HUNGER STRIKE STARTS : LAID-OFF WORKERS PROTEST JOB LOSS AT PRICE PFISTER.Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer Gerardo Ochoa is willing to brave days of driving rain and nights of cold misery to bring home this message to his former employer, Price Pfister Price Pfister is an American manufacturer of faucets and other plumbing products since 1915. It is known most by its odd name, and its advertisements which make note of its "pfaucet with a pfunny name". : Give us a fair severance package A severance package is pay and benefits an employee receives when they leave employment at a company. In addition to the employee's remaining regular pay, it may include some of the following:
Dripping with rain in his light beige beige n. 1. A light grayish brown or yellowish brown to grayish yellow. 2. A soft fabric of undyed, unbleached wool. adj. Light grayish-brown or yellowish-brown to grayish-yellow. jacket and jeans, the 41-year-old forklift operator was among half a dozen former employees who began a seven-day hunger strike hunger strike, refusal to eat as a protest against existing conditions. Although most often used by prisoners, others have also employed it. For example, Mohandas Gandhi in India and Cesar Chavez in California fasted as religious penance during otherwise political or Thursday on the sidewalk outside the faucet maker's facility. ``It's fair to get a just severance package, especially since we've sacrificed so many years to the company,'' said Ochoa, the sole supporter of a wife and three children. ``Unemployment is not enough.'' Price Pfister executives were unavailable for comment. Executives of Black & Decker, its parent company, declined to comment. Price Pfister is in the process of cutting 300 jobs at Pacoima. Instead, the work will be done in Mexico. City officials have said that the company wanted to cut costs because it was forced by state environmental regulations to change its method of manufacturing to a more expensive technique. In January, the faucet maker settled an environmental lawsuit for $2.4 million. It was forced to change its manufacturing method from sand-casting to the more costly machining process. Price Pfister has decided to close its foundry in Pacoima. There are about 900 jobs left at the Price Pfister facility, which the city hopes to keep. City officials are putting together an incentive package to keep Price Pfister from moving out of the area. They hope to find other companies - or a worker and investor buyout - to take over the foundry. Councilman Richard Alarcon, who showed up to show support, said a few groups have expressed interest in the foundry. He did not identify them. Alarcon and other city, state and federal officials have been meeting with Price Pfister executives to find another use for the foundry and encourage the company to stay in town. Meanwhile, union leaders have been negotiating with Price Pfister for a severance package for laid-off workers. Union leaders called the company's last offer - half a week's pay and one week of medical benefits for every year of service, among others - inadequate. The union is asking for at least one week's pay and about a month's worth of medical coverage for every year of service. Dozens of former Price Pfister employees and hunger-strike supporters huddled hud·dle n. 1. A densely packed group or crowd, as of people or animals. 2. Football A brief gathering of a team's players behind the line of scrimmage to receive instructions for the next play. 3. out on the sidewalk, carrying placards in English and Spanish that ask for justice. A sign saying ``Dignity and Respect for Price Pfister Workers!'' in Spanish was plastered plas·tered adj. Slang Intoxicated; drunk. plastered Adjective Slang drunk Adj. 1. on a wall above the name of the company. Soft-spoken Victoria Sevilla, a 56-year-old grandmother and sole provider for two children, said her family didn't want her to go on a hunger strike because of concern for her health. ``They're more scared than I am,'' said the former Price Pfister packer packer /pack·er/ (pak´er) an instrument for introducing a dressing into a cavity or a wound. pack·er n. 1. An instrument for tamponing. 2. See plugger. , who was laid off in August. ``But I told them it was my situation. . . . I want to bring attention to the company's injustice and pressure them for just compensation.'' Sevilla said that when she was last laid off by a photography-supplies company, workers were given $1,000 for every year of service. The Rev. Patrick Thompson Hugh Patrick Thompson, known as Patrick Thompson, (born 21 October, 1935) is a British Conservative Party politician. Thompson was Member of Parliament for the marginal Norwich North seat, gaining it from Labour in 1983. He held the seat until his retirement in 1997. from the Santa Rosa de Lima Santa Rosa de Lima is a municipality in the La Unión department of El Salvador. Santa Rosa de Lima was born on 1586 in Lima (Peru). The city is named after St. Rose of Lima. Church in San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. showed up to encourage and pray with his parishioners. ``They're desperate,'' he said. ``Some have worked there for 20 to 25 years. There aren't good prospects for finding good work again at their age.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Victoria Sevilla keeps her sign dry Thursday as she pickets the company that laid her off. John McCoy/Daily News |
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