1,700 striking FairPoint workers don’t have union strike fund

[Omaha Steve]

X post in Socialist-Progressive and GD

http://www.pressherald.com/2014/10/19/fairpoint-strike-goes-on-without-negotiations/

Many workers secured part-time jobs this summer to make sure they had their own contingency plan, according to a union official.

BY WHIT RICHARDSON STAFF WRITER


Ann Nora Murphy pickets outside FairPoint's 5 Davis Farm Road location in Portland for a fourth day Monday. "It's upsetting that someone is coming through and doing your skilled job," said Murphy, who has worked for the company for 28 years. FairPoint brought in replacement workers while its employees strike. Whitney Hayward / Staff Photographer 1 of 4


The FairPoint strike went into a third day Sunday with employees continuing to picket the company’s locations in Portland and elsewhere throughout the state.

The company has brought in replacement workers who have crossed the picket lines, but there have been no incidents, according to Jenn Nappi, assistant business manager for the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The company and union negotiators have not interacted since the strike began, according to Nappi, but she said spirits were still high among the more than 100 pickets who protested at the FairPoint Communications location on Davis Farm Road in Portland.

More than 1,900 unionized FairPoint employees in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont walked off the job at midnight Thursday because, the unions claim, the company has failed to negotiate in good faith since labor contract negotiations began in April. The IBEW represents roughly 1,700 of those workers, while the Communication Workers of America represents another nearly 300.

FULL story and more photos at link.