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<P>The winner of the Massachusetts Grinch is<SPAN
class=459343516-13122007> </SPAN>Paul Levy<SPAN
class=459343516-13122007>, CEO, </SPAN>Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital.
</P></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> jwjnational@jwj.org
[mailto:jwjnational@jwj.org] <BR><BR><BR></FONT></DIV><!-- BLACK BORDER AROUND ENTIRE MESSAGE -->
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<TD align=middle><A href="http://www.jwj.org"
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<P><STRONG><A
href="http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/-p3drLE1cPoL/"><FONT
face=Arial size=3><IMG alt="Vote Now!"
src="http://img.getactivehub.com/08/custom_images/jobswithjustice/grinch_n_dogGA.gif"
align=right border=0 NOSEND="1"></FONT></A><A
href="http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/-p3drLE1cPoL/"
target=_blank><FONT face=Arial size=3>VOTE
NOW!!!</FONT></A></STRONG><FONT face=Arial> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Vote now in the seventh annual online
Grinch of the Year election to determine the national figure
who does the most harm to working families. This year's
candidates are:</FONT></P>
<UL>
<LI><SPAN class=style3><FONT color=#6699cc><SPAN
class=bluetextbold><A class=redlink
href="#smith"><STRONG><FONT
face=Arial>SMITHFIELD</FONT></STRONG></A><SPAN
class=style3><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=black>
</FONT><SPAN class=bluetextbold><FONT color=black>Chairman
Joseph Luter III</FONT>
</SPAN></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN>
<LI><SPAN class=style3><FONT color=#6699cc><SPAN
class=bluetextbold><A class=style10
href="vz"><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>VERIZON
BUSINESS</FONT></STRONG></A><STRONG><FONT face=Arial
color=#000000> VP for Human Resources Bob Toohey
</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></SPAN>
<LI><SPAN class=style3><FONT color=#6699cc><SPAN
class=bluetextbold><A class=style10
href="bk"><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>BURGER KING
</FONT></STRONG></A><STRONG><FONT face=Arial
color=#000000>CEO
John W. Chidsey</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></SPAN>
<LI><SPAN class=style3><FONT color=#6699cc><SPAN
class=bluetextbold><A class=style10
href="am"><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>AMERICAN
AIRLINES</FONT></STRONG></A><STRONG><FONT face=Arial
color=#000000> President and CEO Gerald Arpey
</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></SPAN>
<LI><SPAN class=style3><SPAN
class=bluetextbold><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>WRITE IN your
own candidate</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></SPAN></LI></UL>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=3><STRONG>VOTE NOW: <A
href="http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/-p3drLE1cPoL/">http://www.jwj.org/grinch.html</A>
</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>You can <STRONG>READ BELOW</STRONG>
about why Smithfield, Verizon, Burger King, and American
Airlines were nominated. Choose from those candidates or
write-in your own! </FONT></P>
<P class=sectiontitle3><FONT face=Arial><STRONG><FONT
size=3><A name=smith></A>SMITHFIELD TAR HEEL CHAIRMAN
Joseph Luter III</FONT></STRONG> </FONT></P>
<P class=bluetext><FONT face=Arial>Smithfield operates the
largest pork slaughterhouse in the world. Located in
Southeastern North Carolina, Smithfield’s Tar Heel plant
employs 5,000 workers and kills and dismembers over 32,000
hogs each day. The plant remains one of the most dangerous
worksites in the United States, where workers who have not
been adequately trained are forced to work at exceedingly
fast line speeds while making repetitive hand motions in
processing the pork. Workers are injured, harassed,
intimidated, and threatened by Smithfield
management.</FONT></P>
<P class=bluetext><FONT face=Arial>Smithfield maintains an
environment of fear and intimidation. For over ten years
now, workers at the Tar Heel plant have fought relentlessly
for a voice on the job. In 1994 and 1997, workers tried to
hold a union election but were met with the company’s
coercive fist. After the vote count at the 1997 election,
one union supporter and one union organizer were dragged out
of the plant, beaten, insulted with racial epithets, and
arrested. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Plant injuries have increased so
dramatically in recent years that this summer thousands of
workers signed a petition that was delivered to Luter and
other Smithfield executives at the company’s annual
shareholders’ meeting. Luter refused to look at the
petitions, and instead lectured the workers in front of
shareholders and their religious community supporters on the
principles of “democracy.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>In many ways, 21st century meatpacking
conditions in Tar Heel, North Carolina, have changed little
since Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in 1906. Tar Heel
workers know that a union presence means no longer having to
fight endless struggles for bare minimum standards of
workplace health and safety. This spring, for example,
workers in one department were forced to initiate a
months-long campaign for the company to make clean and
drinkable water available on the job. <BR><BR>Joseph Luter
III revels in the benefits granted to Smithfield’s upper
echelon. Even in retirement, he continues to bring in
$83,333.33 each month in consulting fees. He also receives
cash incentives and is entitled to use the company jet.
