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Vol. 74/No. 4      February 1, 2010

 
Massachusetts: Unionists
rally for contract at TJX
 
BY KEVIN DWIRE  
BOSTON—Chanting “Sí se puede!” (Yes, we can), more than 200 unionists rallied outside the A.J. Wright distribution center in Fall River, Massachusetts, January 15. The rally was part of a contract fight by members of UNITE HERE at all the facilities owned by The TJX Companies in New England.

TJX operates the T.J. Maxx, A.J. Wright, Marshalls, and HomeGoods stores, as well as other brand stores outside the United States.

A.J. Wright workers at the rally were joined by fellow UNITE HERE members from TJX facilities in Worcester and Woburn, Massachusetts, and Bloomfield, Connecticut. The contract expired December 31 at Worcester. The contract at Fall River expires January 31, and at Bloomfield, February 28.

Members of other unions—including the United Food and Commercial Workers, United Steelworkers, Carpenters Union, and the Bricklayers Local 3—came to the rally in solidarity.

UNITE HERE members are resisting company demands for mandatory overtime. “They’re telling us that if we don’t agree to this mandatory overtime, that we would lose our jobs,” Jose Arroyo, a union steward at A.J. Wright, told the Fall River Herald News. “They’re saying we can’t have a raise when we sit down and try to negotiate, telling us that they have no money to give us.”

Union members also said the company wants to also take away personal and vacation days.

According to the Boston Globe, “Overall sales for the five-week period ending January 2 were $2.9 billion, up 21 percent compared to the same period last year.” TJX’s profits were $347 million for the most recent three months.

Several A.J. Wright workers addressed the rally in English, Spanish, and Cambodian. Also speaking were representatives from UNITE HERE Local 313 at Worcester and Local 1999 in Woburn. Cynthia Rodrigues, president of the Greater Southeast Massachusetts Central Labor Council, pledged the council’s support for the contract fight.

Housekeepers who are fighting to get their jobs back at the Hyatt Regency hotels in Boston also attended the rally. According to some of the hotel workers, Hyatt last August fired 100 housekeepers with no warning and replaced them with a subcontractor at lower wages. Lucine Williams, who worked at Hyatt for more than 21 years, told the crowd, “They’ll tell you that it is the economy, but they always say that. It’s just greed.”

“We’ve been fighting to get our jobs back and we will stand with you and fight with you,” Williams said.

This was the second rally held as part of the fight against TJX. On December 4 more than 300 gathered at the T.J. Maxx facility in Worcester. The next rally will be February 18 at the HomeGoods distribution center in Bloomfield.
 
 
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