Maine Fair Trade Campaign

What happens to a community when unfair trade shuts down the largest employer?

Go to Jay, Maine to find out.

On December 30, folks from MFTC and PICA (Peace through Interamerican Community Action) traveled to Jay, Maine to interview laid-off workers.  The folks at the Otis mill in Jay were laid off in 2009 when the paper mill shut down.

The job loss was certified by the Department of Labor under TAA- Trade Adjustment Assistance- because it was due to unfair foreign trade. These interviews are a part of the “kNOw US AND THEM” project that PICA is leading, a series of interviews of laid off workers and immigrants in Maine- people impacted by the costs of free trade.

We went to the  union hall in Jay to meet with the workers.  These workers were members of United Steelworkers Local 11.  We interviewed four laid-off workers, Sonny, Kim, Mike and Deb.

They shared with us the lost sense of community and family since the mill closed.  They talked about the hardship the town and region are going through now. There are very few jobs.  People are depressed.  The town’s budget has shrunk so much that the youth no longer have as many options in the schools, like after school programs that keep them out of trouble.

We saw pictures from the days the mill was running, and heard the long history of the Otis mill in the town.

We will share more of their stories when we get the interviews processed and clips prepared.

Kim Lavoie of USW Local 11

Mike, left, and one of the volunteers at the Papermaking museum in Livermore Falls look over photos of workers at the mill.

November 30- December 5, 1999 was the start of something big.  That was the week when protesters shut down the World Trade Organization Meetings in Seattle, Washington.  New alliances came together- workers, farmers, environmentalists, and faith leaders- to say NO to the WTO and YES to a new vision for a just and sustainable global economy.

This was a turning point in the fair trade movement.  This year, being the 10th anniversary, Mainers gathered together to celebrate the Battle in Seattle and look ahead to continuing the fight.

We marked the anniversary with a rally and march in Bangor on the 30th.  We paid a visit to Rep. Mike Michaud’s office to thank him for his leadership on fair trade, and continued to Senator Snowe’s office to ask her to co-sponsor the TRADE Act.   Thanks to everyone who came out in the rain, it was a great event!

We held the first ever Annual Meeting of the Coalition at the Waterville UCC Church on Saturday the 5th.  A local foods luncheon prepared by the worker-owned cooperative Local Sprouts, followed by speakers who were in Seattle and presentations of the Fair Trade Champion awards- given to Rep. Mike Michaud and Matt Schlobohm for their fair trade leadership.

We also held a number of film nights and delivered presentations around the state. Thank you to everyone who participated!

On Thursday, Nov. 5th a delegation of Maine Fair Traders went to D.C. to meet with Senator Snowe about The TRADE Act.  Although we were disappointed she canceled on us, we did get to meet with her Legislative Director Ron Lefrancois, and had a good talk with him about why Maine needs the TRADE Act.

Stephan Donnell (USW 1188), Sandy Amborn (Sierra Club), Deb Kendall (USW 11, laid off worker) and myself for MFTC went to the meeting hoping Senator Snowe would be ready to sign-on, since we had basically heard as much from her staff last summer.  She did not commit to being a sponsor, yet.

The TRADE Act is a bill written and sponsored by our own Mike Michaud in the House.  It requires a review of existing trade agreements, lays out what must and must not be in future trade agreements, like enforceable labor and environmental standards, and calls for renegotiation of NAFTA, CAFTA, and the WTO if they don’t meet those standards.  This is what we have been waiting for!

All in all it was a good day- we had to go to find out where things stood.  We met with folks from Global Trade Watch, from Senator Sherrod Brown’s office, from Rep. Mike Michaud’s office, and said hello to Rep. Chellie Pingree’s staffer Cassie who handles trade.   We got a lot more clarity on where the Senate version of the bill stood.

We will continue to fight for Snowe to be a co-sponsor of the TRADE Act!

I will post again soon with stories from Jay, that Deb Kendall told in the meeting about what has happened since the mill shut down (due to unfair trade policy).

Welcome to Maine’s leading source of fair trade news and discussion, the Maine Fair Trade Campaign Blog!