Bob’s Tire Workers Fight for a Fair Deal

Today, over 60 workers from Bob’s Tire in New Bedford, Massachusetts rallied with community and labor allies to demand management to stop dragging their feet in contract negotiations. In September of last year, the workers voted overwhelmingly 65-5 in favor of having UFCW Local 328 represent them for purposes of collective bargaining.

The workers of Bob’s Tire belong to the K’iche’ ethnic group from Guatemala, and their decisive victory marked the first time a group of workers from the Maya community have organized with a union. The workers sent a strong message then that things needed to change and together they sent that same message today. They currently have no paid vacations, no paid holidays and earn only minimum wage despite years of hard work. The company’s current proposal would change very little of this and is an insult to their hard work. With the solidarity that these workers displayed today, along with the support of our community and labor allies, we will continue to pressure the company until they ‘do what’s right’ and to put forward a proposal that reflects the hard work that they do.

We’d like to thank Executive Director of CCT Adrian Ventura, the Greater Southeastern Labor Council, Executive Director of Rhode Island Jobs With Justice Mike Araujo, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, IBEW Locals 2222, 2323 and 2322, Teamsters Local 251, RI AFL-CIO, the UMass Dartmouth Labor Ed Center, and other labor and community allies for their support today.