Work at the Rolland Company recounted by former employees

The camera alternates between Michel Lamoureux and Roger Ramier at the former Mont-Rolland plant; Denise Grignon, Monique Thibodeau and Cécile Labelle at the Rolland Company retirement home; and Jean Lacelles and Serge Laliberté. 

[Michel Lamoureux] The story of Michel Lamoureux is fairly simple. The father worked for Rolland, that’s for sure. At the time, the company favoured the children of employees.

[Denise Grignon] My father and mother worked for the Rolland Company. We were a big family, eleven children. All girls except for one boy. And every year, the oldest girl would start at the Company, and so on. The girls would marry, and afterward they hired the daughters. So that’s how we started there.

[Roger Ramier] It was truly a family affair here. Kids would bring their dads’ lunches to the plant. I didn’t see that in Saint-Jérôme.

Black & white photograph of a group of women employees outside the Mont-Rolland mill, grouped together in rows. 

[Michel Lamoureux, offscreen] After they finished raising their family, the women would come back here to work. They worked from 4 pm to midnight. So you had the lady working and her husband working in another department, and sometimes one or two sons. Sometimes the whole family was here. So it was like being at home. When the whole family’s there, you’re at home.

[Jean Lacelles] You remember when the old-timers would say: ‘We made a dollar a day’?

[Interviewer] Vaguely.

[Jean Lacelles] You know how much I made per day? 88 cents. I earned 11 cents an hour because I was under 18. The wage was 14 cents.

[Michel Lamoureux] In ‘61, I started full-time, in January. But I made a dollar… $1.60 an hour, I think. $1.65. Holy moley, buddy, it was heaven on earth! You’d look at all the girls in town and all you wanted to do was get married. You’d say ‘We’re rich. I can buy a sofa and pay cash.’

[Serge Laliberté] When we see each other outside, even years after we left, there’s some workers remember us. It’s a pleasure to say hello to each other. We remember certain things. Saying you worked at Rolland is a source of pride.

[Jean Lacelles] Yes.

Photograph of a frame with medals from the Rolland Company.

[Interviewer, offscreen] Speaking of pride, the company won many prizes for the paper you helped make. That must make you proud as well.

[Jean Lacelles, offscreen] Of course!

[Serge Laliberté, offscreen] Of course, for sure!

[Jean Lacelles, offscreen] Yes, we’re proud. The number one thing is we’re proud of that because it’s our company. [Camera on Jean Lacelles] Maybe it’s the guy next to me who made it. Other times I was the one who made it. But y’know, we have a wonderful family at Rolland. It’s always been a family.