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Cable Plant Strikers with Community Support Win New Pact
For the first time in 37 years, CWA Local 1370 went on strike against Rockbestos-Surprenant Cable Corp. in Clinton, Mass. The nearly month-long strike ended Oct. 29, when the bargaining unit voted 87-44 to accept a proposal recommended by the union.
In addition to 3 percent annual raises in each of three years, the company agreed to reduce employee contributions for health insurance by nearly a third of its earlier proposal of as much as 33 percent, to return striking workers to their jobs with no discipline and to remove temporary striker replacements.
Though the company would not change its position on pension increases and job upgrades, District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino said the agreement met the union’s principal goal of raising workers’ salaries.
About 140 members walked out of the plant after their contract expired Sept. 30, with the company offering insufficient pay raises to offset demands for health care cost-shifting.
Alternating crews, the strikers kept as many as 70 pickets on the street daily. They turned out 250 supporters for a rally Oct. 8, including several prominent elected officials. Morale on the picket line remained high throughout the strike.
“We don’t want to be out there, we know the economy is bad, but these workers can’t take it anymore,” local President Dave Reardon said.
With the help of a federal mediator, the two sides returned to the bargaining table Oct. 10, for the first time since the walkout, and again Oct. 12. They met several times during the last week of the strike.
By Oct. 17, the company had hired about eight replacement workers through temporary agencies, local Secretary-Treasurer Patricia Richards said.
In an effort to solidify community support, the strikers packed a meeting of Clinton’s Select Board.
“This is a mill town — it was built on the backs of labor,” Reardon told the Select Board. “The mistreatment of these workers is an atrocity in a community such as this.”
The Select Board unanimously passed a resolution condemning the use of replacement workers. Doing so, “will cause division and discord within our community by pitting worker against worker and impede the process of achieving a contract,” the resolution states.
Several CWA locals, including statewide Local 1298 in Connecticut, 1365 in North Andover, Mass., and IUE-CWA Local 201 in Lynn, Mass., contributed to 1370’s strike fund and sent supporters to the picket line and strike headquarters, CWA Representative Steve Early reported.
Rockbestos-Surprenant was founded in Clinton by Albert Surprenant in the 1940s but owners have changed frequently. It is now owned by the wealthy Pritzker family of Chicago and the Marmon Group, a conglomerate with 40,000 employees and 450 facilities in 50 countries, Early said.
Both Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Warren Tolman addressed the strikers at the Oct. 8 rally.
In addition to 3 percent annual raises in each of three years, the company agreed to reduce employee contributions for health insurance by nearly a third of its earlier proposal of as much as 33 percent, to return striking workers to their jobs with no discipline and to remove temporary striker replacements.
Though the company would not change its position on pension increases and job upgrades, District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino said the agreement met the union’s principal goal of raising workers’ salaries.
About 140 members walked out of the plant after their contract expired Sept. 30, with the company offering insufficient pay raises to offset demands for health care cost-shifting.
Alternating crews, the strikers kept as many as 70 pickets on the street daily. They turned out 250 supporters for a rally Oct. 8, including several prominent elected officials. Morale on the picket line remained high throughout the strike.
“We don’t want to be out there, we know the economy is bad, but these workers can’t take it anymore,” local President Dave Reardon said.
With the help of a federal mediator, the two sides returned to the bargaining table Oct. 10, for the first time since the walkout, and again Oct. 12. They met several times during the last week of the strike.
By Oct. 17, the company had hired about eight replacement workers through temporary agencies, local Secretary-Treasurer Patricia Richards said.
In an effort to solidify community support, the strikers packed a meeting of Clinton’s Select Board.
“This is a mill town — it was built on the backs of labor,” Reardon told the Select Board. “The mistreatment of these workers is an atrocity in a community such as this.”
The Select Board unanimously passed a resolution condemning the use of replacement workers. Doing so, “will cause division and discord within our community by pitting worker against worker and impede the process of achieving a contract,” the resolution states.
Several CWA locals, including statewide Local 1298 in Connecticut, 1365 in North Andover, Mass., and IUE-CWA Local 201 in Lynn, Mass., contributed to 1370’s strike fund and sent supporters to the picket line and strike headquarters, CWA Representative Steve Early reported.
Rockbestos-Surprenant was founded in Clinton by Albert Surprenant in the 1940s but owners have changed frequently. It is now owned by the wealthy Pritzker family of Chicago and the Marmon Group, a conglomerate with 40,000 employees and 450 facilities in 50 countries, Early said.
Both Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Warren Tolman addressed the strikers at the Oct. 8 rally.