About 200 people marched in Amherst on December 5. They were asking the governor and legislature to pay janitors and other workers at UMass higher wages. A spokesperson for AFSCME, one of the unions that organized the march, did not immediately reply to an email from the Valley Post seeking comment for this article. A video of the march is at:
www.instagram.com/professionalstaffunion
As of last year, 22 billionaires lived in Massachusetts.
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By threatening to go on strike, about 200 workers in the Pioneer Valley won big raises. They are ambulance drivers and workers. “The people who run this company are not nice people,” Bryan Donovan, Junior told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview. He is president of Teamsters Local 404, which represents the workers. The company is American Medical Response. The strike would have started November 24. The raises will be about 28 percent. Unions are good for democracy. That's because they reduce inequality. Billionaires buy politicians.
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There will be a march from Northampton to Springfield on December 7 and 8. The goal is to get congress and Biden to stop funding Israel's war on Gaza and instead spend the money on helping people in Gaza. The organizers have a web page at:
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In Brattleboro on November 16 at noon there will be a rally to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The rally will be outside the main post office. A group that's promoting the rally has a web page at:
https://grassrootsfund.org/groups/upper-valley-action-affinity-group
Gaza news is at:
Women's marches are set for January 18, 2025 in DC and everywhere. In Northampton, thousands of people attended women's marches during Trump's first term. Photos are at:
https://valleypost.org/node/1472
and
https://www.valleypost.org/2018/01/20/photos-thousands-march
Details about the 2025 marches are at:
www.facebook.com/WomensMarchOnWash
According to
Thanks to the work of environmental activists, the state will plow snow off the rail trail between Amherst and Northampton. The state will put sand on ice. On average, even electric cars are worse than busses and trains for the environment. That's because cars so often have just one person in them. Electric cars still require roads. Asphalt is made from oil and gravel. Train tracks are narrower than roads and they are built on plain crushed stone. Eliminating roads could create space for forests to grow. The activists have web sites at https://walkmass.org and www.massbike.org.
In Northampton on October 7 about 100 people attended a rally to protest police efforts to force people out of their campsites in a city-owned forest. “I issued the trespass order,” Alan Wolf told the Valley Post on October 9. He is the mayor's “chief of staff.”
In Amherst, organizers say they expect hundreds of people to attend an October 5 rally to protest the USA's support of Israel's wars on Gaza and Lebanon. The rally starts at 1 p.m. at the Amherst town common. Organizer Hoang Phan said, “Israel has expanded its nearly 12-month genocide and war of aggression in Palestine to Lebanon. The weapons and planes used in Israel’s military assaults on civilian populations have been supplied and funded by the United States government.
In Springfield there will be a rally to save the postal service. The rally will be on October 1 at noon outside 1860 Page Boulevard. FedEx and UPS would benefit if the postal service was to close. Louis DeJoy, who runs the postal service, has for many years given money to Republicans like Trump. Trump nominated DeJoy’s wife to be the U.S. ambassador to Canada. Biden can't fire DeJoy. The postal service is run by a board that can fire DeJoy. The nine members of the board are appointed by the president, with senate approval, for seven-year terms that are staggered.
In Springfield on September 11, there was a rally to protest fee increases at the West Street Village mobile home community. “It went well,” Rose Webster-Smith told the Valley Post. She works for a group that has a web site at www.SpringfieldNoOneLeaves.org. About 15 people were at the rally.
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In Brattleboro on October 24 at 5 p.m., there will be a farmworker rights rally outside the Hannaford supermarket. The organizers have a web site at https://migrantjustice.net.
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On September 3 in Springfield, PVTA bus drivers voted 125 to 68 to approve a new union contract. Thirty-two workers did not vote. The national union posted on its Facebook page a link to an August 30 WWLP report. The local union has a web site at https://atulocal448.com. The vote total is from a later WWLP report.