The impact of government and technology on business and labor in the pulp and paper industry: A case study of the Pensacola paper firms, 1940-1985

The impact of government and technology on business and labor in the pulp and paper industry resulted in a unique relationship developing between the two parties. Government increasingly assumed more and more control. As government became more involved the cost of doing business also increased. It pitted business against labor, in some respects, as both sides sought to increase their share of the profits. But unlike some other industries, the relationship remained fairly stable in the pulp and paper industry until the 1980s. Technology proved to be culprit, in finally breaking the solid relationship that existed for forty-five years. Technology made it possible to produce pulp and paper with a fraction of the workers needed in 1940. A case could be made that technology was an enemy of organized labor. Labor unions, in the industry, represented the "blue collar" worker. As jobs were lost in the trades, many of the jobs went to supporting the new technology, whose workers were salaried "white collar" workers. Companies also moved operations to third world countries where labor was cheaper. Companies laid off workers more frequently, and cut back their workforces. As the relationship deteriorated, workers became dissatisfied and in many cases enemies of the company. The old craft of papermaking declined as the new technologists took over.