 hour.

3042 Thomas Simpson, interviewed by Ken Morgan and Mark Jacobs, September 25, 1972, Millinocket, Maine. Simpson, a former member of the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers and former employee of Great Northern Paper Co., talks about born in Scotland 1904; arriving in America in 1912; working at the mill while in high school; starting in the paper room; joining the union because he was expected to, but not required to; elections of officers and methods of dealing with management; affects of WWI on the mill; affects of the Depression on the mill; various types of machinery and job opportunities at the mill, how they’ve changed over time; his positions within the union; the evolution and expansion of Great Northern throughout time; unions today. Text: 53 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0546 – 0548 / CD 0624.

3043 Mark Burke, interviewed by Ken Morgan, October 12, 1972, Auburn, Maine. Burke was a member of the Lewiston-Auburn Shoe Workers Protective Association. Text: 30 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0548 – T 0549 / CD 0625.

3044 Stuart Gould, interviewed by Ken Morgan, October 9, 1972, in Gould’s office in Hallowell, Maine. Gould worked in the Wilton Woolen Mill and was vice president of the Maine Federation of Labor. Text: 24 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0549 – T 0550 / CD 0626.

3045 George Young, interviewed by Ken Morgan and Jay McCloskey, November 21, 1972, Lisbon, Maine. Young worked at Bath Iron Works as a welder and was a member of the CIO. Text: 28 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0550 – T 0551 / CD 0627.

3046 Herman Coombs, interviewed by Ken Morgan, December 4, 1972, Bath, Maine. Coombs was the tin knocker at Bath Iron Works and president of the Independent Brotherhood of Shipyard Workers and later representative to the AFL-CIO. Coombs discusses the efforts of the AFL and CIO to replace the independent union during the war years. Text: 36 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0551 – T 0552 / CD 0628.

3047 George Worthily, interviewed by Ken Morgan, September 22, 1972, Rumford, Maine. Worthily worked at the Oxford Paper Company and was president of the local union. Worthily discusses the efforts of District 50 of the United Mine Workers to organize the paper mill and competition with AFL craft-based unions. Text: 25 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0552 – T 0553 / CD 0629.

3048 Harold Noddin, interviewed by Jay McCloskey, December 23, 1971, Bangor, Maine. Noddin discusses his first connection with union at Eastern Corp. in Lincoln, Maine; relation between industry and union in paper plants; feudal relationship between Warren family and employees; union lacks social function in Lincoln; growth of skilled workers unions i.e. Paper Makers Union, International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulfite, and Paper Mill Workers; how the United Mine Workers come to organize in the mill; service to local in office of financial secretary, steward and president; attends international conventions as a delegate; positions in ME District Council of Paper Makers and St. Fed of Labor. Recording: T 0367, CD 0599.

3049 Frank Dunbar, interviewed by Bill Griffith, January 4, 1972, Bangor Maine. Dunbar talks about 1st union experience in Mass.; being president of Bucksport local of the International Longshoremen’s Assoc. (1935-1942); being president of Pulp and Sulfite Workers of Bucksport (1947-1951); being a member of executive board of the Maine State Fed. Labor Council and officer in ME District Council of Paper Workers; father’s commitment to the union; being arrested for trying to organizing the longshoremen (around 1935); various unions involved in paper making and the blanket contracts; opinion of AFL-CIO merge; story from the negotiation at Central Maine Power Plant; compromises after an illegal picket line; worker’s compensation to longshoremen; disadvantages schedule changes at a paper mill; story about Maine Seaboard Paper Co. and longshoremen’s negotiations. Text: 1 pp. catalog; 20 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0367 (there are 3 interviews on this T, 3049 is 3rd), CD 0600.

