Solidarity Forever T-shirt, 1987. Courtesy of Maine's Paper and Heritage Museum.
Solidarity Forever T-shirt, 1987. Courtesy of Maine's Paper and Heritage Museum.
A striker wore this "Solidarity Forever" t-shirt at various rallies and protests against the owners of the International Paper Company (IP). IP officials wanted to increase their company profits by changing work rules, that among other things, lowered their employee's annual income.
Solidarity is when a group of people with a common interest stand together for a common cause. The hope is that multiple individuals speaking in unison are more powerful than a lone voice.
Workers sometimes go on strike to force their employers to negotiate with them. If individual workers break the strike by returning to their jobs or if employers hire replacement workers, it weakens the group's overall leverage. Members of the striking unions in Jay, Maine, were proud of the solidarity they achieved. Out of 1,250 strikers, fewer than seventy crossed the picket lines to return to work.