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Solidarity with Bowdoin Housekeepers!

Andy O’Brien
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IN THIS EDITION:

  • Solidarity with Bowdoin Housekeepers 
  • Support the 17th Annual Solidarity Harvest for Mainers in Need
  • Celebrate a Union Thanksgiving
  • Waterville Firefighters & Union Allies Urge Support for Ambulance Purchases
  • Sign Up Now for Our 2020 Candidate Training — Jan. 25th & 26th
  • WABI-TV Operating Technicians Ratify 2-Year Contract with Pay Raises

Solidarity with Bowdoin Housekeepers Forming a Union!

Housekeepers at Bowdoin College in Brunswick are banding together to gain a collective voice on the job and they need our support! The housekeepers are organizing to form a union with MSEA- SEIU 1989. 

For years, housekeepers at Bowdoin College have endured low wages and difficult working conditions. Last month a group of housekeepers penned an op-ed describing a hostile, divisive work environment where they must perform physically demanding work, including handling lice and bed bug infestations, without proper training or equipment. They are organizing to address issues of not being reimbursed for work-related mileage and being forced to take on more duties and forego vacations due to understaffing.

“I am sick and tired of the bosses saying to us, ‘you chose to be a housekeeper,’” the letter states. “To me that is so disrespectful. I fell in love and had my own family. I put my family over finishing college. But I am proud to be a housekeeper and feel it’s rewarding. Bowdoin should respect us housekeepers and dining and facilities staff as much as they do everyone else that makes this college run. We are just as important."

We call on the President, Management, and the Board of Trustees to respect workers' freedom to organize without employer interference or pressure. Please sign this petition to let Bowdoin know you support these workers' right to form a union: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/solidarity-with-bowdoin-housekeepers/

Support the 17th Annual Solidarity Harvest for Mainers in Need

With Thanksgiving upon us, it's time for Food and Medicine and the Eastern Maine Labor Council’s 17th Annual Solidarity Harvest, which provides 1,300 baskets to Mainers who have fallen on hard times. Solidarity Harvest began in 2003 to support laid-off union workers and their families. For $40 you can sponsor a Thanksgiving meal basket filled with over 28 pounds of local produce, plus a turkey, pumpkin bread, rolls, butter and stuffing. $40 sponsors one meal basket, but any donation helps! To sponsor a meal click here! For more information, contact Food AND Medicine at FAM@foodandmedicine.org. At Food and Medicine it's about Solidarity, not charity!

When you buy union, you're supporting good jobs in American communities, jobs that provide living wages and benefits, safe working conditions, and dignity and respect for work. Look for these quality products, produced by union members, when preparing for your Thanksgiving feast!

Waterville Firefighters & Union Allies Urge Support for Ambulance Purchases

[caption caption="IAFF Local 1608 & Central Maine Labor Council members at Tuesday's City Council meeting" align="center"][/caption]


Members of the Waterville Firefighters (IAFF Local 1608) are urging the Waterville City Council to override the Mayor’s veto of a measure to approve the purchase of two used ambulances in order to improve the city’s emergency response service. Currently, the city is served by Delta Ambulance. However, firefighters have pointed out that additional capacity to transport patients is needed. 

If the purchase is approved, the Waterville Fire Department will develop a working agreement to provide back-up service for Delta. Members of the Central Maine Labor Council showed up at a Council meeting Tuesday night in a show of support for the firefighters. The vote was postponed until December 3.

Sign up now for our 2020 Candidate Training — Jan. 25th & 26th!

[caption caption="Union members who attended our 2018 Working Candidate Training" align="center"][/caption]


Are you frustrated that too many politicians care more about lavishing tax breaks to the super wealthy than adequately funding our roads, schools and public safety? Are you ticked off that faceless corporations have more rights than working people when it comes to bargaining for a fair share of the wealth we create? You’re not alone! Now more than ever we need people in office who understand what it's like to get up and go to work every morning.

That's why we are hosting our fourth Worker Candidate Training on January 25th and 26th. If you know any union members or others who would make a good candidate for the Legislature or a local office, please urge them to sign up! Click here to apply for our 2020 Worker Candidate Training!