The Betrayal of Local 14: Paperworkers, Politics, and Permanent Replacements
International Paper, the richest paper company and largest landowner in the United States, enjoyed record profits and gave large bonuses to executives in 1987, that same year the company demanded that employees take a substantial paycut, sacrifice hundreds of jobs, and forego their Christmas holiday. At the Adroscoggin Mill in Jay, Maine, twelve hundred workers responded by going on strike from June 1987 to October 1988. Local union members mobilized an army of volunteers but International Paper brought in permanent replacement workers and the strike was ultimately lost. Julius G. Getman tells the story of that strike and its implications—a story of a community changing under pressure; of surprising leaders, strategists, and orators emerging; of lifelong friendships destroyed and new bonds forged. At a time when the role of organized labor is in transition, Getman suggests, this strike has particular significance. He documents the early negotiations, the battle for public opinion, the heroic efforts to maintain solidarity, and the local union's sense of betrayal by its national leadership. With exceptional richness in perspective, Getman includes the memories and informed speculations of union stalwarts, managers, and workers, including those who crossed the picket line, and shows the damage years later to the individuals, the community, and the mill. He demonstrates the law's bias, the company's undervaluing of employees, and the international union's excessive concern with internal politics.

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The Betrayal of Local 14: Paperworkers, Politics, and Permanent Replacements
International Paper, the richest paper company and largest landowner in the United States, enjoyed record profits and gave large bonuses to executives in 1987, that same year the company demanded that employees take a substantial paycut, sacrifice hundreds of jobs, and forego their Christmas holiday. At the Adroscoggin Mill in Jay, Maine, twelve hundred workers responded by going on strike from June 1987 to October 1988. Local union members mobilized an army of volunteers but International Paper brought in permanent replacement workers and the strike was ultimately lost. Julius G. Getman tells the story of that strike and its implications—a story of a community changing under pressure; of surprising leaders, strategists, and orators emerging; of lifelong friendships destroyed and new bonds forged. At a time when the role of organized labor is in transition, Getman suggests, this strike has particular significance. He documents the early negotiations, the battle for public opinion, the heroic efforts to maintain solidarity, and the local union's sense of betrayal by its national leadership. With exceptional richness in perspective, Getman includes the memories and informed speculations of union stalwarts, managers, and workers, including those who crossed the picket line, and shows the damage years later to the individuals, the community, and the mill. He demonstrates the law's bias, the company's undervaluing of employees, and the international union's excessive concern with internal politics.

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The Betrayal of Local 14: Paperworkers, Politics, and Permanent Replacements

The Betrayal of Local 14: Paperworkers, Politics, and Permanent Replacements

by Julius G. Getman
The Betrayal of Local 14: Paperworkers, Politics, and Permanent Replacements

The Betrayal of Local 14: Paperworkers, Politics, and Permanent Replacements

by Julius G. Getman

Hardcover

$56.95 
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Overview

International Paper, the richest paper company and largest landowner in the United States, enjoyed record profits and gave large bonuses to executives in 1987, that same year the company demanded that employees take a substantial paycut, sacrifice hundreds of jobs, and forego their Christmas holiday. At the Adroscoggin Mill in Jay, Maine, twelve hundred workers responded by going on strike from June 1987 to October 1988. Local union members mobilized an army of volunteers but International Paper brought in permanent replacement workers and the strike was ultimately lost. Julius G. Getman tells the story of that strike and its implications—a story of a community changing under pressure; of surprising leaders, strategists, and orators emerging; of lifelong friendships destroyed and new bonds forged. At a time when the role of organized labor is in transition, Getman suggests, this strike has particular significance. He documents the early negotiations, the battle for public opinion, the heroic efforts to maintain solidarity, and the local union's sense of betrayal by its national leadership. With exceptional richness in perspective, Getman includes the memories and informed speculations of union stalwarts, managers, and workers, including those who crossed the picket line, and shows the damage years later to the individuals, the community, and the mill. He demonstrates the law's bias, the company's undervaluing of employees, and the international union's excessive concern with internal politics.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780801434761
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication date: 05/26/1998
Series: 11/27/2006
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Julius Getman is the Earl E. Sheffield Regents Professor at the University of Texas Law School, Austin. He is author or coauthor of eleven books.

What People are Saying About This

Thomas A. Kochan

In The Betrayal of Local 14 Julius Getman uses a tragic but important story, written in a compelling, personal fashion, to convey a real American tragedy. It is sad commentary on contemporary labor-management relations that this type of destructive conflict was allowed to tear apart and leave permanent scars on a community. Everyone remotely involved in labor relations today, and tomorrow, should read this book, reflect on its lessons, and vow to do what it takes to insure that another like it never again has cause to be written.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy

This book is rousing proof that the spirit of an entire community can be revitalized by the fight for a worthy cause. The strike by the paperworkers in Jay, Maine, brought out extraordinary and untapped qualities of bravery, loyalty, and intelligence in working families and their allies. This book is a well-told story of betrayal and survival that has lessons for all Americans and their own communities.

James Brudney

Professor Getman captures the human as well as the political dimensions of the doomed strike at International Paper. He recounts individual heroism amidst the company's insensitivity, the union's indecisiveness, and the law's inadequacy. All those concerned for the future of the labor movement should ponder this story.

Clyde W. Summers

A compelling demonstration that the courage, dedication, and solidarity of workers is no match for a profit-maximizing employer reinforced by permanent replacements. This is a human story about how the replacement worker sword destroys the lives of workers and severs the ties of a community.

Ray Marshall

The Betrayal of Local 14 is a very valuable book about a labor-management conflict whose importance transcends the immediate case. It should be read by all who are concerned about the state of labor relations in the United States.

Robert B. McKersie

This is a painful story—one that has to be told. Getman is to be commended for his diligence in uncovering the raw material and creating a gripping account of this turning point in labor-management relations in this country.

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