3050 Ted Kimble, interviewed by Bill Griffith, January 5, 1971, Orrington, Maine. Kimble, who works as shop steward in Lewiston, ME, filling jobs with union laborers and craftsmen, talks about work in bricklaying trade and as apprentice mason; father Ernest Kimble’s experiences; earns position as union shop steward at 21; wage and employment problems with position; $5 fine for work stoppage by workmen; works for local #7 as business agent; problems with organizing in Aroostook County because he can’t speak French; comparison of work habits between young, middle-aged, and old. Recording: T 0368 / CD 0602.

3051 Various Labor Conference participants, winter of 1972, Boston, MA, donated by the Maine State Federated Labor Council. The speakers talk about how to recruit younger members of society; job training and situation in Maine; educational problems; misuse of funds and vocational training for underprivileged; questions over AFDC and employment of younger people on welfare; discussion of who refuses to work and feelings of union rank and file about them; black migration from the South and problems related; job placement qualifications; advantages and disadvantages of welfare; policy of AFL-CIO Executive Council toward welfare, job training, medical care, day care, and others. Text: 43 pp. Recording: T 0373 / CD 0604.

3052 Ben Dorsky and Arthur LeBel, interviewed by Charles O’Leary, May 1970. Dorsky and LeBel discuss what a union is; brief history of labor movement in US and ME; contributions of unions to economy of ME: better working conditions and wages; LeBel’s father’s experiences in Bath Iron Works before union; how to find information on unions. Text: 8 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0374 (side 1), CD 0605.

3053 George Jabar, interviewed by Chris Lavin, March 07, 1972, Waterville, Maine. Jabar talks about his first exposure to union with United Textile Workers of America; leaving the mill 1934 to organize in ME; codes of NRA in relation to textile workers; qualifications to be an organizer; Nation Labor Relations Act; history of labor movement in ME and AFL-CIO unification; Taft-Hartley bill; checkoff policy for paying union dues; 1934 convention in Augusta; split of AFL and CIO in ME; difficulties to organizers during 1934 strike; AFL attempts to organize French speaking workers and prejudice against them; racism in mills towards blacks and Indians; flying squadron in strikes; police disrupt Lewiston strike; militia in Waterville strike; relationship of mill workers to Maine State Federated Labor Council; labor newspapers-what was read and what was available. Text: 66 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0374, CD 0606, CD 0826.

3054 Walter McMann and Leon Billings, Corliss, Frets, and Tarrah (first names unknown), interviewed by Jay McCloskey, May 22, 1972, Bath, Maine. Corliss, Frets, and Tarrah (first names unknown) join them later in the interview. McMann and Billings, Bath Iron Works workers, discuss the history of wages; jobs; conditions in the shipyard; beginnings and changes in union; affiliation w/CIO; benefits of and attitudes towards union. Corliss talks about his work history; merger w/CIO at Iron Works; difficulties in securing benefits before union; bosses and superintendents at shipyard; destroyers built during war; benefits of union including wages, medical care, advancement, and safety; strikes at Iron Works; women at Iron Works due to war. Billings discusses wooden ship making and pipe fitter trade. Frets speaks of angle-smith trade. Tarrah tells of experiences at Iron Works. Text: 43 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0400 / CD 0614.

3055 Joe Maloney, interviewed by Ken Morgan, July 26, 1972, Portland, Maine. Maloney talks about Bricklayer’s Union; other early unions; working conditions, reduction in hours over the years; relationship between Bricklayers and contractors; right to work laws; Longshoreman’s Union in Portland, his work and remembrances; decline of business on Portland waterfront, railroad’s involvement, activities during Prohibition; benefits in health, welfare, pension, accident payments; safety conditions, attitudes toward safety of contractors; grievance procedure; strengths, weaknesses of Portland Building Trades Council; difficulty of Bricklayers in finding work during Depression, working conditions; initiation fees; apprenticeship; argument between local and International; conventions attended; relationship between unions and politics; strikes and negotiations; changes over time in bricklaying trade; newspapers’ attitudes, problems Maloney sees them creating; strengths of the union and gains bricklayers made. Recording: T 0426 – T 0427.

