06/05/2002 Telegram & Gazette Worcester, MA ALL Page A1 (Copyright 2002)
SHREWSBURY -- Two of the country's top labor leaders were arrested on trespassing charges yesterday at a Shaw's Supermarket on Route 9, the most vocal and public demonstration to date in an ongoing dispute between Shaw's and the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
John J. Sweeney, 68, of Bethesda, Md., president of the AFL-CIO, and Douglas H. Dority, 63, of McLean, Va., president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, were arrested around noon yesterday by five Shrewsbury police officers.
Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Dority, both in handcuffs and leg shackles, had pleas of not guilty entered on their behalf in Westboro District Court. Judge Paul S. Waickowski continued the cases to Aug. 8 and both men were released on personal recognizance.
The two high-profile union leaders flew into Boston yesterday morning and held a morning pep rally with about 110 members of various Central Massachusetts unions at the Ramada Inn in Auburn. They later car-pooled across Worcester and were arrested without incident by Shrewsbury police at the White City Shaw's after meeting with Shaw's employees in a break room.
Mr. Sweeney, president since 1995 of the 13 million member AFL- CIO, said he has been arrested about a dozen times in his 40-year career and said civil disobedience is sometimes necessary in the fight for workers' rights.
In an interview, he said Shaw's, owned by J. Sainsbury plc of England, has turned its back on a legally binding contract, a flagrant violation of labor law that will be vigorously challenged at the local, state and national levels.
"Whatever they might get away with in other countries, they're not going to get away with it in our country," Mr. Sweeney said. "The union's voice cannot be silenced by an employer's devious and underhanded actions."
Yesterday's arrests were the second in two months and represent the union's escalation of an ongoing dispute between Shaw's Supermarkets Inc. and Local 1445, which has represented about 1,600 workers at 11 Shaw's stores in Central Massachusetts.
The union says Shaw's has illegally disregarded its three-year contract, which expires Jan. 31, 2004. Shaw's contends workers decertified the union. The National Labor Relations Board in Boston is investigating multiple charges filed by the UFCW .
The existing contract allows union officials to meet with Shaw's workers on the job, a provision Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Dority were utilizing in trying to speak with workers yesterday.
"Shaw's simply cannot issue a royal decree eliminating its workers' voice, benefits, protections and union contract," said Mr. Dority, whose union has 1.4 million members.
Shaw's claims the union no longer legally represents any workers at its Central Massachusetts stores.
Shaw's spokeswoman Ashley McCown said the demonstration was a staged effort to disrupt store operations and a misguided attempt to interfere with Shaw's employees' free choice.
Shaw's said a majority of Shaw's workers filed a petition Feb. 28 with the NLRB asking to have Local 1445 decertified as the representative of Shaw's workers.
"Instead of accepting the decision of the employees, union representatives continue to think that they can act on behalf of Shaw's employees they no longer represent," Ms. McCown said.
Union leaders said the contract remains in existence while the NLRB sorts everything out, and Shaw's cannot unilaterally change the agreement.
The union alleges Shaw's has illegally altered benefits such as health care costs and paid holiday, sick, vacation and personal time. They allege Shaw's told workers their health insurance premiums would not go up if they voted for decertification.
After their arrests, both men were given time to address a crowd outside of Shaw's before being taken to the Shrewsbury police station in a dark blue Police Department van.
Yesterday's choreographed event, which included digital photographs uploaded to Web sites, was meant for a larger audience than those in Central Massachusetts, officials said.
Supermarkets and other service industries are a principal source of jobs for the middle-class and fertile ground for union representation, officials said. Other large grocery store chains would quickly notice if Shaw's was to succeed in unilaterally withdrawing recognition of the UFCW .
"If an employer has the ability to scare the hell out of its workers and change all the benefits, that impacts the future of unionized supermarkets around the country," said Thomas P. Clarke, executive assistant to UFCW 's northeast regional president.
Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said contract disputes routinely occur when a union is first formed or during a renewal period. But severing an existing contract is a rare event.
"It's unheard of," he said. "Whether Shaw's knows it or not, this is a bellwether event."
PHOTO; T&G Staff/CHRIS CHRISTO; Douglas H. Dority, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, raises his hands yesterday after being arrested at Shaw's. At left is John J. Sweeney, head of the AFL-CIO; at right, Robert J. Haynes, president of the state AFL- CIO.
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