Archive for May, 2005
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“>Striking Nstar workers cite security lapses: bloggers report
From the Cape, Eric Schwaab reports firsthand accounts of nstar linemen in his blog and blog community.
Pix from a guy on the picket line. No addresses 
. Naysayers might ? their “probative value.” Lets look around and report to local government.- inspectional services and legislative [e.g. City Council] and, of course, the BLOGosphere. Exact address is essential, picture is good but optional.
Cambridge and Boston both support Local 369. I’m going to Boston CC tomorrow.
If you don’t do electoral politics, Mass Jobs with Justice offers action links.
Birobidzhaner, blogging from the left, reports on the Monday rally.
Saturday night is for striking… even when it rains.
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Power to the strikers or power to the customers?
1/3 of a second before he was showing the thumbs up.
Answer: (c) All of the above.
“One to One”
Organizing ultimately comes down to this - one on one - in the blogosphere
and in the street. The round part of the building behind her head is
the control room for all of Metro-Boston. Power to the people.
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Sunday morning, the bus driver went a just a little slower past the strike.
He’s in the Carmen’s Union. I think he said Local 569.
N. GREGORY MANKIW
This is mostly a tease to be edited in due course. But while we work out what is and is not “on the record”. I leave y’all with just this one.
Outsourcing is only “importing service”, if the workers are somewhere else.
Example 1: Hypothetical
So, if you fire your Boston customer service representatives and hire people in Omaha or Bangalore, that is arguably “importing service”. If, on the other hand you fire your “direct employees” from Dorchester and Jamaica Plain and hire contingent workers from Dorchester and Jamaica Plain, it’s not “importing service”. It’s just lowering people’s standard of living. “Importing service” is sometimes a creative euphemism and sometimes totally unconnected to Veritas.
Example 2: NStar Substation Crew
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These are some of the guys that go into the manholes and replace fuses and blown up cables and stuff. Sometimes they have 14,000 volts in their hands. Well that’s what they say and rather than have a discussion about relative sexual endowment, I’ll believe them. But power only gets to your house, if the cables and wires do. [Some renewables would, but Big Capital doesn’t like this idea any better.] If a connection breaks they have to go to it to fix it. They can’t phone it in from Bangalore. Replacing them with contract workers should not be called “importing service”. I’m not sure I want to tell you what they call it.
Example 3: Harvard cooks, janitors, and security guards.
Curiously, in this one case at least, Harvard Administration is more up on econonmics than Harvard Economics. Administration simply uses neither term. Problem solved. However, HCECP, aka the Katz Committee, determined that outsourcing did happen to the tune of 1000 workers up from the original “only seven” claim during the sit-in on Mass Hall in Spring 2001. HCECP had a website chronicling the adjustments that were made. H.E.R.E. and S.E.I.U. did get some improvement in their contracts. H.U.S.P.M.G.U. got a tiny bit, but they have since had 20 or 30 jobs outsourced.
Officialdom of H.U.C.T.W. said, “We’re just fine thank you very much.” My unit was about half contingent workers.
What has happened to “H.E.R.E. and S.E.I.U. since? The HCECP website declared “problem solved” and disappeared. Folks in the Unions tell me that outsourcing, has started moving in again. There have been new “direct’ hires in my unit, but it seems like even more new contingent workers. Administration’s response is to give the new VP woman for Human Resources an “HCECP Fellow.” I’m not holding my breath.
This discussion, by the way, is “on the record.”
STRIKE!!! Nstar: Havard PSLM is there.
“panorama”
Nstar, Mass Ave, Dorchester - Members of UWUA Local 369 walk the picket line.
Alerted by mailing lists of the Harvard Social Forum and the Progressive Student Labor Movement, students and workers from Harvard joined members of the Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 on the picket lines at local NStar installations. Students mostly went to the nearest installation in Somerville. Many Harvard workers, however, cannot afford to live near campus since the end of rent control. Most live in communities like Jamaica Plain and Dorchester:
“> Women and men of UWUA in Dorchester. [This blog lives on a server in Cambridge :)]
Maureen is secretary for DigSafe, Joanne for Underground. And friends.