3056 Edith Wall, interviewed by Ken Morgan, July 26, 1972, Rockland, Maine; Wall discusses her affiliation with Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union in 1945 and conditions in Rockland, ME; relationship between local management and the International; improvements in medical insurance and paid vacation; shop requirement at Rockland local; conventions and convention speakers; alleged Communist involvement in Camden when workers attempted to organize; activities of Rockland local and the International; grievance procedure; problems with right to work laws; opinions of strikes; the union and their practicality; changing attitudes over the years toward the union. Recording: T 0427.

3057 Adelaide Biladeau, interviewed by Jay McCloskey, August 23, 1972, Millinocket, Maine. Biladeau talks about his first work and union experiences at the International Paper Co. in New Hampshire and at the Great Northern Paper Co.; 1908 strike involving paper companies throughout the country; mergers and name changes of unions throughout the years; pay at mill in New Hampshire; being blacklisted during strike of 1908 and the conditions of hire at Great Northern; paid vacations and pensions; wage reductions during WWI; walkout at Great Northern during 1906; offices he had held in the union; CIO’s attempts to organize at Great Northern; separation of Pulp Workers and Paper Makers; union’s relationship to the State Federation of Labor and legislative involvement; extent of union’s social function and its economic functions; development of the seniority system; establishment of a company store in Millinocket and its eventual demise; operation of company during the Depression and WWII; union shop and dues payment. Recording: T 0451 / CD 0621.

3058 Herman Ackroyd, interviewed by Jay McCloskey, Ken Morgan, and Mark Jacobs, September 9, 1972, Sanford, Maine. Ackroyd, formerly of the United Textile Workers of the American Federation of Labor, talks about graduating high school 1927; working in Sanford woolen mill until 1954 in the cotton wrap room; mother working in the mill as a mender and sister working in the office; low wages, fifty-hour work weeks; effect of Depression on mill; labor slow to organize (do so independently in 1939); various labor organizations (UTW, TWU); attempt to get mill workers to join; Taft-Hartley Act of 1947; joining Maine State Labor Organization in 1943; being elected vice-president in 1945; organized other locals such as Dexter and Oakland, Maine; interactions between local politicians and local labor organizations. Recording: T 0452 – T 0453 / CD 0622.

3059 Alexander Anastasoff, interviewed by Ken Morgan, August 20, 1972, Biddeford, Maine. Anastasoff, a member of the Textile Workers Union of America, talks about family history; learning to be a weaver in 1933; general strike in 1933 at plant; how FDR and NRA program affected workers; union resurfaced in 1939; local union created and brought many benefits (vacation, pay raises, etc.) to workers; becoming recording secretary and shop steward of the local; worker’s grievances and the response of union and management; rise and fall of weaving industry in Eastern Maine from WWII to 1970; helping to organize in York, Sanford and Portland ME during 1940s; Taft-Hartley and Right to Work Act; the future of the industry and of the union in Maine. Recording: T 0453 – T 0455 / CD 0623.

3255 James Fairbrother and Warner Hamilton, interviewed by Jay McCloskey and John Hanson, May 2, 1972, Bangor, Maine. Fairbrother and Hamilton talk about beginnings with longshoreman’s union and reasons for its establishment; strikes and work stoppages; positions in union from beginning to present; Fairbrother’s association with the quarry workers union; fights for safety improvements; contacts with other unions and with management; ships and products that entered the Seaport; ships and shipbuilding and unusual incidents in the area; both speak of childhood; attitudes of Mainers to union and right-to-work laws; problems with coal ships; activities of longshoremen and lack of activity in union until after 1956; shipping between Bangor and Seaport; Hamilton speaks of building Chamberlain Bridge and organizing at Sumner Fertilizer Co.; Ben Dorsky and joining ME Fed of Labor. Text: 62 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0397, PM 0783.