Justin Shaw, president of United Steelworkers Local 4-9, which represents workers at the the Sappi paper mill in Skowhegan, speaks Sunday to attendees during the Central Maine Labor Council Labor Day BBQ in Skowhegan. Workers represented by USW Local 449 and 4-9 at the Huhtamaki and Sappi mills in Waterville and Skowhegan are now in contact negotiations with their employers. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

SKOWHEGAN — Several state officials joined three dozen union members and labor activists Sunday for a lunch to celebrate Labor Day weekend at the Poulin-Turner Union Hall in Skowhegan.

The lunch — hot dogs and hamburgers — was organized in support of ongoing labor negotiations at the Sappi paper mill in Skowhegan and Huhtamaki mill in Waterville.

The two mills combined have about 1,000 union members, and the Central Maine Labor Council chose to hold the Labor Day celebration at the hall owned by the Sappi mill’s union.

Peter Crockett of Hartland grills hot dogs and hamburgers Sunday during the Central Maine Labor Council Labor Day BBQ at the Poulin-Turner Union Hall in Skowhegan. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Sarah Bigney-McCabe, organizing director of the Maine AFL-CIO, prepares a hot dog Sunday for her son, Sam, while attending the Central Maine Labor Council Labor Day BBQ in Skowhegan. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Patrick Wynne, president of the Central Maine Labor Council and a member of the Hallowell City Council, delivered the first of the event’s four speeches. He began by acknowledging the symbolism of Labor Day, which was recognized federally in 1894 in response to strikes in Chicago that crippled the nation’s railroad infrastructure and caused President Grover Cleveland to deploy troops to the area.

“Just like (Labor Day weekend) was not a benign gift given to us by management — we had to fight for it — these locals have to fight for what they get by sitting down at the table,” Wynne said. “And so we’re here to support them. We’re here to remember that what they get at the table is what goes back into this community — their wages and their safety. Central Maine, without workers like that, would really be a very different place.”

Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, was among several high-profile state officials to attend, alongside three other state legislators, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Jason Moyer-Lee, Maine’s director of labor standards.

Jackson delivered a speech supportive of the labor policies of the Biden administration, and said he hopes to continue actively changing the culture in Maine to be more supportive of workers.

“You can have all the unions in the world,” Jackson said, “but we all know that the business owners aren’t always going to follow the rules, and you need government to actually step up and enforce those rules.”

Justin Shaw, president of the United Steelworkers Local 4-9 union at the Sappi mill, said negotiations have been ongoing since June for the union’s 480 workers, and he hopes negotiations on a new three-year contract will be complete by October. The union’s current contract expired in August, but, he said, it is common for unions to negotiate well past the end of their previous contracts and agree to keep the terms of the previous agreement in the meantime.

Tom Farkas, the communications and training coordinator for the Maine Service Employees Association, takes a photograph of attendees Sunday during the Central Maine Labor Council Labor Day BBQ at the Poulin-Turner Union Hall in Skowhegan. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

One of the issues driving this round of negotiations, Shaw said, is 24-hour shifts. Initially, union leaders negotiated guardrails, but members shot down the new regulations in a mid-August vote, saying there were too many questions about how management would implement the new regulations.

Recently, Shaw said, a worker at the mill was forced to work a 24-hour shift while operating two boilers at the factory.

Tom Farkas, the communications and training coordinator for the Maine Service Employees Association, hangs a banner Sunday during the Central Maine Labor Council Labor Day BBQ at the Poulin-Turner Union Hall in Skowhegan. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows claps following a speech Sunday during the Central Maine Labor Council Labor Day BBQ at the Poulin-Turner Union Hall in Skowhegan. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

“Working a (24-hour shift) is dangerous, but having one person operating two boilers is just as dangerous in my mind, if not more so,” Shaw said. “Those are two large bombs, and having one person covering two different boilers is asinine.”

Another worker, who Shaw said is 70 years old, worked 150 of a recent 170-night stretch at the mill. During the day, Shaw said, the worker needs to take his wife to medical appointments. Shaw said the worker can only take one day off per two weeks, as mandated by the state.

Negotiations with management have led to more days off for the worker, Shaw said, but the workers filling in for the time he worked are often unqualified.

“It’s a training issue, it’s a staffing issue,” Shaw said. “It’s not a my membership issue for them to just keep forcing us to work all these hours.”

Sunday’s event was the first of three Labor Day weekend celebrations organized by the state’s AFL-CIO and affiliated labor councils.

On Labor Day, the Southern Maine Labor Council plans to hold a breakfast at 8 a.m. at the Maine Irish Heritage Center at 34 Gray St. in Portland, and the Eastern Maine Labor Council is set to hold a celebration at 4:30 p.m. at the Solidarity Center at 20 Ivers St. in Brewer.