New Hampshire Union Workers and Their Allies Plan To Rally in Portsmouth

Flickr

As part of a national campaign by the AFL-CIO, New Hampshire union workers and some small businesses will rally tomorrow to protest the loss of higher paying jobs in the state.

According to figures from The New Hampshire Labor Market Information Bureau,2,300 state and local government jobs have been cut in the last year. The average wage for these jobs was more than $20 an hour.

During that same period the state created 10,700 new jobs–most of which pay less than $10 an hour.

“What we’ve seen are occupations that traditionally paid good wages are among the jobs being attacked,” says New Hampshire AFL-CIO organizer Judy Stadtman. “The legislature unnecessarily cut essential services like ambulance drivers, police and firefighters.”

She says figures show that 45,000 workers are underemployed in the state.

The protesters hope to sway legislators away from a so called “Right to Work” proposal that would weaken the collective bargaining power of unions in the state.

Among rally speakers Saturday will be two small business owners, and a postal worker from a Portsmouth postal facility slated for closure.

“Nothing that has come out of this legislature indicates that they are serious about creating better jobs for the New Hampshire workforce,” says Stadtman.