1969 was a turbulent year for Local 587. Newcomers to the 587 political arena, Ron Raposa and George Ledoux caused a stir when they unexpectedly unseated incumbents John Kennedy and George Capron in the President and Chief Steward seats in what was a contract negotiations year. The frustration came to a head at a union meeting, when former leaders and their supporters passed a motion to hire a lawyer to keep an eye on the negotiations.

During the ensuing negotiations, the raises were capped at the percentages established by the Massachusetts plants during their negotiations. However, the Local 587 negotiating team scored points on language changes that enabled women to obtain promotions as material handlers, and an educational benefit for bargaining unit employees in which they could take job-related college courses paid for by the company. 

In his assessment of the contract, the lawyer made his decision based on the initial union proposals compared to the company's final offer. Although the letter was delivered to the union hall after the ratification meeting was started, it's content was expected to be in favor of a strike, having been based on the limited information given to the lawyer who had not been present at the negotiations. The receipt of the letter was not acknowledged until after the contract had been ratified causing an uproar among the members in attendance.

According to Mr. Raposa, "We get the information, we finish on a Monday, we give it to the lawyer. Now all the lawyer’s got is two pieces of paper. He’s got what we asked for in the beginning, which was 18 percent across the board, and he’s got the company’s final proposal, which we voted to accept. But that’s all he got. So now he’s going to analyze that and give us a letter back to give to the body to say whether it’s good or bad. Well it’s got to be bad, because we asked for the moon, settled for the sun and he’s going to tell everybody that we did a bad job because we didn’t get what we wanted at the beginning."

Grand Lodge Representative Gerald Page was a guest at the February 8, 1970 Local 587 meeting to answer questions arising from the lawyer's participation in negotiating the contract. There he stated "We do not use attorneys, nor do we allow local and district lodges to use attorneys in normal negotiations."

 

	Left to right: President Ron Raposa, V.P. Sylvia Terra, Recording Secretary Lucy Levada, Treasurer Charles Souza, Congressman Ferdinand St. Germaine.
Photo courtesy Ron Raposa

Ron Raposa and George Ledoux decided not to run for re-election in 1970 and, due to pressure from some local members, the IAM&AW replaced Bargaining Agent Wilfred Baillargeon with John Capobianco at our local.

The negotiating committee negotiated raises averaging in excess of 6 percent for the years 1970 and 1971. 

Along with Ron Raposa and George Ledoux, the Negotiating Committee also consisted of  Shop Committee members Edward Ferreira, Charles Souza and Sylvia Terra.

Local 587 enjoyed a 4.19% raise for this year per the contract, dated April 1, 1967.

The negotiating committee, along with Business Agent W. J. Baillargeon, met with the following company negotiators to forge the following year's contract which took effect January 1, 1970 : Ralph Martin, Richard Osborn, E. Leonard Kane, Joseph Cahill, John P. Giordano, Raymond Pesola, William R. Jones.