Labor movement, workers are saluted

The Commonwealth's top elected officials toasted workers yesterday during the annual Labor Day breakfast in downtown Boston, using the event as a rally for Democrats and a call to strengthen the shrinking ranks of the unionized.

"The problem we face in America today is corruption in the public sector. . . . We need to recommit to the kind of energy that brought the labor movement to what it is today," said Senator John F. Kerry, addressing about 1,000 union representatives and members seated in a ballroom at the Park Plaza Hotel. He ended his speech saying, "Go out and organize," drawing a standing ovation from the crowd.

Kerry was joined on stage by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Governor Deval Patrick, both of whom arrived as Richard Rogers, the executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Boston Labor Commission, began speaking.

In a hand-pounding speech during the bacon-and-eggs breakfast, Rogers charged that the Bush administration was waging an "assault on working families" and that the National Labor Relations Board has "made a mockery of our labor laws." He said unions need to bring more workers into the fold, especially young workers.

Unionized workers made up 12 percent of the total US workforce in 2006, compared with 20 percent in 1983.

Rogers congratulated the Service Employees International Union Local 615 for reaching a tentative contract agreement Friday with the Maintenance Contractors of New England, averting a possible strike of more than 16,000 janitors and security officers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

"If that strike would have happened, this city would have been shut down," Rogers said.

Menino also praised Local 615, saying the union represents "the folks that need it the most."

Details of the agreement were not made public, but the union had long negotiated for higher salaries and more full-time positions that offered healthcare and other benefits.

Rocio Saenz, president of Local 615, said, "This agreement is moving us in the right direction of creating better jobs for working people, and it is recognition for the thousands and thousands of workers that their work is valued."

Patrick told the crowd that his mother's post office job helped stabilize his family and added that his administration set a goal of creating 100,000 new jobs in Massachusetts by the end of his term. He said that 27,000 jobs have been created since he became governor eight months ago.

Patrick, Menino, and Kerry all departed before the last speech, and approximately 200 people headed for the exit doors with them. All three stopped briefly to shake hands with workers and pose for pictures on their way out, and Patrick gave Saenz a hearty embrace.

The breakfast began with a moment of silence for the firefighters killed in a restaurant blaze Wednesday night - Paul J. Cahill and Warren J. Payne. Afterward, officials such as City Council member Charles C. Yancey, and Thomas J. Nee, head of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association, mingled with workers.