Still no news whether the welcome parties will be picketed by the Boston police and fire fighters union or not. The fire fighters are the only group remaining without a contract and the union has vowed to picket unless they have one. I can't find anything on the wires other than the article below, so I guess we'll just show up tomorrow and find out. I'm gonna pick up my cousin in Worchester, then head for the L Street Bath House for the New York welcome party Sunday afternoon. She worked on Kerry's senate campaign in 1990, and she is a lot more sociable than me, so she wanted to go along to the party. I'm just wondering now if the picketers telling us to get lost will be wearing Boston Black Tea Society T-shirts, or those yellow Fire Fighters for Kerry T-shirts you've seen if you've watched any of Kerry's campaign rallies the past twelve months. You'd think the International Association of Fire Fighters, which has endorsed Kerry, might encourage their brethren on the BPPA, not to picket the man's welcome parties of all things, but who am I to make a suggestion:
City, firefighters continue talks in hopes of avoiding picketsBOSTON -- Negotiators for the city and a firefighters union hunkered down Saturday, hoping to hammer out a final agreement ahead of the Democratic National Convention, set to open on Monday.
An agreement by both sides could stave off planned pickets at delegation convention parties on Sunday. The 1,460-member firefighters union is the largest in the city remaining without a contract. No pickets are planned for the FleetCenter.A representative of the union and a spokesman for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino both said that talks were ongoing Saturday, but neither would offer any predictions.
Menino has been the focus of intense pressure by city unions.
After receiving a contract through binding arbitration on Thursday, the city's main police union said it would still picket on Sunday to show solidarity with the firefighters and three other much smaller police unions that were without a contract. The other police unions settled with the city Friday, meaning that the entire police force is now under contract for the first time in two years.
If the firefighters settle, an official for the police union said the patrolmen's association would drop its pickets altogether....
The Michigan and Ohio delegations have canceled their parties, the Maryland delegation has said it would not attend its multi-state party, and delegates from several other states have said they would not cross picket lines.
I'm still not sure what I do if I show up and there are union picket lines. My cousin has been following the story, and has no problem crossing the informational picket lines, since no one is actually on strike. I'm not so sure that I'd feel comfortable doing it. Have to wait and see.
Posted by Mike at July 25, 2004 01:09 AM | TrackBack