Sitting around the kitchen table when I was five or six years old- it was all talk about the union and how proud my mom and dad were to be a part of it." That's how Peter Lamontagne got involved with the labor movement. Peter Lemontangne is a member of the Biddeford City Council. He's also a mill worker, a former organizer and the former President of UNITE HERE Local 305T.
Now after thirty eight years working in West Point Stevens he and his coworkers are going to be unemployed in less than two weeks. After 159 years the historic West Point Stevens Mill in Biddeford will be closing. It's the last textile mill in Biddeford Maine and the end of an era.
Where are people to go after they have lost secure manufacturing jobs? For many the answer is working in the low-wage service sector. The consequences of which are, less income, less benefits and ultimately the erosion of the middle class.
Peter isn't worried about himself, he's concerned for his co-workers. He explained "I'm close to retirement, but most people don't have that."
He hopes they'll get good union jobs, but he also recognizes that forming a union is nearly impossible for many workers in the service sector.
That's why Pete is fighting for the Employee Free Choice Act. "It's the right thing to do," said Peter. "This is the United States of America, they ought to be able [form a union] without being told 'you go ahead and push this union and bad things are going to happen to you'."
For news and updates on Maine's Labor Movement visit the Maine AFL-CIO Blog at http://employeefreechoice.typepad.co...