Hedge Fund Would Rather Shut Down a Plant Than Pay Its Workers a Fair Wage
By Art Levine, AlterNet. Posted July 10, 2009.
The hedge fund "thought they could refuse to bargain with us ... break the law, tear up our contract ... and break the union."Every morning at 6 a.m, starting in August 2008, a group of striking workers came to stand outside the Stella D'Oro cookie and biscuit factory in the Bronx, N.Y. They were fighting for what they saw as their right to a fair contract, and the middle-class way of life they spent decades building with their loyal work.
For many workers facing trouble paying their mortgages, sending their kids to college or even going out for a meal, remaining on strike was not easy.
Elizabeth Francisco told the Bronx Times Reporter during a recent rainy day on the picket line: "It's hard. When my daughter asks, 'Mommy, I want to eat dinner outside,' I have no money. Out here (on the picket line), I'm depressed."
It was especially rough when some of the 50 or so low-paid replacement workers, or "scabs," came out for their lunch break and literally waved their paychecks in the faces of these strikers who have been subsisting on little more than unemployment benefits and a $105-a-week union stipend.
Stella D'Oro workers returned to work Tuesday morning. The day before, Byrnwood Partners, the private equity firm that owns the plant, had decided to shut it down in October rather than maintain wage levels. As part of that proposal, the workers accepted an offer from the company to return to work at their original pay until the plant closes. .........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/141185/hedge_fund_would_rather_shut_down_a_plant_than_pay_its_workers_a_fair_wage/
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
