Two happenings this weekend:
• On Sat., Aug. 20, labor union members and their allies will be picketing at the four Verizon Wireless stores in the region, including the one at 1420 Boston Rd. in Springfield. (The others are in West Springfield, Hadley and Pittsfield.) The pickets are scheduled throughout the day, so that participants to caravan from one site to the next. (Contact wmjwj@wmjwj.org for information.)
About 45,000 Verizon workers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America went on strike earlier this month. They’re protesting contract concessions the company is asking for, including a freeze on their pensions and increased employee contributions to their health plans. The New York Times reports that Verizon recently threatened to cut off the workers’ health coverage at the end of the month if the strike continues.
Supporters say the strike is a stand against corporate greed at the expense of the middle class. “Verizon workers have spent decades fighting to win the kind of jobs we all need: jobs with good pay, decent benefits, and job security,” says Jobs With Justice. “Today, these jobs are disappearing. This strike is key to our struggle to keep and to create jobs like these for everyone.
“This strike is about the floor beneath all our wages, hours, and working conditions. This strike is about building an economy where good wages flow through the economy and create jobs for all. If greedy corporados succeed in driving these 45,000 workers backwards, we all go with them.”
For more information on the strike, click here for a labor perspective, and here for the corporation’s.
• On Sunday, Aug. 21, another important event, albeit with a very different feel: the Springfield Preservation Trust’s Summer Garden Fundraiser. The event will raise money for the restoration of 77 Maple St., a 19th-century former schoolhouse that had been slated for demolition before the non-profit saved the day.
The fundraiser begins at 4 p.m. at 2 Glen Road (near Dartmouth Terrace and Cornell Street)—“a fabulous 1899 Shingle Style house with quarter acre garden in historic McKnight.” Tickets are $40, or $35 for SPT members. For information, call 413-736-0629.
