Cutting Off the Canadians: Nativism and the Fate of the Maine Woodman's Association, 1970-1981

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Publication Title

Labor: Studies in the Working Class History of the Americas

Abstract

The 1975 strike by the Maine Woodman's Association (MWA), a union of woodcutters, initiated a six-year movement with significant impact on the paper industry and labor conditions. Nonetheless, the paper companies' control over tracts of land assigned, the isolation and individualism of the contract work teams, their own nativistic opposition to French Canadian guest workers, and their inability to integrate with the broader unionism of the industrial paper workers all contributed to making the organizing accomplishments of the MWA a passing phenomenon.

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