On Thursday July 10 a panel of the Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board will take the testimony of nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield and issue a report on collective bargaining there. The hearing will be 6:00-7:30 PM at First Congregational Church, 43 Silver Street, Greenfield. The public, the press, and the employer are invited. Attendees are asked to come fragrance-free.

Across the US, Workers’ Rights Boards act as “the conscience of the community” regarding labor relations, exposing employers' misconduct and also helping workers form unions and reach collective bargaining contracts. There is more information at http://www.jwj.org/projects/wrb.html.

The Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board consists of two dozen “public citizens” in Western Massachusetts. The following are on the July 10 panel:

• Anne Awad, President/CEO, Caring Health Center Inc (Springfield); Health Systems Consultant; Amherst Select Person
• Mary Lavo Ford, Non-profit Manager; former Outreach Director, Community Health Center of Franklin County; former Mayor of Northampton
• Ward Morehouse, co-founder, Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy
• Reverend Armand Proulx, Second Congregational Church of Greenfield
• Al Siano, Greenfield City Councilor
• Miryam Ehrlich Williamson, Medical Writer; former Warwick Select Board member

The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) has been bargaining a new contract at Baystate Franklin Medical Center (BFMC) since October 2007. The employer, Baystate Health in Springfield, is showing an anti-union animus at the bargaining table. It hired Howard Bloom from the well-known union-busting law firm, Jackson Lewis (http://www.jacksonlewis.com/). More information at http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/the-anti-union-network/for-profit-union-busters/jackson-lewis-20071018-313-254.html.

Ann Lewin RN will conduct the testimony by BFMC nurses and also provide basic information. She is the MNA Senior Chair at BFMC. A nurse for 26 years, she has been at BFMC for 6 years.

Jon Weissman, Coordinator
Western Mass Jobs with Justice
640 Page Blvd #101
Springfield MA 01104
413-827-0301

Founded in 1987, Jobs with Justice's mission is to improve working people's standard of living, fight for job security, and protect workers' right to organize. We believe workers' rights are human rights and to be successful, we have to be part of a larger campaign for economic and social justice.

To that end, "J with J" has created a national coalition and a network of local coalitions that connect labor, community, student, and faith-based organizations and activists on workplace and community social justice campaigns. Western Mass JwJ – founded June 5, 1993 – is now a coalition of almost 60 organizations.