Boston March and Rally for Jobs Demands An Economy That Works for Everyone

BOSTON/Boston Common and other locations in downtown Boston - Over 1000 people - primarily members of dozens of area unions and allied community organizations - participated in a "Rally for Jobs" last Thursday around downtown Boston. The goal of the public action, according to organizers from the state's main labor federation Mass. AFL-CIO and the labor-community coalition Jobs with Justice, was to "fight against a jobless recovery and demand an economy that works for everyone." The event started with a rally on Boston Common followed by a march to another rally in front of Verizon headquarters in Post Office Square and concluded with another march to the Hyatt Regency hotel near Chinatown where the marchers met up with over 200 members of the UNITEHERE hotel workers union for a boisterous protest against Hyatt Corporation's recent firing of 100 longtime employees who were immediately replaced with contract workers.

Photos by Elizabeth Washburn. Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Washburn.

A mix of union leadership, community organizers and recently laid off workers spoke to the crowd at the two rallies, kicked off by Ana Kincaid at the Boston Common.

Kincaid, who recently lost her job as a social worker at the Mass. Department of Children and Families, connected her layoff to the general trend of government cuts to core human services and government bailouts of giant banks and corporations, "On Sepetember 25th, 2009, I joined the ranks of the unemployed. I'll be living beyond my means. I'll struggle to keep my apartment. I'll have to go to the DTA office and request assistance for the first time in my life. I will struggle to provide for my daughter.

"Since I received my notice I've seen several infuriating headlines and not enough press about the plight of the children that we serve. There was a headline last week in the local paper stating that animals are the recession's smallest victims. Another, during the summer, about the cuts in the zoos, and the money that the legislature managed to find to avoid euthanizing the animals. Finally, this morning, I opened up my email account to a headline regarding the billions of dollars in losses that the Fortune 400 had endured over the last year. Apparently hurt the most was Mr. Warren Buffett. A man who is America's second richest citizen. He lost $10 billion. $10 billion. And is now only worth $40 billion. Are you kidding? These are the numbers that the heads of banks and corporations were making when the Bush administration felt it was important to bail them out. Who was ready to bail out our children? Where's the money and resources that we need to serve them - the future of our city and the future of our nation?

Photos by Jason Pramas.

At the rally outside Verizon, Ed Fitzpatrick, President of the telephone workers union IBEW Local 2222, railed against corporate greed and said that it was past time for unions to unite and fight back against ongoing job cuts at Verizon and many other companies nationwide, "It's about time we got together. We're going to have to get together all of the unions. It's been too long. You know this country has absolutely gone downhill as far as Labor is concerned. From the time Reagan fired the Air Traffic Controllers, all the unions stayed solidified. We got to get together. Individually we do nothing. It's all about all of us. This is a start. In any key situation you either get bitter or you get badder, now we better get bitter or it's not going to get better. For too long, this sense of outrage hasn't been here. This is a great turnout. It's a testament to the fact that we're going to do something. Now we're going to be motivated and do you know what motivates us is pain. We're in pain now. They're going to take it from us unless we get together, and this got to be a start. This is only a start. A beginning. If we don't we're done.

"Organized labor should be running this country, but they don't organize. Our people it's all about individuals and 401Ks or how much you're going to have. We've got to get together. That's when labor started. To get everybody together to get a fair wage. To get fair conditions. Now we fought for this now they're going to take them away. It's about diminishment. We can't do it anymore. This has to be a start. Companies like Verizon they chop it up they take and they tore away what isn't profitable. The people that spawned it the people that were the mill stone under the mill. Now you get these corporate executives like a weather vane. Big and powerful. Making a lot of money. They did nothing. They want to get rid of the people that put them there. It's about cheap labor it's as old as time. It can't happen. This has to be a start. The unions have to unite. We've worked hard. We've struck. They've given us nothing Verizon. We sweat for everything we've ever had. This has to be a start. We're not going to lose what we got. It's one thing if they didn't have the money. But they have the money. Their people that are fat cats look at their money. They say it's not for this part of the business. That's not the truth. These people don't deal in the truth. We've got to get together."

IBEW locals fielded the largest contingent at the march and rallies.

State Sen. Ken Donnelly (D-Arlington), the lone public official to speak at the event, put the blame for the worsening economic situation on the right-wing, "Once again I'm here in front of Verizon to talk about how we can't let this happen. We can't let them take jobs away from hard working people. An injury to one is an injury to all. And everybody must understand that. Because if you read the Boston Globe yesterday, they're attacking public workers. Public employees. They're saying we're making too much money. But what we're in now, ladies and gentlemen, is a race to the bottom. They want everyone to make to make $8 an hour with no health insurance benefits, no pensions, no ability to raise a family. And we can't allow the right-wing demagogues to keep attacking us and keep saying that they believe in family values when they will not give us enough money to raise a family. This must stop. It must stop in Beacon Hill. It must stop in Washington. And it must stop in Boston. And I'm here to support every single one of you. Let's continue the fight. Let's all of us, all unions, public sector, private sector be together to fight this fight."

The march portions of the event were led by IBEW Local 103 One Hundred and Third Drum and Bagpipe Band. The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Marching Band played at the Boston Common rally and also accompanied the march.

There was a light police presence, no counter-demonstrators and no arrests.

Text by Jason Pramas. Full disclosure: Jason Pramas recently signed a union card with IBEW Local 2222.

Speeches on Boston Common in front of the State House. Video by Jesse Kirdahy-Scalia.

March for Jobs through downtown Boston. Video by Jesse Kirdahy-Scalia.

Speeches in front of Verizon HQ. Video by Jesse Kirdahy-Scalia.

Rally in front of the Hyatt Regency. Video by Jesse Kirdahy-Scalia.
 

OMB Audio: Voices and sounds from the "Jobs Not Greed" Rally and March including Miles Calvey, IBEW Local 2222, Ana Kincaid, laid off social worker, Bob Haynes, AFL-CIO, Eddie Fitzpatrick, IBEW 2222, Danny Manning, IBEW and Verizon splice technician, laid off worker Rosalinda Barrios (and translator) from Centro Presente, Lucinda Williams, recently laid off Hyatt Hotel housekeeper, Melonie Griffith, organizer with City Life/Vida Urbana and the Bank Tenants Association, and The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band.

Recording, editing, and mix by Dave Goodman, I.B.I.S. Radio.