Solidarity Forever
For the Union Makes Us Strong
Scabs Out! Unions!
After the final shift on Monday June 15th, 1987, twelve hundred and fifty members of the United Paperworkers International Union Local 14 along with members of the International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers Local 246 at the Androscoggin Mill in Jay, Maine went out on strike against the largest private landowner in the us and richest paper company in the world. after decades of forcing workers to work sixty-hour weeks and most sundays. International Paper company tried to eliminate Sunday premium pay, take away Christmas as a holiday, subcontract out maintenance work at the mills, and launched "Project: Productivity" to restructure the workplace entirely in management's favor. The union workers said this far and no further. The community supported them as they fought for their livelihoods, for environmental protections, and for their dignity. The overwhelming majority of workers held the line. The strike continued, militantly, for sixteen months, during which time the company replaced nearly the entire workforce. On the strike line at mass meetings, in Jay and across the planet they chanted: "Scabs Out. Union In!" ”The strike was the community” and this spirit continues in Jay to this very day.
This CPH poster printed at the worker-owned and union-run Community Printers, Santa Cruz, CA.
This is #194 in the Celebrate People’s History Poster Series.
