Title

Interview with Thomas "Tommy" Lestage

Authors

Michael Hillard, University of Southern MaineFollow

Streaming Media

Additional Streaming Media

Date of Interview

8-2-2000

Interviewee

Tommy Lestage

Gender

Male

Birth Place

1960

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

Mill Location

Westbrook, Maine 04092

Keywords

Paper mills - Maine, Sappi Paper - History, S.D.Warren - Maine, Paper Mills- Safety & Maintenance, Paper Mills - Injuries

Abstract

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.

Comments

Tape 1 begins mid sentence. Tape 2 cuts off

Document Type

Interview

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Hillard, Michael, "Interview with Thomas "Tommy" Lestage" (2000). S.D. Warren Company. 51.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/warren/51