SEIU Local 200U

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From the Times Herald-Record, October 03, 2003

IBM contractor layoffs incite demonstration
Fishkill – About 25 contract workers for International Business Machines demonstrated yesterday to try to get five laid-off employees their jobs back.
   The workers, both the demonstrators and those laid off, are with Johnson Controls, a Wisconsin-based company that provides the IBM Fishkill site with about 72 workers for janitorial work.
   The five workers were laid off in June, said Mary Melfi, chief steward for the Johnson Controls workers. Melfi said the jobs were lost to a company whose employees are not unionized and get paid less money with no benefits.
   The laid-off workers were paid about $9.50 an hour with full benefits, said Mark Teig, a business agent with Service Employees International Union.
   IBM's outsourcing of work is a topic that has gained attention in recent months. While yesterday's demonstration dealt with a relatively small number of jobs at an IBM contractor, concern has been growing among regular IBM employees as well.
   Bill Costine, a computer support worker at IBM, said 3 million IBM jobs are in danger of being shipped overseas in the next 10 years. Costine is part of Alliance @ IBM, a group that is trying to organize IBM workers.
   "The American public, in general, has very little clue what's going on with the workforce in this country," Costine said.
   IBM was unavailable for comment yesterday.

   Nicoletta Koveos