Meanwhile the workers in Tar Heel are forced to bear the
burden of Luter’s indulgent lifestyle. </FONT></P>
<P class=bluetext style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face=Arial>Smithfield Foods has filed a multi-million dollar
lawsuit against Jobs with Justice, the Change To Win (CTW)
labor federation, and the union organizing its employees in
Tar Heel, NC, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
The suit is being filed under the RICO statute designed to
fight organized crime.
<ST1:CITY><ST1:PLACE></ST1:PLACE></ST1:CITY>The company’s
RICO suit is ironic given the well documented violations of
state and federal law that the company has been found in
violation of. It seeks to stop all such campaigns in the
future and is a clear violation of the constitutional rights
of all supporters of workers’ rights.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>For these reasons, and many more, Joseph
Luter III of Smithfield deserves the title of Grinch of the
Year. To learn more about the struggle, visit </FONT><A
class=redlink style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px"
href="http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/J13drLE1cPo_/"
target=_blank><FONT
face=Arial>www.smithfieldjustice.org</FONT></A><FONT
face=Arial>.<FONT face=Arial><O:P></O:P></FONT><O:P
class=sectiontitle3></O:P><O:P></O:P></FONT></P>
<P><O:P><SPAN class=style4><A name=vz></A><FONT face=Arial
color=#336699><STRONG><FONT color=black size=3>VERIZON
BUISNESS' Bob Toohey</FONT></STRONG>
</FONT></SPAN></O:P></P>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Over the last few years Verizon has
distinguished itself as one of the Grinchiest companies on
earth, squashing efforts by workers in its wireless
divisions to unite in unions, attempting to abandon rural
(read: less profitable) communities in New England, and
threatening the health care and retirement security of its
unionized workers.<O:P></O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><O:P></O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>But the management’s behavior at its
large account’s division -- Verizon Business (VZB) -- really
stands out. In particular, vice president for human
resources Bob Toohey is among the Grinches at Verizon who
has shown exceptionally bad behavior by stepping on the
democratic rights of VZB workers. It all started
earlier this year, when a majority of VZB technicians in the
northeast signed cards to form a union. In response,
Toohey (and friends) launched an anti-union campaign,
spreading misinformation about unions and holding
"captive-audience" meetings.<O:P></O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><O:P></O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>At a mandatory meeting last March in
<ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:CITY
w:st="on">Charlton</ST1:CITY>, <ST1:STATE
w:st="on">MA</ST1:STATE></ST1:PLACE> with Verizon Business
techs, Toohey said, “We are looking at offering another
[health care] plan. What we want to offer is a couple
of choices to give you an option.” When a tech asked a
question about the high cost for employees of VZB’s health
care plan, Toohey said, “The goal is to bring core
(Verizon’s unionized core telecom business) health care down
to the VZB standard.”<O:P></O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><O:P></O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Not long after that, the workers filed
unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor
Relations Board because Verizon Business illegally
interfered with their freedom to form a union. In two
separate cases, the NLRB issued formal complaints against
VZB for violating federal labor laws by spying on workers,
suppressing free speech in the workplace and issuing illegal
warnings to union supporters. <O:P></O:P></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Join the brave techs at Verizon Business
who are standing up to Grinches like Bob Toohey. Vote
Toohey for Grinch of the Year!</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=style4><FONT face=Arial><STRONG><FONT size=3><A
name=bk></A>BURGER KING CEO
John W. Chidsey</FONT></STRONG> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Farm workers who pick tomatoes for
Burger King's sandwiches earn 40 to 50 cents for every
32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, a rate that has not
risen significantly in nearly 30 years. Workers who toil
from dawn to dusk must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn $50
in one day.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>McDonald's, the largest restaurant chain
in the world, and Yum Brands, the largest restaurant company
in the world (parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, & Pizza
Hut) have committed to guaranteeing improved wages and
enforcing a code of conduct for conditions in the fields.
They have agreed to pay workers a penny more per pound of
tomatoes picked. But Burger King -- the second-largest
hamburger chain in the world -- has so far refused to work
with farm workers and heed the call to improve wages and
working conditions for those who pick their
tomatoes.</FONT></P>
<P><O:P class=sectiontitle3><FONT face=Arial><A
name=am></A><STRONG><FONT size=3>AMERICAN AIRLINES President
and CEO Gerald Arpey</FONT></STRONG></FONT></O:P></P>
<P><O:P><FONT face=Arial>American Airlines CEO Gerald Arpey
asked employees to "Pull Together, Win Together", and they
did. Approximately 95,000 workers at American Airlines
agreed to deep wage and benefit concessions in 2003 in order
to save the company from bankruptcy.</FONT></O:P></P>
<P><O:P><FONT face=Arial>Now that the company is making
money again, how are the workers being repaid for their
sacrifices? They're not! </FONT></O:P></P>
<P><O:P><FONT face=Arial>Arpey awarded millions of dollars
in bonuses to more than 800 of the top-paid executives at
American this year. Lining the pockets of the top-paid
executives while workers suffer is true grinch
behavior!</FONT> </O:P></P>
<P><O:P><A href="http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/-p3drLE1cPoL/"
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=3>VOTE
NOW</FONT></STRONG></A></O:P></P></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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