LYNN — The city’s General Electric workers star on national television in a new commercial, which urges the company to stop sending jobs to foreign countries and instead invest in American jobs, including locally.
The video starts with a man’s voice saying, “It is time for General Electric to reinvest in America.” The commercial advocates for bringing good jobs back to help “bring America back” and states that Lynn workers have been servicing essential equipment for generations.
The visuals in the video feature High Rock Tower and park, King’s Beach, the “Stories of Lynn” mural, the GE Aviation plant and Lynn’s downtown and streets.
The commercial is a part of the advertising campaign dubbed “Bring it home, GE,” which is sponsored by the Industrial Division of the Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA), a union that represents 150,000 active and retired industry employees.
“GE receives billions in defense revenue from the U.S. government, but our tax dollars are not being invested in the communities, plants, or the workforce that makes the company successful,” said Adam Kaszynski, president of IUE-CWA 81201 in Lynn.
GE’s workforce in Lynn reduced to 9.2 percent of what it was in 1985, taking 13,000 unionized, hourly production workers down to 1,200. According to the union, the Lynn facility has been lacking investment from GE in recent years.
“GE has benefited from taxpayer bailouts and government contracts, yet has continued to close plants here in the U.S., send jobs overseas, and end pensions,” said Nefty Alvarez, who has worked at GE as a union machinist for 13 years. “GE is an industry leader. They can — and must — reinvest in the talented workforce they already have at home, instead of dismantling our communities.”
To mark the launch of the campaign, Lynn workers wore stickers demanding “Bring it Home, GE” in a day of protest. The local workers’ action was supported across the country, with GE and GE Lighting workers holding demonstrations in Ohio, Virginia, New York, Kentucky, and Kansas.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) supported GE workers by saying, “Since 2015, I have secured more than $1 billion in American tax dollars for next-generation helicopter engines and parts built in Lynn. America has invested in GE, and it’s time for GE to invest in America.”
The local workers are also supported by such organizations as Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, AFL-CIO, and the veterans group Common Defense, which advocate for workers’ rights, green jobs, and jobs for veterans.
