Major Unions Plan 'Massive Protest' At Mayor's Speech
By Kevin Rothstein

Thursday, December 11, 2003

The city's major unions agreed yesterday to stage what could be a large protest outside Mayor Thomas M. Menino's State of the City address in early January, a source familiar with the decision said.

"Everyone agreed to picket State of the City," said a labor source.

The move by many of the city's 32 unions, all of whom are working under expired contracts, sets up the possibility of a public showdown outside the mayor's premier public speech of the year.

Hours after a union head sit-down yesterday, members of the 6,500-strong Boston Teachers Union voted unanimously to picket, said union spokesman Steve Crawford.

"It will be a massive protest," Crawford said.

The decision raises the specter of Menino's 2001 State of the City speech, when Boston firefighters formed an angry gauntlet outside the address yelling and according to some reports even spat on the mayor, his family and guests.

Menino told labor leaders in September he wanted agreements inked within four months, but unions are growing increasingly agitated as their members continue working without a contract.

Jim Durkin, spokesman for the city's 1,500 workers in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said "The mayor promised several months ago to get these contracts resolved and it hasn't happened yet so picketing the State of the City is under consideration."

Menino spokesman Seth Gitell said the mayor didn't want to bargain through the media and added, ``He wants to get a deal done, but he won't mortgage the city's future. He won't be distracted in that by other tactics.''

Talks with the teachers unions have gone nowhere since Oct. 15, with the BTU unwilling to even sit down unless the city's offer of a 1 percent raise is increased. Teachers want 3 percent.

"Contract talks are stalled," Crawford said.