PARIS, March 15, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of European workers from Alcatel-Lucent demonstrated in Paris on Thursday against plans by the newly-merged telecoms equipment maker to cut 4,500 jobs.

Congressman Marty Meehan accepts position of Chancellor at UMass Lowell.  The Congressman expects to leave office as US Representative for the 5th District of Massachusetts sometime in July.  All of us here at Local 1365 wish the Congressman well and good fortune as he pursues this new and vital roll as Chancellor.  Click on the headline to read Congressman Meehan's statement...

LAWRENCE - The benefits are far from ideal, but at least it's a job.  Just two weeks ago, a Malden Mills union voted 47-15 to reject a contract offer from their new employer, Chrysalis Capital Partners, essentially getting them fired in the process. 

March 6, 2007

The Right to Organize

There are many reasons for the long decline in the membership rolls for private sector unions, including powerful changes in the economy and the unions’ past corruption scandals.  And there is little doubt that federal rules and regulations for union organizing have also become increasingly hostile to labor, helping to drive unions’ share of the work force down from a peak of 35 percent in the 1950s to a mere 7.4 percent today.

March 1, 2007

Washington, DC - Congressman Marty Meehan released the following statement today upon House passage of H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act.  Meehan is an original cosponsor of the bill.

March 2, 2007 

The merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies, finalized in late 2006, has been a disaster for U.S. Lucent workers and threatens the effectiveness and continuity of work on key government contracts because of the company’s campaign to get rid of union-represented workers.

Alcatel-Lucent continues to seek government contracts at every level – local, state and national – but has stripped qualified workers of their security clearances and is seeking to get rid of its most experienced U.S. workers. This simply is not acceptable.