March 23: Jobs with Justice Annual Dinner

Please join Jobs with Justice in honoring some of those who showed the power of solidarity in 2005: Utility Workers Local 369 and the workers of NSTAR and their supporters, Project Hip-Hop & the Union of Minority Neighborhoods, and the students and teachers of Fenway High School. Thursday, March 23rd, 2006, 6:00 p.m., Suffolk Downs, 111 Waldemar Ave., East Boston.

March 25: Women's Solidarity Breakfast

The Women's Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) is sponsoring a Women's Solidarity Breakfast from 10am-12pm. Come and enjoy breakfast, inspiration and solidarity with new and old friends in the labor movement. Cost: $5. Childcare provided. Plumbers Local 12, 1240 Massachusetts Ave., Boston. For more information or to RSVP, call 617-426-0520 or e-mail info@wildlabor.org.

Union Win at LifeLinks

Workers at Lifelinks, a Merrimack Valley based human service agency, voted overwhelmingly to join SEIU Local 509 on Friday, February 17th. Workers faced fierce opposition from executive director Yvonne LeGarde, who hired an outside law firm with our tax dollars to intimidate employees.

Housing Authority Workers Rally at Cambridge City Hall

On February 27, about 50 Cambridge Housing Authority workers and supporters rallied in sub-freezing temperatures outside Cambridge City Hall to protest the lack of progress in negotiations with management. CHA workers have been without a contract since last April. "We’ve been negotiating for a year, but they haven’t listened," said shop steward Billye Thomas. picture, page 1

Tentative Contract at Cape Cod Hospital

The Massachusetts Nurses Association has reached a tentative contract agreement at Cape Cod Hospital, to be voted on by members on March 20th. Details of the agreement were not available at press time.

Brockton Teachers Picket

Teachers in Brockton have been conducting informational picket lines to draw attention to the school committee's refusal to negotiate a new contract. "We're not making progress in bargaining, so this is a visible demonstration to try to get support for the teachers," said Brockton Education Association President Joseph O'Sullivan. The committee has not responded to the union's last contract proposal, and an unfair labor practice charge has been filed.

Harvard Students vs. Coca-Cola

Harvard’s Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM) has called for the university to stop doing business with Coca-Cola because of the company's complicity in the murder of union activists in Columbia by right-wing paramilitaries. SLAM has also demanded that Harvard cut ties with contractor AlliedBarton Security Services until the company agrees to take a neutral stance towards unionization.

Security Guards Organizing

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 615 has launched a campaign to unionize thousands of low-paid security guards in the Boston area. The union reports that private security personnel make on average about $10 an hour. ''You cannot pay the rent," commented Local 615 president Rocio Saenz. ''You cannot buy the groceries with that. You cannot have the basics to support your family." The guards receive little training, and are likely to leave the job within a year, endangering public safety.

Organizing at Starwoods

Workers at Starwoods Hotels (including the Doubletree in downtown Boston) have begun to organize. Their supporters recently conducted informational leafletting at the Doubletree . For more information on the campaign, visit

Union Demands Civil Service Probe

The National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) has demanded that the Civil Service Commission investigate the failure of the Romney administration to obey the law in hiring and promoting employees. NAGE's David J. Holway said that ''thousands of jobs that should be filled using merit principles specified under the law are now subject to patronage and favoritism."

SEIU Local 509 Endorses Health Amendment petition

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 509's 60-member Executive Board voted unanimously at its monthly meeting on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 to endorse a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would make health care a right for everyone in Massachusetts. The union represents over 10,000 human service workers in Massachusetts.