Why solidarity is needed for ALL workers

Layoffs are everywhere and almost everyday we hear of another workplace shutting down. There’s no escaping that it just might happen to you. Since April 1998, the United States has lost 2.4 million manufacturing jobs while at the same time Maine has lost 12,300 manufacturing jobs. (AFL-CIO, Revitalizing American Manufacturing, 2003) Each layoff involves everyone in the family. Each layoff means a family suffers in more ways than a paycheck.

Here in Maine we have seen a progression in companies closing their doors forever … chicken plants, shoe factories, shirt makers and paper mills. It’s rampant. People are running scared. Some people blame it on “the economy” or “terrorism.” Other people are trying to do something about it, bring it to the forefront of discussion and ask why this is really happening and what can be done about it.

There has been a large gathering of support from all around the state for the latest “hit” – the workers at the two Great Northern Paper mills. It’s been called the “Enron of the Wilderness” by some and it will take some time to sort out exactly what has happened. But right now we know this: more than a thousand workers have lost their jobs, health insurance, seniority and retirement benefits. Just like some of the other shutdown companies. Meanwhile, the CEO continued to receive a hefty paycheck, which included a bonus in December.

The possibility now of whole towns, communities, school districts, businesses all collapsing is real enough. But the latest shutdown has shocked the community into doing something. It has been inspiring to see our state coming together to address a common problem like we have not done since the ice storm of 1998. Unions, media, political groups, businesses, workplaces, civic groups, churches, government and youth groups have collected money, sent supplies, held fundraisers, written letters and shown solidarity with the workers in the Katahdin area and their families. It is clear to all of us that the closing of the Great Northern Paper mills is not just “their” problem. And that the only way to affect the underlying causes and find long-term solutions to job loss and increasing insecurity is working together across lines that we do not often bridge.

Let’s not forget how we are coming together to rally around the workers in the Katahdin region. Let’s make the relationships we are building now a permanent part of our lives

In northern Maine, laid-off workers, unions, allied organizations and supportive individuals got together a year ago and formed Food AND Medicine. It was a time when shoe factories and two stud mills were closing and laid-off workers were trying to secure assistance with health insurance from our U.S. legislators. We wanted to do something to include ALL workers – those laid-off and those working, those union and non-union, small business owners and employees. We were seeing one company after another shutting its doors – Saucony/Spotbilt Shoe, Dexter Shoe, Ansewn Shoe, Jordan Meats, International Paper Costigan and Passadumkeag mills, Hathaway Shirt Co., and the list goes on.

With Food AND Medicine we all have one thing in common – we all believe that it is the right of every worker to have basic needs and affordable health care. As one voice we hold no weight, but together we can be powerful.

It’s been a year of hard work and perseverance. In the spring we held a benefit supper, served more than 125 people and netted more than $1,300. This summer Food AND Medicine wrote, edited and produced a video, “Food OR Medicine,” which offers testimonies of struggle by local laid-off workers. We showed our video and held town meetings in dozens of places in the fall discussing how Maine workers have lost their jobs due to “free trade” (aka shipping jobs to sweatshops overseas) and are falling through our “safety net.” We held rallies and press conferences, and worked to hold our legislators accountable to the needs of workers. Through all of this we think the most important thing is that workers stand together and help each other out. We just cannot allow ourselves to be pitted against one another. There is too much at stake.

On Saturday, March 8, Food AND Medicine, along with the Greater Bangor Area Central Labor Council and Peace through Interamerican Community Action (PICA), will hold a Solidarity Benefit Supper from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. A solidarity quilt will be created at the supper. The event is being held at the Bangor Central Labor Council Union Hall at 20 Ayer St., Brewer (off South Main Street). Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children (under 5 free) and $20 for families. One hundred percent of the ticket sales will go to the workers at Great Northern Paper through the Katahdin Area Central Labor Council.

We invite the community to come, have a great meal, hear good music, and learn what we are about. For more information or to get involved with Food AND Medicine, call 989-4141.

Roxanne Munksgaard represents Food AND Medicine; Jack McKay, the Greater Bangor Area Central Labor Council; Bjorn Skorpen-Claeson, Peace through Interamerican Community Action (PICA).