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- From: nyt%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NY Transfer News)
- Subject: NEWS:Arson Attack on Boston Unionist/ww
- Message-ID: <1992Nov20.221714.14873@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:17:14 GMT
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- Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
-
-
- ARSON ATTACK ON HOME OF BOSTON BUS UNION LEADER
-
- By Workers World Boston bureau
-
- An arson attack on the home of a school bus union vice president
- has roused an angry response across the state of Massachusetts.
-
- On Nov. 11 the home of Steel Workers Local 8751 Vice President
- Stevan Kirschbaum was hit by arson. A fire was set near the rear
- of the house by the room of his 3 1/2-year-old daughter who was
- asleep at the time. Local 8751 represents Boston school bus
- drivers and is currently engaged in a difficult struggle to stop
- a union-busting effort by the city, the school board and the bus
- company.
-
- Fire officials said the suspicious arson attempt was clearly "not
- the work of kids." Arson Squad Inspector Jerry E. Smith told
- union officials that the materials used to start the fire were
- drenched with an unidentified accelerant. Smith said the
- placement of the materials was "the work of someone who wanted to
- burn the house down."
-
- The union issued a statement saying: "This narrowly averted
- tragedy was no coincidence, and demonstrates a totally brutal and
- blatant disregard for human life on the part of the assailants.
- The fire was started while the family was sure to be home. It is
- sheer luck that no one was killed or seriously injured."
-
- It is no coincidence that the arson attack came after six months
- of continuous assaults on the union. Local 8751 has been the
- target of a calculated pattern of violence and disruption
- perpetrated and promoted by the city, school department and the
- bus company. This violence has come in many forms--from a media
- campaign of lies and distortions, to the elimination of 120
- driver positions, making working conditions unsafe, to the denial
- of city-guaranteed wage and benefit increases. And it came in the
- form of the frame up of three union negotiators on 60 false
- felony charges.
-
- Labor unions across the state have called on Boston's mayor and
- fire department to launch a full, independent investigation of
- the criminal arson attack. Joseph C. Faherty, president of the
- Massachusetts AFL-CIO, has demanded "a thorough investigation in
- bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice." His was
- one of many similar calls for justice.
-
-
- (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
- if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
- St., New York, NY 10010; "workers" on PeaceNet; on Internet:
- "workers@mcimail.com".)
-
-
- NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
- Modem: 718-448-2358 * Internet: nytransfer@igc.apc.org
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