Promoting Solidarity, photograph by Rene Brochu, Jay, Maine, 1987. Courtesy of Maine's Paper and Heritage Museum.
Promoting Solidarity, photograph by Rene Brochu, Jay, Maine, 1987. Courtesy of Maine's Paper and Heritage Museum.
From the first weeks of the strike, officials of the United Paperworkers International Union, Local 14 and Local 246 of the International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers held weekly meetings in the Jay Community Center. To close their meetings, union members and friends clasped hands and swayed back and forth as they sang "Solidarity Forever." One member wrote that they felt a current of strength through their unbroken chain. Others had the sensation that they were in a single big family which had come together for support, and reported that this closing ritual gave them a feeling of well-being and hope.