Top-down and bottom-up research in biodemography

The most efficient way to make scientific progress in biodemography is to encourage bi-directional exchange between ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ research. This will entail exchange along the continuum of research from microscopic intracellular processes to population-level consequences. In addition, our understanding of the biology of aging and its demographic consequences will be enriched by mutual influence between studies of mechanistic or ‘proximate’ causal processes and investigations of the evolutionary processes underlying the same phenomena. Researchers working at these different levels of explanation could be more productive if they were informed by research at other levels and interacted with scientists with complementary expertise. Such collaborations could be encouraged both through interdisciplinary workshops, research projects, program projects and training programs.aging, biodemography, evolution, life history

The Failure of Labor Management Cooperation at Two Maine Paper Mills: A Case Study, Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations

Labor management cooperation, and the adoption of high-performance work systems (HPWS), are central topics in recent industrial relations research, with much emphasis given to “best-practice” success stories. This paper uses a case study analysis, relying on conventional, and oral history interviews, to explore why managers, union leaders, and workers in two Maine paper mills rejected the cooperation and the HPWS model. It explores how local history and culture, regional factors like the dramatic International Paper (IP) strike in Jay, Maine, instability in industry labor relations, management turnover, and instability in corporate governance contributed to these two mills’ rejection of Scott Paper Corporation\u27s “Jointness” initiative during the period from 1988 to 1995. The study argues that intra-management divisions blocked cooperation on the management side, and that the Jay strike created a “movement culture” among Maine\u27s paper workers, who developed a class-conscious critique of HPWS as a tactic in class warfare being perpetrated by paper corporations

Interview with Ray Pineau

Ray Pineau was a leader in the historic Jay, Maine International Paper Strike in 1987-88. He is featured in Julius Getman\u27s book on the strike, The Betrayal of Local 14. Pineau\u27s interview includes his observations on the politics and attitudes of the S.D. Warren workers and union leaders during the Jay Strike; Pineau worked at S.D. Warren for a brief period during the strike. Later he became a representative in the Maine State Legislature, helping to found a labor caucus in the 1990s and 2000s.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/1018/thumbnail.jp

Interview with Dave Martin & Arthur Gordon

Dave Martin and Arthur Gordon recount their mill experiences including topics such as: life as a skilled paper machine tender, the hazards and difficulties of work in the mill, Martin\u27s short tenure as a supervisor, and S.D. Warren\u27s status as a premier paper maker. Martin describes difficult experience of new corporate management and how he was laid off several years after becoming a manager.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/1007/thumbnail.jp

Interview with Dana Babb

Dana Babb offers a management perspective in the mill\u27s practices and roles in people\u27s lives in the mill and Westbrook. Babb describes mill paternalism - a company store, extensive credit provided to workers, and large donations by mill to community institutions.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/1005/thumbnail.jp

Rural Development Strategy: 1990s Context and Constraints

In this comprehensive article on rural economic development, David Vail and Michael Hillard describe key trends and past changes which are shaping rural America’s—and in particular, rural Maine’s—economic future. They conclude with seven hypotheses about rural Maine’s socioeconomic crisis, and call for the development of a state-level strategy for rural development that fully accounts for Maine’s varied resources, geography, and opportunities

Interview with Carl Turner

Turner was president of UPIU Local 9 in 1980s and 1990s. Led effort to resist Scott Paper\u27s Jointness Initiative in late 1980s early 1990s in Maine.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/1004/thumbnail.jp

Interview with Dave Martin

https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/1006/thumbnail.jp

Interview with Paul Brahms

Brahms recounts 10 year career as a frontline chemist in S.D. Warren lab NOTE: lengthy delay at start of audiohttps://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/1000/thumbnail.jp

Interview with Peter Kellman - 2 of 2

Kellman\u27s observations as an activist and historian of labor in Maine\u27s paper industry. His focus was on his understanding of the ethnic and social character of Maine paper mill towns, including Jay, Madawaska, and Westbrook; as well as Maine\u27s Yankee farmers. Kellman also describes Maine Woodsmen\u27s Association strike of 1975, the Fraser Paper strike of 1971, and strategies by corporations to weaken unions after 1950.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/1002/thumbnail.jp