March on Augusta, photograph by Rene Brochu, Augusta, Maine, June 16, 1987. Courtesy of Maine's Paper and Heritage Museum.
March on Augusta, photograph by Rene Brochu, Augusta, Maine, June 16, 1987. Courtesy of Maine's Paper and Heritage Museum.
Days after the United International Paperworker's Union, Local 14 of Jay, Maine voted to strike, 800 workers took to the streets of Augusta to support the strike. Capitol Police said that it was the largest demonstration they had seen in forty years. Marchers surrounded the the Blaine House, the Governor's mansion, to protest Governor John McKernan's vetoes of bills that supported workers and to pressure him to support the paper workers of Jay.
One of the demonstrators' concerns was Maine's minimum wage. They demanded that the minimum wage be increased from $3.65 to $3.80 an hour. Governor McKernan argued that such an increase would discourage industries from locating in Maine. The strikers responded that Maine didn't need more businesses paying "starvation wages."