5th Congressional District Candidates Pledge Campaign Boycott of Clear Channel Billboards
Four leading Democratic candidates for Congress in the 5th District publicly join a boycott of Texas-based Clear Channel Corporation in support of 27 Massachusetts workers on strike at the billboard company
[USPRwire, Fri May 11 2007] 5th Congressional District candidates Eileen Donoghue, Jamie Eldridge, Barry Finegold and Niki Tsongas have all agreed to boycott corporate giant Clear Channel Outdoor during their campaigns, announced Painters & Allied Trades District Council #35. The boycott, officially kicked-off at the Merrimack Valley Central Labor Council Legislative Breakfast this morning, is in support of 27 workers who were forced on strike on March 19th against Clear Channel.
“Senators Kennedy and Kerry, along with the entire Massachusetts Congressional Delegation including retiring Congressman Meehan, recently sent Clear Channel a letter urging the Texas-based company to bring the strikers back to work under the old contract and return to the bargaining table,” explained District Council #35 Communications Director John Laughlin. “This boycott by the leading candidates for Congressman Meehan’s seat continues a tradition of active support for workers by our U.S. Representatives – it’s a great statement of solidarity”.
“The support of these four candidates for the striking workers is exactly why the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and our affiliates believe in Massachusetts politicians,” commented Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes. “By standing with these 27 workers against a $26 billion corporate behemoth these Congressional hopefuls represent what working families in Massachusetts demand from our elected officials at all levels: that they back up their words with actions; that they mean what they say, say what they mean and act on our behalf.”
The strikers, members of Sign & Pictorial Local #391 and IBEW Local #103, work on hanging and posting over 2400 billboards in Eastern Massachusetts. Most have at least 10 years, and many have more than 25 years, of working for Ackerley Communication, AK Media and now Clear Channel, which bought the company five years ago. After 18 months of negotiations, Clear Channel abandoned bargaining and unilaterally implemented a $60-a day paycut, a 7-day work week, took away pensions and health care from the workers and eliminated the grievance and union security protections. Clear Channel’s actions forced the workers onto the street and the Union to file Unfair Labor Practice charges with the federal government.
Clear Channel had paid strikebreakers already at the plant on March 19th and has been flying strikebreakers into Massachusetts from Florida, Georgia and Texas on a weekly basis to take the jobs of Massachusetts workers said Laughlin.
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