On Dec. 10, over 400
workers at Angelica Textile Services in Somerville, Mass., went out on strike. Five days later, the workers signed a new contract with improvements
in wages and benefits. The new contract represented an important labor
victory for the hundreds of mostly immigrant workers who make up Local 1445 of
the United Food and Commercial Workers.
 Workers yell ‘scab’ at one of few workers crossing picket line Photo: C. Gonçalves |
Angelica Textile
Services is a billion dollar company. In 2007 alone, the company recorded nearly half a billion in revenue.
Angelica’s board of directors includes the likes of Jeb Bush, former right-wing
governor of Florida, and CEO Stephen O’Hara, a multi-millionaire with a six-figure salary and lucrative benefits package. Still, Angelica is trying to squeeze as much profit as possible out
of its 5,000-plus nationwide staff of workers.
By stalling
negotiations with its Somerville workers over basic items such as a living wage
or health care, Angelica hoped to avoid fair compensation for its workers that
would cut into profits. One of the biggest issues for Angelica workers was the
high health care premiums; many workers currently pay up to a third of their
salary for health insurance. As a result of the high cost, only 25 percent
of Angelica workers opt for the company health insurance. In Massachusetts, there are stiff penalties from the IRS for not
having health insurance, which disproportionately penalizes the poor.
Workers’ unity and active
support from other unions and community was key
Throughout the
strike, the Angelica workers remained united. This unity was key to their
successful fight for just wages, affordable health care and a retirement plan. Of
over 450 workers, fewer than two dozen had crossed the picket line as of Dec.
11, according to a report sent out by the immigrant worker center Centro
Presente.
Centro Presente,
located across the street from the Angelica plant, kept their doors open to
strikers and their supporters from the very beginning. Frigid temperatures
and long hours on the picket line did not deter the Angelica workers from
continuing the strike. Alliances between the workplace and the community
significantly strengthen the labor movement by broadening its base of support,
as was the case with Angelica workers.
Other unions also
actively supported the strike, including the International Union of Painters
and Allied Trades District Council 35; the International Brotherhood of
Operating Engineers, Local 877 Area Trades Council; the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 2222; the American Federation of
Government Employees; Unite Here, Local 26; and the Teamsters, Local 25.
During contract
negotiations and organizing drives, companies typically resort to a set of
tactics designed to drag out negotiations and thus weaken unity amongst
workers. They hire expensive union-busting contractors, at the
recommendation of their anti-union business lawyers. Often, workers are
privately offered raises and promotions for crossing the picket line or voting
against the union. Companies also work to gain support amongst
non-striking, non-union workers by attacking the union and the
strikers. At times, these attacks become physical and violent, either
through police intervention or hired thugs.
These are some of
the typical conditions facing workers like those at Angelica who are struggling
for a contract. Newly organized shops face particular difficulties in winning a
contract, and fewer than half ever succeed. The Employee Free Choice Act has
faced fierce opposition through a well-funded campaign because it is
legislation that would significantly advance workers’ rights and our ability to
organize and negotiate through collective bargaining.
Already,
militant struggles are happening in workplaces all around the country. This
militant trend is only likely to increase in the coming period. The successful
strike by hundreds of immigrant workers is yet another indication of that. And
though details of the new contract have yet to be announced, the Angelica
workers have nonetheless won an important victory.
