About 50 people attended a rally in Greenfield on September 7. They were calling on the mayor and city council to fire the police chief. Rachel Gordon organized the rally. On September 8 she told the Valley Post that the people at the rally were “very energized. I’m really happy with how it went. We protested in front of city hall for a while and then moved to the Main Street/ Federal Street intersection for a while. A lot of cars honked at us in support.”
On August 31 the city of Greenfield announced the police chief would be getting his job back. He had been suspended on May 6 following a jury verdict that found the police department discriminated against the department's only African American officer.
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On September 13, Maeg Yosef told the Valley Post the 80 or so workers at the Trader Joe's supermarket in Hadley, Massachusetts are “waiting for the company to comply in full with our request for information, which we need in order to move forward in the negotiations process.”
On July 28, the federal government announced the results of a union election at the store. The workers won. Hadley borders Northampton. Yosef is a leader in the union. She has worked at the store for nearly 20 years. The workers have a web site at https://traderjoesunited.org
After the workers get the information they need from the company, they will elect a committee of workers to negotiate a union contract.
Federal law regulates the process of workers forming a union, and negotiating contracts with employers. Ultimately a union's power comes from its members' willingness to go on strike. The Valley Post will update this article at least monthly until the workers have their first contract.
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