Antonio Pomerleau Interview

Authors

Ralph Roy

Files

Description

Antonio Pomerleau (b. 1907, Saint-Méthode, QC) left Canada when he was three years old and travelled with his family to Lewiston, Maine. Although his father had been recruited to work in the Bates textile mill, he didn't like the work, and became a woodsman instead. After the fourth grade, Antonio followed his father into the logging trade, but took a job at the Bates mill himself at age 16. He would continue to work in the industry at different Maine textile mills until his retirement. Antonio began work as a sweeper, earning $13.82 for a fifty-four hour work week. With the advent of the Great Depression, however, wages had plummeted to $7.00 for the legally-mandated forty-hour work week. In 1936, Antonio helped organize the union at the Bates Mill. In this interview with Ralph Roy, conducted April 22, 1994, Antonio talks about his working conditions, relationship with the union and his attitude to work.

Duration

00:57:29

Publication Date

4-22-1994

City

Lewiston

State

Maine

Keywords

Pomerleau, Oral History, Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine

Media Type

Reproduction

Comments

The Franco-American Collection is one of the largest repositories of its kind in the North-East. The Collection contains tens of thousands of printed books, photographs, newspaper clippings and audio-visual recordings. Please review the Collection's Terms and Conditions regarding use of its material.

Recommended Citation

Interviews and Lectures Collection, Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Language

English