Streaming Media
Date of Interview
7-9-2002
Interviewee
Robert Burton
Age
74 at time of interview, born 1928, died 2014 age 86
Gender
Male
Birth Place
Gorham, New Hampshire
Residence
Westbrook, Maine from 1940s unto 2014.
Occupation/ Work History
S. D. Warren foreman / supervisor from 1944-1988. Moved up from shop floor foreman to director of scheduling for the entire mill.
Role
Management
Mill or Principal Employer
S. D. Warren
Mill Location
Westbrook, Maine 04092
Abstract
Burton worked for a few years as hourly worker, then spent most of his career as a foreman and supervisor at S.D. Warren from height of S.D. Warren days until era when Scott began layoffs and disrupted local management customs. A good interview to learn about how supervisors/managers did their work and issues they confronted. Burton gives a detailed description of how workers were "indulged" by top management, i.e., seldom fired or challenged in work effort and practices, and also how lower level managers were hurt and weakened by unionization.
Document Type
Interview
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Robert Burton, interview by Michael Hillard, July 9, 2002, Stories of Maine's Paper Plantation, Digital Maine, Maine's Economic Improvement Fund, Digital Commons, University of Southern Maine
Included in
Labor History Commons, Oral History Commons, Social History Commons, Unions Commons, United States History Commons
Comments
Detailed discussion of sexual harassment, poorly handled by industrial relations department. Problems in 1980s of new outside managers not knowing the business, reassignment of foreman to areas where the foreman had no expertise and were unqualified. Describes life as a foreman and supervisor at S.D. Warren, and frustrations of his rank with union and higher management cutting out their decision making power.