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Local Leader Mounts Hunger Strike in Jobs Protest
CWA Local 1365 President Gary Nilsson decided that drastic action was needed to publicize Lucent's outsourcing of thousands of jobs at its North Andover, Mass. plant, and most recently, the company's denial of enhanced termination benefits for 34 maintenance workers who have been surplused.
Nilsson began a hunger strike on July 1 to protest Lucent's refusal to offer the workers the same negotiated financial and pension package given to other workers laid off at the plant, as called for in the contract when jobs are lost to outsourcing "or other business transactions." The cuts are a result of the sale of the building where they work.
Meanwhile, CWA is preparing to take the issue to arbitration if Lucent doesn't back down in the grievance process, reported Communications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly, who said, "It's clear to us that Lucent is violating our contract."
Nilsson's protest, while sparked by the termination pay issue, "really plays to a much larger issue, that of corporate greed and the suffering of workers because of such rampant greed," he said. "We have lost so many people that if we don't step up to the plate now and make them understand we feel passionately about it, we're going to lose every job we have," he said. The local's membership has dropped from 3,000 a few years ago to less than 300 today.
The hunger strike has prompted support not only from the labor movement in the Boston area, but from religious and community leaders as well. "They've literally decimated this union and also caused great harm to working families in this community," the Rev. Donald Williamson of Andover told the Boston Herald. Nilsson's protest has been widely covered in the local news media.
Nilsson hasn't eaten solid food, but he drinks water and natural vitamin drinks to maintain his health and says he lost 10 pounds in the first two weeks of the hunger strike. "You lose the hunger pains after three or four days, but the craving for a cheeseburger is still there," he said. While he has no health insurance, having been laid off by Lucent early last year, Nilsson receives regular checkups from a friend who is a doctor.
Nilsson began a hunger strike on July 1 to protest Lucent's refusal to offer the workers the same negotiated financial and pension package given to other workers laid off at the plant, as called for in the contract when jobs are lost to outsourcing "or other business transactions." The cuts are a result of the sale of the building where they work.
Meanwhile, CWA is preparing to take the issue to arbitration if Lucent doesn't back down in the grievance process, reported Communications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly, who said, "It's clear to us that Lucent is violating our contract."
Nilsson's protest, while sparked by the termination pay issue, "really plays to a much larger issue, that of corporate greed and the suffering of workers because of such rampant greed," he said. "We have lost so many people that if we don't step up to the plate now and make them understand we feel passionately about it, we're going to lose every job we have," he said. The local's membership has dropped from 3,000 a few years ago to less than 300 today.
The hunger strike has prompted support not only from the labor movement in the Boston area, but from religious and community leaders as well. "They've literally decimated this union and also caused great harm to working families in this community," the Rev. Donald Williamson of Andover told the Boston Herald. Nilsson's protest has been widely covered in the local news media.
Nilsson hasn't eaten solid food, but he drinks water and natural vitamin drinks to maintain his health and says he lost 10 pounds in the first two weeks of the hunger strike. "You lose the hunger pains after three or four days, but the craving for a cheeseburger is still there," he said. While he has no health insurance, having been laid off by Lucent early last year, Nilsson receives regular checkups from a friend who is a doctor.