Title
Interview with Howard Parkhurst
Date of Interview
6-14-2001
Duration of Audio File
Audio file #1 00:57:32; Audio file #2 00:58:16; Audio file #3 00:57:49; Audio file #4 00:24:10
Interviewee
Howard Parkhurst
Age
Born approximately 1938, aged 63 at time of interview.
Gender
Male
Birth Place
Windham or Westbrook, Maine
Residence
Windham, Maine
Occupation/ Work History
Pipefitter, laborer in coal yard, local union official
Role
Union
Mill or Principal Employer
S. D. Warren
Mill Location
Westbrook, Maine 04092
Keywords
S.D. Warren-history, Scott Paper Company-history, unionization, U.S. labor relations-1960s to 1990s, paper mill work life
Abstract
Parkhurst worked in mills from 1960s-1990s. He began as a unskilled laborer in coal yard, later was trained as a pipe fitter and became a skilled maintenance worker. Parkhurst was also elected as a union leader in the Pipe fitters union at S.D. Warren.
Document Type
Interview
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Howard Parkhurst, interview by Michael Hillard, June 14, 2001, Stories of Maine's Paper Plantation, Digital Maine, Maine's Economic Improvement Fund, Digital Commons, University of Southern Maine
Howard Parkhurst 6-14-01 (2).mp3 (54621 kB)
Howard Parkhurst 6-14-01 (3).mp3 (54202 kB)
Howard Parkhurst 6-14-01 (4).mp3 (22658 kB)
Comments
Colorful recollections of mill work life, lax treatment of workers in pre-union paternalism era, and unionization's benefits. Worked in the "coal hopper" in first years at mill, losing 25 pounds and working with an alcoholic who drank at work. Describes astonishing freedom of some workers to work very little for a full paycheck. Depicts widespread favoritism prior to unionization that mill's unions ended. Astute observations about later labor relations in mill through the 1990s.