Title
Date of Interview
8-2-2001
Duration of Audio File
Audio file #1 1:14:49; Audio file #2 1:14:55
Interviewee
Ron Usher
Age
Born approximately 1939, aged 62 at time of interview
Gender
Male
Birth Place
Westbrook, Maine
Residence
Westbrook and Buxton, Maine
Occupation/ Work History
Paper mill worker, paper machine hand, local union official, Maine State Legislature representative
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, union organizing, Democratic Politics, paper mill work life
Abstract
Usher was a rank and file worker and a son of an S.D. Warren worker. He worked at mill from 1960 into the 2000s. Usher participated in union organizing at mill in 1960s, and was recruited by leaders of United Paper Workers International Union (UPIU) Local 1069 to run (successfully) for Maine State Legislature.
Document Type
Interview
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Ron Usher, interview by Michael Hillard, August 2, 2001, Stories of Maine's Paper Plantation, Digital Maine, Maine's Economic Improvement Fund, Digital Commons, University of Southern Maine
Included in
Labor History Commons, Oral History Commons, Social History Commons, Unions Commons, United States History Commons
Comments
Trenchant observations on a variety of topics and recollections of key experiences at mill. Had severe hand injury in 1960s and was put right back to work; describes rampant favoritism in the mill before it unionized; active in 1967 campaign to organize union; describes how Local 1069 transformed Westbrook from a Republican to a Democratic City after unionization. Represented labor union positions in legislature over a long career.