A real strike out at Finch

In 2001, contract negotiations between the Finch Pruyn paper mill in Glens Falls and unions broke down. Finch is one of the few primarily family-owned paper mills in the northeast.

During the strike, management insisted that the only way it could remain competitive in the industry was by breaking the unions. After a bitter six-month long walkout, apparently the longest labor stoppage in the company's history, management succeeded in breaking the union.

It turns out that breaking the union was a failed strategy both for workers and for management. Finch announced yesterday that it was being sold to Atlas Holdings, a large Connecticut company.

Management's rhetoric at the time was that breaking the unions was the only way to keep the company in the hands of local ownership. Five and a half years later, the company was sold to outside ownership.

I don't profess to be an expert in the paper industry, but my sense is this. The only way a small, family-owned mill was ever going to be competitive against much larger conglomerates was by motivating a loyal, dedicated work force to make a superior product.

Breaking the unions is not a very good way to keep your work force loyal and dedicated, nor to motivate it to go the extra mile to make a superior product.

Now, one of the oldest locally owned businesses is no longer locally owned.