Interview with Tommy Lestage 4 of 5
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Date of Interview
8-2-2000
Duration of Audio File
Audio File 1 -- 01:03:18; Audio File 2 -- 01:03:30
Interviewee
Tommy Lestage
Age
Born 1960
Gender
Male
Description
Tommy Lestage was a long time militant labor activist and union leader at Westbrook mill. He recounts experience of working in paper mill in his various jobs - what it is like, safety problems and injuries, skills, and generally what happens while doing shiftwork and braving difficult conditions. Lestage recalls features of mill culture including practical jokes, manly relations among male workers, and varying experiences with supervisors and managers. As a low level union shop steward and later leader of the union, he has very detailed accounts of all aspects of union-company relations. The interview includes an extensive description of resistance by Local 1069 to Scott Paper's "Jointness" labor-management cooperation and work reorganization project (1988-1994), and participation in solidarity actions in support of paper mill workers on strike against International Paper Company in Jay, Maine in 1987-1988.
Residence
Westbrook, Maine
Occupation/Work History
President and officer of United Paperworkers International Union Local 1069, 1983-2003, pulp mill worker and later paper machine hand.
Role
Union
Mill or Principal Employer
S.D. Warren Company
Mill Location
Westbrook, Maine
Keywords
Paper mills - Maine, Sappi Paper - History, S.D.Warren - Maine, Paper Mills- Safety & Maintenance, Paper Mills - Injuries
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 Tommy Lestage 4 of 5" (2000). S.D. Warren Company. 5.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/5
Comments
Audio File 1 begins mid-sentence. Audio File 2 cuts off.