Union officials shocked, angry over A.J. Wright closure (800 jobs) [View All]

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x1757257519/Union-officials-shocked-angry-over-A-J-Wright-closure

By Staff reports
GateHouse News Service
Posted Dec 10, 2010 @ 11:04 PM

FALL RIVER —

The local executive vice president of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees reacted angrily after learning of the A.J. Wright closing.

On behalf of the 821 New England Joint Board members employed at the company’s distribution center on Commerce Drive who will lose their jobs, Warren Pepicelli, joint board manager, stated in a press release, “I want to express my anger and the anger of our joint board and of UNITE HERE at a system that considers only the interests of stockholders seeking maximum profit, even as the needs of American workers and consumers are dealt with after the fact as a kind of collateral damage.”


Dave Souza | The Herald News


Pepicelli said the union had been meeting all day on Friday with its members in this area, including hundreds of workers commuting to the distribution center from southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

He said union members were being assured of “our commitment to negotiate the best possible terms for their futures that can be obtained in this tragic situation.”

He said the union also was thinking of the thousands of A.J. Wright retail and distribution employs around the country “who are receiving the devastating news in the midst of the holiday season.”

Pepicelli reminded that while the country is in the third year of an economic crisis with Congress seeking to extend a safety net for millions of unemployed workers, “this situation only adds to that burden.”

FULL story at link.