[Antiracism] PRESS RELEASE: Workers' Rights Board Investigates YWCA

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Jon Weissman, (413) 827-0301

 

YWCA WORKERS TO TESTIFY TO WORKERS' RIGHTS BOARD 

 

On Thursday March 12, a panel of the Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
Workers' Rights Board will take the testimony of workers at YWCA of Western
Massachusetts and issue a report on labor contract bargaining there.  The
hearing will be 3:00-5:00pm in Room 220, City Hall, 36 Court Street,
Springfield.  The public, the press, and the employer are invited to attend.
Attendees are asked to come fragrance-free.

 

The YWCA's workforce - predominantly women, many of whom are of color -
claim it is not living up to its mission of "eliminating racism and
empowering women."

 

The United Auto Workers Local 2322 has been bargaining a new contract at the
YWCA since May 2008.  The employer is showing an anti-worker and anti-union
animus at the bargaining table and has shown such animus since the workers
organized in 2003.  Despite being a non-profit social service agency
subsidized by tax dollars and tax benefits and public and private donations,
the YWCA has spent in excess of $300,000 on the well-known anti-union law
firm, Skoler, Abbott & Presser, and has given sizable raises to its
Executive Director, Mary Reardon Johnson.  It claims there is no revenue to
grant its employees decent raises.

 

UAW Local 2322 President Ron Patenaude will conduct the testimony by YWCA
workers and also provide basic information including the YWCA's many
violations of the National Labor Relations Act.

 

The Western Mass. Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board consists of two
dozen "public citizens" in Western Massachusetts.  The following are on the
March 12 panel: 

 

Irene Kimball, Chairperson of the Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
Workers' Rights Board; retired Regional Director, Massachusetts Office for
Children

 

Anne Awad, President/CEO, Caring Health Center Inc, Springfield; Health
Systems Consultant; former Amherst Select Person

 

Kathryn Buckley-Brawner, Director, Office of Peace & Justice, Catholic
Charities Agency, Diocese of Springfield

 

Frances Borden Hubbard, Project Director, Springfield Adolescent Health
Project; Retired Professor of Black Studies, Labor Studies, and Public
Administration at several universities

 

Prof. Stephanie Luce, Acting Director, Labor Relations & Research Center,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

 

Benjamin Swan, Massachusetts State Representative from Springfield and civil
rights activist

 

William R. Toller, Deacon, Holy Cross Church, Springfield; Consultant,
Hampden County Sheriff's Department

 

E. Henry Twiggs, Chairman, Springfield Inner City Rehab Inc.

 

Across the U.S., Workers' Rights Boards act as "the conscience of the
community" regarding labor relations, exposing employers' misconduct and
also helping workers form unions and reach collective bargaining contracts.
There is more information at http://www.jwj.org/projects/wrb.html.

 

More information about law firms like Skoler, Abbott & Presser is at
http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/the-anti-union-network/for-profit-union-
busters/for-profit-unionbusters.html.

 

###30###

 

Jon Weissman, Coordinator

Western Mass Jobs with Justice

640 Page Blvd #101

Springfield MA 01104

(413) 827-0301 

 

Founded in 1987, Jobs with Justice <http://www.jwj.org/> 's mission is to
improve working people's standard of living, fight for job security, and
protect workers' right to organize. We believe workers' rights are human
rights and to be successful, we have to be part of a larger campaign for
economic and social justice. 

 

To that end, "J with J" has created a national coalition and a network of
local coalitions that connect labor, community, student, and faith-based
organizations and activists on workplace and community social justice
campaigns.  Western Mass JwJ - founded June 5, 1993 - is now a coalition of
almost 60 organizations. 

 

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