Lynn union organizer addresses labor council

LYNN ? Women from across the North Shore gathered to hear what Roselyn Maina of Lynn and two others had to say about alleged unfair labor practices, at the 5th annual Women’s Solidarity Breakfast.A new member of IUE/CWA Local 201, Maina works for the Budget Rent A Car office at Logan International Airport in Boston.”Her story is one of determination and courage,” said Rosa Blumenfeld, an organizer for the Lynn-based North Shore Labor Council.The breakfast, hosted by the Women’s Committee of the North Shore Labor Council and held at the Lynn Housing Authority, was an opportunity for women to join in solidarity, enjoying each other’s company and listening to the strategies that have improved their lives, Blumenfeld said.”Even though Avis and Budget are owned by the same company, are supervised by the same managers and share the same fleet of cars, Avis workers get better treatment because they are in the union,” Maina told the audience. “Managers were always telling us A before B, Avis is union, so this is why it is the way it is. So I said, that’s why I want to be in the union. Managers tried to tell us that we didn’t need the union. They were so sure they were going to win the union election”Marie Prophett, an employee of Union Hospital in Lynn, is a new member of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.”We hung in there, it was tough, but we won,” she said. “Now we are bargaining our first contract. The nurses at Union Hospital here in Lynn were already in the union. We support staff workers said we’ve got to push for the union too. When management found out, they tried to convince us that we already get the same benefits as the people in the union do but that wasn’t true. When we started to organize, there was all of this misinformation coming out, and even threats that if we voted in the union, people would get fired.”Corporina Belis, part of the “Hyatt 100”, also attended the breakfast to share the story of what hotel did to her and her co-workers this year. “When we complained about how we had not gotten our usual raise this year, the managers blamed it on the economy. They told us the housekeepers we had been training from the outside agency were only there to replace us when we get sick or go on vacation,” she said. “Then, on August 31, our managers called a 3 p.m. meeting. They told us that it wasn’t their fault, we were no longer being employed by Hyatt, and that we were to be replaced by the women that we had been training who would earn $8 per hour, doing a job that we did for $15-$17 per hour.”Belis said she was accompanied to her locker, given a trash bag in which to put her belongings, and asked to hand in her employee name tag. “This was how they treated me after I gave my life to this company, and had worked there for 23 years,” she said.Alex Brown, vice president of IUE-CWA Local 201 in Lynn, closed the breakfast with some advice: “The best way that we can better our lives is by taking it to the streets and organizing. There is a law in congress right now that will make it easier for any of us to join a union. It’s called the Employee Free Choice Act, so call your congressmen and senators and tell them to vote for it,” she said.