Striking Shaw’s Workers Pick Up Support
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.
On April 1, Shaw’s cut off health care for workers and families even though many of them have serious medical conditions including advanced pregnancy.
Despite calls from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) and nine other congressional leaders and respected voices in the religious community, Shaw’s and its parent, Supervalu, refuse to reinstate the workers’ health benefits. Local 791 represents Shaw’s workers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine.
Boston-Area Congress Members Back Employee Free Choice Act
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| U.S. Reps. Barney Frank, Stephen Lynch and Mike Capuano joined Greater Boston Labor Council President Lou Mandarini and Vice President Patricia Armstrong in supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. |
Richard Rogers, executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Boston Labor Council, reports on the campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
Union members from the Boston area met with members of Congress yesterday to press for quick action on the Employee Free Choice Act, a critical bill to restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.
U.S. Reps. Barney Frank, Michael Capuano and Stephen Lynch attended the meeting at Plumbers and Pipe Fittters Local 12 in Dorchester. Some 75 union leaders and activists of the Greater Boston Labor Council took part, as all three members of Congress publicly pledged their support for the Employee Free Choice Act, the first viable effort to reform America’s broken labor laws in over a generation. (U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, another Boston-area member, also is a supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act.)
