Interview with Don Fontaine
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Download Interview with Don Fontaine - Audio File (71.1 MB)
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Date of Interview
7-15-2004
Duration of Audio File
01:17:40
Interviewee
Don Fontaine
Age
Approximately late 50s at time of interview
Gender
Male
Residence
Portland, Maine
Occupation/Work History
Labor law lawyer
Keywords
Woodcutters Strike, Maine Labor History, Maine Paper Industry
Description
Donald Fontaine has been a labor lawyer since the late 1960s, working first with Pine Tree Legal and later as an independent labor lawyer. The interviewee was the lawyer that represented the Maine Woodsmen's Association (MWA) during the 1975 strike, and describes the origins of the MWA and the extensive legal proceedings during the strike. Donald Fontaine has represented dozens of local education associations on behalf of teachers, bus drivers, educational technicians, janitors, and school secretaries. He has also represented the United Paperworkers International Union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, U.N.I.T.E., the AFL-CIO, and the employees of the DeCoster Egg Farm
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Hillard, Michael G. PhD, "Interview with Don Fontaine" (2004). Maine Woodman’s Association Strike of 1975. 12.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/maine-woodsmans-strike/12
Comments
The key theme of the interview is his role as the single lawyer advocating for the MWA against the Maine Paper Companies in attempting to revoke an injunction against the MWA strike. Fontaine faced off what were dozens of high priced paper lawyers representing Maine paper companies; some of these lawyers were from Maine and some from New York City. Fontaine also was directly involved in the creation of the MWA. His Pine Tree Legal office in Aroostook County hired two staffers to research labor conditions for northern Maine loggers who also helped to organize a local precursor of the MWA.