Vol. 73/No. 50      December 28, 2009

Angelica is a national corporation that provides laundry and linen services to area hospitals and health-care facilities. Its Somerville facility is organized by UFCW Local 1445. There are 450 people working in the plant, which operates seven days a week with two shifts.

On December 10 at 11:00 am the 180 day-shift workers walked off the job and set up a picket line. When workers on the second shift came in they joined the picket line. The current contract expired December 1 and at that time workers voted unanimously to authorize a strike.

Drivers in the plant are organized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who honored the picket line. Some joined it.

Mirian Alvarez, who has worked at Angelica for 15 years, told the Militant that she walked out “for my coworkers, for a fair contract, and for better benefits.”

Fito Dely, who has been at Angelica for three years and works in the Soil Department, said, “My job is a dirty, hard job. The company has money to buy new computers with flat screens and other equipment, but they don’t care about us.”

The union had asked for a $1-an-hour immediate increase in pay and a larger company contribution to the health-care and pension plans. Workers whose starting wage is a little over $8 an hour had to pay $90 a week for medical coverage for their family. In Massachusetts having medical insurance is mandatory. Those without it face fines.

Lemus told the Boston Globe online edition that under the new contract workers will get a raise of about 45 cents the first year and 40 cents in 2011 and 2012. The company raised the portion it pays for family health insurance to 80 percent and for pension plans to 20 cents an hour in 2010 and 30 cents an hour in 2012. The company had been paying 10 cents.

A noontime rally December 11 drew 150 union members and their supporters. Unionists from the Teamsters, Painters, and Operating Engineers participated as well as members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, American Federation of Government Employees, and UNITE HERE.

Angelica has a plant in Worcester, Massachusetts, which is organized by UNITE HERE. Union officials report that some work from the Somerville plant was sent there.

Centro Presente, an immigrant rights organization, has an office across the street from the plant here. Staff members of the group joined the picket line and the organization made its office available to the strikers to warm up from the frigid New England winter. The office also extended its hours from 6:00 a.m. to midnight to correspond with the times the picket line was up. Kevin Dwire and Sarah Ullman contributed to this article.
 
 
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