Eagle workers protest plant closure

June 10, 2009 6:00 AM  Standard Times

By Becky Evans

NEW BEDFORD — Chanting in Portuguese and Spanish and waving posters that read, "Eagle Jobs Belong in New Bedford" and "U.S. Army Stop ATK, Save Our Jobs," Eagle workers rallied Tuesday to protest plans to close the plant.

Alliant Techsystems announced May 29 that it will shut down the South End factory on July 31 and move production of Army backpacks and vests to Puerto Rico.

The closing will claim 350 jobs and, despite the raw, rainy day, Eagle workers turned out in force Tuesday to protest.

About 70 of the stitchers who streamed out of the plant at the end of their shift joined representatives from Worker's United, SEIU. The union, which supports apparel and textile workers, organized the rally as part of an ongoing effort to unionize the plant.

City Councilor-at-large Brian K. Gomes, who spoke to the cheering protesters through a megaphone, blamed Alliant for "using" city workers to make a profit and then attempting to "take the jobs somewhere else."

"I call this corporate monopoly," he said.

Alliant, known as ATK, announced 12 days ago that it will close Eagle's New Bedford plant as it consolidates operations. A company spokeswoman said the plant was not operating at full capacity. Eagle is a wholly owned subsidiary of ATK.

Following the announcement, the SouthCoast congressional delegation sent a letter to a top Army official asking him to make the renewal of Eagle's Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment contract contingent upon ATK agreeing to produce the equipment in New Bedford.

"To require any less would be to inject unnecessary risk and uncertainty into a contract needed to supply our troops with important equipment for no purpose greater than ATK's narrow corporate interests," according to the letter, which was signed by U.S. Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, both D-Mass., and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

During the rally, Gomes said the New Bedford City Council had unanimously passed a resolution Monday night in which it pledged to work with the congressional delegation to keep the stitching jobs in New Bedford and to help secure a buyer for the plant if necessary.

As part of the resolution, the council will send a letter notifying President Barack Obama and his staff that the loss of the Eagle plant will create "a large increase in unemployment in the city, which it cannot at this time withstand."

Rep. Antonio F. D. Cabral, D-New Bedford, said he would work at the state level to preserve the factory's 350 jobs.

ATK is "going to get the message that they can't come here, make a profit and then leave," Cabral said.

Spanish-speaking workers who attended the rally said they are desperate to keep their jobs.

"Many of the workers, if they lose this job, won't have other opportunities for jobs," said Marina Boyer, who has been an Eagle employee for almost two years.

Manuela Almeida, who has a 2-year-old son, said she had applied for five jobs with "no results" after learning about Eagle's expected closure.

Stephen Wishart of Worker's United said he was very pleased with the turnout for the rally. He said the union, which recently split off from UNITE HERE!, "laid low" when ATK purchased Eagle Industries in April. The union wanted to see if the company would address workers' complaints of low wages, expensive health care and other poor working conditions, he said.

Since ATK announced its plans to close the plant, the union's primary goal has been to save jobs, Wishart said.

He called on the Army to "stand up and make right the longstanding injustices that it has been involved with" going back to the plant's ownership by Michael Bianco Inc.

Asked if she supported the union, Eagle employee Maria Moniz answered:

"The first thing is to get the jobs to stay here. After that, we'll see."