Unwelcome in Boston
Janice Loux is preparing to go to war, which is a familiar stance for the labor leader.
"I told these women we would walk arm in arm with them, and we will," she said while sitting in her Chinatown office this week.
Loux is the longtime head of Unite Here Local 26, which represents employees in the hospitality industry. Right now she is not feeling the least bit hospitable toward Aramark, the food-services giant, which has fired two members of the union's bargaining committee in the middle of contentious negotiations.
Aramark runs the food concession at the convention center in South Boston. Two of its employees, Carolyn Donovan and Theresa Kelley, have been fired during the fruitless efforts to negotiate a contract replacing one that expired last fall.
Donovan was let go in October, and Kelley earlier this year. Aramark, through a spokeswoman, maintained that both were canned for reasons unrelated to their union advocacy, including acts of violence toward other employees. The union contends those allegations are trumped up.
The one thing both sides agree on is that they are locked in negotiations that get more toxic by the week. The union plans a three-day walkout beginning June 20.
"We believe a targeted three-day strike will draw attention to their unfair practices," Loux said. "They're not going to fire our activists, and they're not going to treat us like dirt."
This labor battle, ironically, is rooted in the success of the convention center. When it opened - amid dire forecasts that it would prove to be a white elephant - the union agreed to compromises on wages and concessions that it would now like to get back. Benefits for employees lag those in comparable jobs in the city. The union is looking for benefits for a greater percentage of its workers at the convention center.
The fired employees say they were basically run out of the place. Kelley, who was a coffee server, says her bosses piled work on her in an effort to force her out. "I worked 120 hours one week," she said softly. "I wasn't going to let them make me quit."
She was fired after allegedly taking pictures of nonunion workers who union officials believe were being trained to replace unionized workers. Kelley said she was being forced to work alongside her would-be replacements.
Donovan started at the John B. Hynes Convention Center in 1988, moving to South Boston eight years ago. Management alleges that she struck another employee; Donovan says she and the woman were having an animated discussion, but denies hitting her. Her firing is the subject of a formal complaint, which is awaiting a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board.
Aramark spokeswoman Kristine Grow strongly rebutted the union allegations. She said unions routinely claim unfair labor practices during heated negotiations, and cited other cities where Aramark and Unite Here are contending over organizing practices. She said the company has not been formally notified of the plans to strike.
The sides aren't even at the bargaining table at this point. Unite Here has a practice of allowing any members who wish to attend the negotiations. Aramark has rejected such open-door negotiations. This might be one of the silliest deal-breakers in the history of collective bargaining, a dispute worthy of a sandbox.
Even a strike of just three days would be bad news for the Boston Convention Center Authority, which is not even a party to the deal. Boston's interest, clearly, is in a contract, with the stability it would bring. But the core issues of wages and - especially - benefits have been lost in the wrangling over labor practices.
The other losers, of course, are Aramark's employees. One might think that financial success would make negotiating a contract easier, but that isn't the case here. In the battle between Aramark and Unite Here, success has been a deal-breaker.
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com. 