MANCHESTER EXAMINER, November 17, 2005, Headline, Lower Half of LOCAL section

UNIONS WARN OF JOB ACTION. Workers booed and jeered as Mayor Baldy Broussard pleaded for "...peace and reason" at Saturday's Union Hall lunch meeting. Amalgamated Cotton Workers Union (ACWU) President, Rod Masterson, apologized to Mayor Broussard, but warned "..Union job action would be inevitable if these...(management)...refuse to negotiate in good faith". A strike would be the first after nearly 24 years of labor peace in Manchester's textile industry. "These...(management)...are trying to shove this strike down our throats, but they're the ones who'll choke on it," Masterson warned. "We need a wage we can live with, and we're gonna get it". After the meeting, Mayor Broussard warned that the " (city)..could not afford a strike". Ironically, Broussard served as Masterson's predecessor as ACWU Union Boss before running for public office. Masterson chairs the negotiating team for the 7 textile workers unions representing nearly 14,000 mill workers on Manchester's West Side. After the meeting, Masterson said the bosses "..had drawn a line in the sand", but provided no details of negotiating positions, and indicated he would seek support from Manchester's machinists, teamsters, and other Union groups.

Ms. Tularemia Chow, appointed by City Council to represent the City of Manchester in the dispute, was reached for comment at the Manchester Textile Museum, an agency of the Tourist Bureau. Chow developed the Museum's exhibits and Chairs its Director's Council. She said "One only has to view the exhibits at the museum to see...how destructive our textile mill strikes have been in the past. Hundreds died in the riots, millions of job man-hours were lost and the devastated mills took years to recover". Chow stated "Negotiations between Management and Labor are continuing on a daily basis".