Strikes

Antonia Chun, a contracted janitor at the GE plant for twelve years recently fired for her union activities, said “After all these years of hard work, I was still making eight dollars an hour with no benefits. When the manager fired me, he said, ‘This is because you support the union.’ We are on strike because we will no longer be treated like the trash we clean.”

IBEW union member, Bernie Lapointe, tells how the 15 week telephone strike in 1989 and the events surrounding it helped him to become active in his union.

The registered nurses of Tufts Medical Center and St. Vincent Hospital, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, are both planning to hold a one-day strike on National Nurses Day, May 6, 2001 to protest dangerous patient care conditions at both facilities and to call for desperately needed improvements in RN staffing levels.

"Both of these hospitals have created the worst staffing conditions in their respective cities," said David Schildmeier, spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurse Association. "Both of them seem committed to forcing a strike rather than fixing the problem."

In figures released, Shaw's saw a 7.2% decline

"We have been meeting for months, and the one constant has been the hospital sticking to the large amounts of takeaways they put on the table at the beginning," said Ruth O'Hearn. O'Hearn is a registered nurse and the local MNA chairwoman. "Our members have been clear that they could not work under these proposals. They are also united about the terrible effect these takeaways will have on the quality of patient care they are able to deliver."

Striking workers at the Shaw’s supermarket warehouse in Methuen, Mass., are gaining the support of political, community and religious leaders and union members across New England. The 310 workers, members of Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 791, walked out March 7 after Shaw’s management demanded workers take on the full burden of paying increased costs for health care.

Check out the video of "flash mob" action at Shaw's in Porter Sq with the SSLSAPS band and an activist chorus. Participants sang "Ain't Gonna Shop at Shaw's No More!" to the tune of Down By the Riverside.

Jobs with Justice is calling on Somerville residents to attend a rally at Beacon St Shaw's and the Board of Alderman meeting on June 10.