The South Shore Area Local of the APWU produces a monthly cable show entitled "Labor Talk". The current episode regards Question 2 and the candidacy of Rand Wilson for State Auditor.

I have put the entire program on streaming video and it can be viewed from our web site at the following address: http://apwuma.org Click on Local Events and follow the links. It is a thirty minute show in streaming video and runs very well on cable and dsl. Sorry, if you have dial up it just doesn't work well. I will be putting up streaming audio in the future so that at least you can listen.

We will be posting future videos as the programs air. Hope you take the time to watch prior to November 7th.

In Union Solidarity,
Ken Fitzpatrick
Secretary Treasurer
APWU of MA

WSHM TV-3 in Springfield has coverage of Friday morning's protest and press conference in front of Friendly's restaurant in Wilbraham. The story and video can be seen at:

http://www.cbs3online.com/news/local/2244806.html

Please pass this e-mail along and help inform and build the outrage of others so we can begin to fight back against the expanding economic assault on workers.

UAW Local 2322 has a launced a new web site, "There's Something About Mary Johnson" to tell the story of how YWCA's Executive Director, Mary Reardon Johnson, is treating here workers unethically by busting their union.

An ecumenical gathering of Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant religious leaders gathered at the Old First Church in Springfield yesterday to express their support for the Springfield's teachers who are fighting for a contract. The event was organized by the Pioneer Valley Project and the Springfield Education Association. View images.

Congressman Richard Neal was honored with an "Award of Appreciation" by the Massachusetts Senior Action Council today in Springfield for his efforts to defeat President Bush's proposal to privatize a portion of American's Social Security accounts. He was cited by the organization for helping organize community members and for educating them about the facts around Social Security.

Speaking before a gathering at the Good Living Center on East Columbus Avenue, Neal said "We have to remain steadfast in our support of the guarantee of social security." He made an appeal to keep President Franklin Roosevelt's "greatest domestic achievment in the history of America" in tact. He said President Bush miscalculated by underestimating the backlash to his plan from seniors over 55 who, though not affected by his plan, were looking out for the interests of younger generations.

The Springfield Education Association is once again flooding city hall with phone calls, asking Mayor Charles Ryan to sign home rule legislation, passed unanimously by the city council, that would shorten the time to impasse and require binding arbitration once impasse is reached. Tim Collins, President for the SEA, said he did not know why the mayor was being uncooperative. Collins said he had plans to meet with the mayor on Friday to discuss the matter. In the meantime, the union leader encouraged Springfield's residents and union member to continue making phone calls asking him to sign the legislation. The mayor's number is 787-6100. The mayor was unavailable for comment and was out of town, according to an aide.

Western Massachusetts carpenters will see significant increases in pay and benefits thanks to a new contract negotiated by their union, Carpenters Local 108. Over the life of the new 4 year contract, negotiated with the Construction Industry Association of Western Massachusetts, carpenters will see their wages and benefits increase by $9 per hour. The workers will also see improved on-the-job perks such as an increase in break times and paid compensation for excessive walking distance to worksites.

[image:1024]Former Governor Michael Dukakis and presidential candidate addressed the Massachusetts AFL-CIO education conference to talk about his perspective on the issues facing America and working Americans.

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Senator Thomas McGee from Lynn and Represenative Lida Harkins from Needham make a powerful argument for the passage of the Workforce Solutions Act of 2005 to help Massachusetts weather the coming "perfect" economic storm.

Richard Brown, President of the Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO, spoke before the a job growth and economic development committee public hearing yesterday in Springfield. The purpose of the hearing, chaired by State Representative Sean Curran, was to gather collect ideas from area labor and business leaders on how to move the Pioneer Valley's economy forward. The hearing was one of several being held across different regions of Massachusetts.

A bill that would force large employer's like Wal-Mart to carry health insurance for their underpaid workers is getting a serious look by the Maryland legislature. According to the Washington Post, it has a very real chance of getting through the legislature and surviving the governor's veto.

[image:766]Over 500 workers and students snaked a march through the UMass campus to Chancellor John Lombardi's office, snarling traffic along the way. The march was in support of grad students, represented by the Graduate Employee Organization, a division of the United Auto Workers, Local 2322, who wish to settle a contract with the university. Students say the university's current proposal increases health care and child care costs and cuts real wages. Grad students are also fighting a proposal to cut same sex partner benefits. View images.

Springfield's workers mounted an successful two-day lobbying effort to stop special home rule legislation that would effectively short-circuit a union's ability to collectively bargain on behalf of its workers.

On Wednesday, Springfield's City Council will consider home rule legislation that would effectively destroy the right of the city's workers to negotiate a contract with the city.

Under UMass’s proposals, health care costs for individuals would rise from $0 to a projected $508 over the next few years...“While these dollar amount may not sound enormous, many of our members live below the poverty line and are not permitted by law to work more than part-time. These increases mean the difference between just scraping by and going into deep debt,” said Jen Turner, GEO President.

On Friday, February 11th, Neighbor To Neighbor held its first meeting with State Representative Michael Kane to ask for support on our 2005 agenda. Neighbor to Neighbor members were pleased with the meeting, and felt that the Representative was responsive to many of their needs, including supporting our proposals for health care expansion and restoration of MassHealth benefits, raising the minimum wage to $8.25 an hour, and protecting welfare for the families with the greatest barriers to employment.

Please join me in making it official.

On April 7th (from 5:30 - 7:00pm) at the Community House on the Longmeadow green, I will be announcing my candidacy for the Longmeadow School
Committee.

Members at the GEO (Graduate Employees Organization) at UMass are currently in protracted contract negotiations with the university. They students are figthing increases in workload simultaneous with cuts in benefits and real wages.

The students invite all residents of Massachusetts to join them in their fight to keep high quality education in Massachusetts.

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Using the cross endorsement allowed in New York State (fusion), the New York Working Families Party has raised the state’s minimum wage, repealed the regressive “Rockefeller drug laws”, and used its own ballot line to elect hundreds of progressives – most of them Democrats.
Come hear the Working Families Party (www.workingfamiliesparty.org) executive director Dan Cantor talk about how they have built an independent, progressive electoral force in New York that has pushed the NY Democratic Party to the left and held politicians of all stripes more accountable to a progressive agenda. And learn about the growing effort to re-legalize fusion voting in Massachusetts.
For More Information:
(617) 282-2002
jfleischmann@igc.org
Sponsored by:
The Massachusetts Ballot Access Project
The Commonwealth Coalition
Mass Voters for Fair Elections
Progressive Democrats of America

Location:
First Churches of Northampton