Title

Interview with Michael Hamil

Authors

Michael G. Hillard PhD, University of Southern MaineFollow

Files

Date of Interview

4-1-2003

Duration of Audio File

Audio File 1 -- 01:10:57; Audio File 2 -- 01:21:07; Audio File 3 -- 0:47:57

Interviewee

Michael Hamil

Gender

Male

Description

Hamel describes his career at Winslow; including becoming a younger union President. Hamel tells two important stories: the unusual embrace by himself and other union leaders of Scott's Jointness program to reorganize work and union relations in the early 1990s, and then how Chainsaw Al Dunlap's CEO reign destroyed the experiment and led to mill's closure in 1997.

Birth Place

Waterville, Maine

Residence

Waterville, Maine

Occupation/Work History

Paper mill worker & union leader

Role

Union

Mill or Principal Employer

S.D.Warren Company at the Scott Paper Mill in Winslow, Maine

Mill Location

Winslow, Maine

Keywords

Paper Industry, S. D. Warren, Labor Unions - Maine, Scott Paper Company- Winslow - Maine, Paper Industry - work reorganization

Comments

A crucial tale in the state's labor history of the 1990s. Scott tried to implement a very progressive version of team concept work reorganization and codetermination of mill management with local managers and union leaders. Hamel gives an account that claims it was very successful, and Winslow became a model for Scott nationally. Then Al Dunlap pulled apart Scott Paper in 1995 and 1996, and then sold Winslow to competitor Kimberly Clark which shut down the successful Winslow mill to reduce competition.

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 Michael Hamil" (2003). S.D. Warren Company. 39.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/39