A pro-worker law
Re: “Montgomery makes itself less competitive,” Examiner Local Editorial, Sept. 19
In trying to discredit the newly passed Montgomery County Displaced Service Worker Protection Act, which gives building service workers a measure of job protection, The Examiner misses some key points. First, the SEIU 32BJ does not represent any employees at private schools, hospitals, nursing homes, museums, convention centers, airports, music halls or arenas in Montgomery County. Second, the law does not unduly burden the business community and even enjoys support from D.C. contractors, who say it allows them to compete on the quality of their services without hurting employees. Moreover, cities like D.C. and New York City, among others, where similar laws exist have enjoyed some of the strongest-performing office markets for a considerable length of time.
For too long, low-wage property service workers in Montgomery County have been subjected to a revolving door of contractors who were free to lay them off with no notice, leaving them jobless for no fault of their own. This unfair situation is about to change. The newly passed Montgomery County Displaced Service Worker Protection Act establishes a 90-day transition period during which workers will be allowed to keep their jobs.
While The Examiner reports on new census figures indicating that our region contains six of the nation’s 10 richest counties, property service workers are among the lowest-paid and do not share in the region’s economic strength. Even a temporary disruption in their income can result in hunger and homelessness. That is why these workers and their families deserve a modest, commonsense measure to protect them against sudden mass layoffs.
Jaime Contreras
Capital area director
32BJ SEIU
Washington
Pig protection
Re: “Individual housing for pigs is humane,” From Readers, Sept. 20
Regarding Rick Berman’s letter, I invite Examiner readers to do a Web search for “gestation crates” and educate themselves about the barbaric practice of keeping sows, often for their whole breeding lives, isolated in tiny crates so small they cannot even turn around. Pigs are intelligent and social animals. This confinement is humane?
Jim Fremont
Silver Spring
Torture boxes
Re: “Individual housing for pigs is humane,” From Readers, Sept. 20
Rick Berman, a highly paid lobbyist for animal abuse industries, is deceiving consumers again. Numerous investigations at Walmart pork suppliers reveal pregnant pigs condemned to lives of misery inside metal cages so small they can’t even turn around or lie down comfortably. These torture boxes have been widely criticized by animal welfare experts as one of the cruelest factory farming practices in the world.
Gestation crates are so inhumane, they have been banned in nine states and the entire European Union. The American Veterinary Medical Association says these crates restrict sows’ ability to socialize or engage in normal behaviors — all “welfare negatives.” Dr. Temple Grandin, a leading farmed-animal welfare expert, says: “Sows can’t turn around in a gestation crate and that’s no way to spend a life.” Walmart should follow the lead of Safeway and McDonald’s and virtually every other major food provider that has already taken a stand against these cruel crates.
Nathan Runkle
Executive director
Mercy For Animals