Maureen is secretary for DigSafe, Joanne for Underground. And friends.
Unlike Harvard, all the workers are in the same union. The men mostly aren’t clerical workers but technical workers. They could be the Nstar Union Clerical and Technical Workers [NUCTW] if they wanted to. I think they like the current arrangement better.
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The two largest issues are:
1. Compromised safety due to understaffing.
2. Attack on pension benefits.
The union members have community support.
“>Councillor at Large Maura Hennigan representing the City of Boston and friends.
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The guy by the door representing Harvard Union Labor, Harvard Social Forum,
and Progressive Student Labor Movement and friends.
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And it goes on into the night.
She’s alive! The bride speaks! Fire at Johnston Gate II
The bride who was in the limo that became an inferno by Johnston Gate back on April 30 commented my post about it and Ezra Ball’s blog. As my new blogbuddy felicia says, “you make my life beautiful and excellentacious!” Let me quote the bride here:
I am the bride who escaped from the burning limo - rather dramatic
start to my wedding, but we’re glad everyone was okay. We didn’t crash
into the gate, the limo was basically smoking the whole ride, though
the driver kept telling us it was just “burning off extra oil”…Also, the limo
company was Discover Boston, and they have done NOTHING to compensate
us for this - they haven’t even refunded our money!
An excerpt of her comment at Erza’s RealFake blog:
We were never interviewed by the police, so I’m not sure if there is
any investigation going on. The limo company has done NOTHING to
address the situation. The[y] didn’t even send back up transportation to
get us to the reception! Everyone was fine, but all my bridesmaids’
things (in the trunk) were ruined, and our lives were all at risk. I
feel worst for my bridesmaid who was 8 months pregnant, and for my 3
year old flower girl, and for my poor parents.
Dear Carrie,
There’s a bounty of bloggers who are glad everyone is
okay. Thank you for shedding light on the origin of the fire.
There were questions of intrigue and foul play. More than one
blogger wondered if someone important was in the limo - one
thought maybe the President of Harvard.
I knew that wasn’t the case.
His limo is not white, not a stretch, and has a distinctive license
plate. [ I know Joe, the driver. He drove for the old guy too.]
But when some bloggers said “oh just a car fire,” I was upset.
Anyone who saw the huge flames [shown by the Crimson and felicia]
could see that something really awful might have happened to someone.
In my view, there WAS someone important in that limo. How very nice to
meet you, I hope to meet the others with you.
Without further ado:
Congratulations on your wedding to you and yours!
I‘m thinking “yours” means “Mr. Carrie”, but the
congratulations are unconditional. [ I am very proud of the Clerk of
the City of Cambridge, Margaret Drury, opening her office at midnight
on the first day it was legal for gay couples to wed.]
You most certainly may have the pictures for your album. I will e-mail
them. Also, you might ask Ezra Ball, the Crimson, and felicia for
theirs. I’ll try to pave the way. I know Dowbrigade. He’ll come through
for you. May I have one from the happier part of the occasion [including the flower girl]? May I
post it here?
My original post about you was something of an experiment. I wondered
whether I would be able to find out what happened through the
blogoshpere without relying on “the authorities” who often try to
minimize things to avoid “alarming the public.” [ The HUPD, in the Public Police Log,
describes your “limo inferno” as an incident of type “Assist Cambridge
Police” and its disposition “Closed.”] I’m declaring the
experiment a success and am not at all disappointed that there was no
great conspiracy involved. However, you and yours have been
mistreated. I propose phase II of my experiment. Can we get some
justice for the newlyweds?
I would not rule out legal action, but we may not have to go that far.
Perhaps if we alert the blogosphere we can shame these folks into doing
the right thing. I suppose we can let the mainstream media in on it
eventually. And if push comes to shove, there are a lot of lawyers near
the Berkman Center where this blog lives. But we need one thing
from you. Would you tell us which of the several Google hits for
“Discover Boston” is the website of the company you hired? We’ll take
it from there.
