At Holyoke march, attendees say local labor movement at critical moment
HOLYOKE — About two dozen members of the Holyoke Teachers Association led hundreds of marchers through the streets of the city Monday, pausing for a few moments in front of the offices of the Holyoke Public Schools.
The two sides have been negotiating for months, and recently, Holyoke told state officials the discussions reached an impasse, an assessment not shared with the union.
No one was inside, and the office was dark. It was Labor Day, after all.
But rather than use the day off for one last summer hurrah, labor leaders saw the holiday as a way to highlight the problems facing organized labor in the region.
From contentious, months-long negotiations involving local unions to a White House they see as a threat to organized labor, local union leaders, such as Ethel Everett, president of the Pioneer Valley Assembly, part of the Western Massachusetts Area Labor Federation, say unions are under attack.
"Labor Day started with the marches, so we want to go back to that tradition of highlighting workers and uplifting the struggle that workers have, especially in these times," Everett said.
Jeff Jones, federation president, said it should be celebrated that the school district is exiting receivership , Jones said, but the Holyoke Teachers Association, representing about 520 educators, still is bargaining with city officials.
"Now, it's time to deal with the losses and the cutbacks they had to deal with in staffing and resources and compensation," Jones said.
Holyoke is also in "contentious contract bargaining" with unionized members of its Department of Public Works , who are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1459, whose president is Jones.
There are other unions facing issues across the area, too. At MGM Springfield, dealers formed a union , and the casino has not bargained with them, Jones said.
Jones said the union representing facilities and dining staff at Mount Holyoke College called for an unfair labor practices strike. The strike is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
Holyoke residents look out over the railings of their balcony as hundreds of teachers' union members and allies took to the streets on Labor Day to protest stalled contract negotiations. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
Bill Sims, business agent for the 170 dining and facilities workers at Mount Holyoke represented by Service Employees International Union 32BJ, said the key issue for the union that has been bargaining since April is that it wants livable wages for all its workers and a legal representation fund to help workers with immigration issues. Currently, about half its members working at the college don't have a livable wage, Sims said.
"It's wall-to-wall support out there," Sims said, including from teachers and students. Teamsters said they would not cross the picket line to complete deliveries, and the Pioneer Valley Building Trades Council would stop construction work on campus, he said.
The union, he said, filed an unfair labor practice complaint last week and took its vote authorizing a strike in early August.
Sims said strikes are rare, and it's the first-ever strike at Mount Holyoke. But it comes at a time when there are more conflicts between employers and unions, driven by the transfer of wealth from workers to the "billionaire class," he said.
"People are at a point now and been stretched so thin, and wages have been compressed so much, that they can't afford groceries at this point," Sims said.
Reached for comment, Mount Holyoke issued a statement , saying it has been negotiating with SEIU 32BJ since March, and it continues to negotiate in good faith.
"We remain committed to reaching a fair and sustainable agreement," the college said. "We deeply value and recognize the contributions of all of our employees."
Holyoke Teachers Association members and allies took to the streets of Holyoke on Labor Day to protest stalled contract negotiations. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
An impasse in Holyoke? Sides disagree
Nick Cream, president of the Holyoke Teachers Association, helped lead the march that started outside City Hall, wound its way through Veterans' Memorial Park and back down to Holyoke Heritage State Park.
He said the organizers were surprised by the number of people who joined the march, a sign, he said, of the increasing awareness of support for unions, which is driven in part by the current political atmosphere.
However, there are a lot of unknowns facing the labor movement, he said.
"We're in a particular political situation where we don't really ever know if we can trust the courts to do what's right, or if the law is going to change, or if somebody's going to be appointed to the National Labor Relations Board that is really anti-labor," Cream said.
Closer to home, Cream and the Holyoke Teachers Association have been in negotiation with the district since February.
On Thursday, Holyoke officials made a proposal that Holyoke Teachers Association said did not take into account the dozens of proposals educators have made at the table, a "disrespectful and demeaning and insulting proposal," Cream said.
As the school district exits receivership, there are some factors that are kept out of the bargaining process, Cream said, a condition established as part of some exit assurances set by the state. But the teachers' union is seeking changes, such as having 15 sick days instead of 10, and more leeway in how the educators teach.
In a statement, Beth Gage, Holyoke Public Schools chief of human resources, said the district filed for mediation to hopefully allow both sides to quickly come to an agreement.
"On Labor Day, and every day, we are encouraged to see our teachers working together, and we firmly believe their voices deserve to be heard," Gage said in a statement. "We are committed to continuing our work with our HTA members to ensure we have excellent educators teaching and supporting our students."
During the march, The Expandable Brass Band followed the Holyoke educators, dressed in yellow and playing instruments such as trombones, a sousaphone and an accordion, amplified through a speaker pulled on a dolly. Behind them, marchers stretched for blocks.
Some marchers held signs made by the teachers' union: "For Holyoke by Holyoke." Others carried homemade signs: an image of Smokey the Bear that said, "Only you can prevent fascism." Another read, "A living wage is not a luxury."
"Holyoke is a union town," they chanted. "You won't keep these workers down."
As the marchers walked into Holyoke Heritage State Park, Jaime LeBreton stood holding her sign. "Every act of resistance matters," it said.
A self-described "avid protester," LeBreton said she is part of the Indivisible advocacy groups invited to participate in the march.
"Most of them I don't know, but I see faces that I recognize. … We've formed a community. It's finding solidarity with people," she said.
Tom Gardner, who teaches in the communications department at Westfield State University and is an active union member himself, said he came out to protest the Trump administration's strategies targeting undocumented workers for deportation and to support the effort for Holyoke workers to attain a fair contact.
Gardner, who participated in the Selma-Montgomery march in 1965 and once chaired the Southern Student Organizing Committee, said protest bolsters participants' spirits.
"When a union is in the midst of contract negotiations, it's important to show public support for them," Gardner said. "That puts pressure on town officials to do the right thing."
Teachers' union members and allies took to the streets of Holyoke on Labor Day to protest stalled contract negotiations with the district. The protest started outside Holyoke City Hall on High Street and ended in Holyoke Heritage Park. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
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