《Mel Ames Interview》 - 免费馆藏音频

Date of Interview

7-2004

Duration of Audio File

1:20:59

Interviewee

Mel Ames

Gender

Male

Occupation/ Work History

Farmer and independent logger

Mill or Principal Employer

Ames Farm, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine

Keywords

Woodcutters Strike, Maine Labor History, Maine Paper Industry, logging industry

Abstract

Discussed his life as a logger and trained forester. He is a longtime proponent of sustainable harvesting methods since being trained as a forester in the 1940s. Became a leader of the MWA just before the 1975 statewide strike by logging contractors. He became President of the MWA in its last years (1978-early 1980s) and he wrote the state MWA newsletter

Comments

Detail recollections about the event during the dramatic MWA strike. Includes careful explanation of how Maine companies claimed that they would hire Maine loggers in remote areas, but that they could only find Canadian loggers who lived closer to these areas. The MWA had challenged the policy of Canadian guest loggers, and for years after the strike they "tested" the claims of the companies and repeatedly found that Maine citizen loggers were given the runaround by companies and by the Maine Department of Labor. Also has interesting and notable obersvations about the non-sustainable forestry practices of large landowners including paper companies

Document Type

Interview