Scare tactics

Re: the letter, “The big picture,” by Thatcher Adams, in the Oct. 19 BDN.

It appears that Mr. Adams is management.

He states that we have to have eightpeople do the work of 10 people. Does he know James River now has 11 management people doing the job that three did when Diamond International owned the mill? They are very topheavy.

Can he explain why a mill formerly owned by James River in New Hampshire was sold because it was too much of a burden on the parent company is now making record profits under new management.

James River couldn’t give us a raise several years ago and ever since, or they were going to have to shut down the Old Town mill. They had to have the new sludge dump or they might have to shut the mill down. They had to have a tax break or they might have to shut the mill down, and without their $1.2 million abatement refund, who knows what would have happened.

Sounds like scare tactics to me.

We were told by management that labor costs were actually quite a small part of the manufacturing costs. Is our management misinformed or is Mr. Adams.

James River found the money to pave large areas of the mill. They found the money for a new telephone system, all new office furniture, all new lockers, and new tool boxes, but none for us. Their management got raises and all we got was their assurance that we are their most important asset.

In reference to us giving management ideas on how to save money. We give them many good ideas, but they seem to be of a mentality that says “if it doesn’t come from the top, it won’t work.” After years of this attitude, you tend to keep your ideas to yourself.

In retrospect, all of this is unimportant. What we want is the right to have a bargaining tool; The right to make them bargain in good faith.

If they can get away with not giving us a raise for 20 years, they will, and you and I know this. It wouldn’t be good business sense for them to do otherwise.

Please give us the right to strike, and we will lie in the bed we make. Stanley C. Buck Milford