To Supporters of MBL workers facing job loss
Dear Friends,
Over the last two weeks there has been a tremendous outpouring of
support for the eight women who have worked at the Marine Biological Lab
in Woods Hole for years (in some cases decades) who are facing a loss of
their jobs.
As many of you know, they have been told that they will lose good jobs
with strong wages and benefits. This is not because there is no work,
not because they were unproductive workers but simply because the
leadership at the MBL, one of the oldest and most respected life
sciences institutions in the country, has decided to "change its
business model". MBL has elected to outsource these jobs to a
housekeeping service that will replace good jobs in Falmouth with
unsecure, low wage employment. This is all happening after MBL recently
received hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus money to
build jobs in our community.
As concerned community members I wanted to bring you up to speed with
the situation and seek your continued help. At this point our members
will expect to receive layoff notices on February 12th. Barring a
change of heart by the leaders at the Lab these women can expect see the
loss of their livelihoods sometime after that point. Our members are
committed to struggling to try and preserve these jobs.
Thus far they have met with management representatives to request that
they reconsider this decision. As a union we have held out the
possibility of working with the Lab in an effort to address problems and
challenges that they face. We have recommended other options that
include some seasonal jobs and we have recommended other models for
getting this work done that could maintain decent, secure jobs but there
has been no response. MBL continues to move toward subcontracting.
On Tuesday, we asked that the decision makers at the Lab, represented by
Director Gary Borisy, meet with the workers to both explain the
rationale for the decision and get a full understanding of its impact.
Gary Borisey has refused to meet with us.
This Friday and Saturday a number of the impacted workers plan to take
their case to the MBL Board of Overseers and Board of Trustees in New
York City. We're hopeful that once the Board of the institution
understands the significance and ramifications of this decision there
will be an opportunity to change course.
Finally, we plan to hold a community meeting and silent march down MBL
Street in Woods Hole on Friday, February 12 at which time we'll discuss
the issues confronted by our members and seek to deliver a final request
to Director Borisy.
Please join us in this effort to retain good jobs on Cape Cod. You can
help by directly contacting MBL's Director Gary Borisy at (508) 289-7300
or gborisy@mbl.edu and call on him to reconsider this bad decision.
Also, join us on February 12th at the town dock on MBL Street at noon.
Thank you for your support and work to ensure good jobs stay in our
community.
If you have any questions don't hesitate to call 1199SEIU -
508-771-1416.
Sincerely,
Jerry Fishbein
Vice President
1199SEIU, UHWE
Toll Free -877-409-1199 ext 166
