NEW BEDFORD — A month ago, police advised a group of protesters to leave Sid Wainer and Son’s property or risk being arrested. Some of the same protesters with the addition of the Center for Labor at UMass Dartmouth and the Coalition of Social Justice, waved signs and barked into a loudspeaker in front of the gourmet grocery building on Wednesday.
A small security presence stood outside the building with one New Bedford Police officer, but this time around the display ended with Sid Wainer offering the protesting individuals job applications.
The protests involve 40 immigrants who lost their jobs at Sid Wainer last month. The company cites ending its contract with temporary hiring agency B.J.’s Staffing as the culprit behind the lost jobs. Sid Wainer and Son said it was a “business decision” to cut ties with B.J.’s Staffing
“All of those who had performed work at our facilities were given two weeks’ notice and pay,” Sid Wainer and Son said in a statement. “In addition, we invited all of these workers to apply for employment directly to Sid Wainer and Son.”
When human resources handed a packet of job applications to Adrian Ventura, the executive director of Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores (CCT), the group that organized the protest, some in the group applauded.
“If they really do want to contract the workers, the next step is to come together as a delegation with the applications,” Ventura said. “If nothing happens we’re going to do a vigil in front of the house of the owner. We know where he lives. So that his neighbors and friends know what kind of a boss he is here.”
One protester, who only wanted to be identified as Carlos and a former worker at Sid Wainer and Son, said some of the former workers couldn’t fill out the applications because they didn’t have legal status in the United States.
“We raised up this company and now that we’ve raised it up, they threw us out as though we are not worth anything,” Carlos said.
Carlos, who worked for Sid Wainer for eight years, appeared at the protest on March 10 as well. At that time, he and others provided a list of 13 grievances that included lack of adequate breaks, docked pay for lunch breaks, improper training and wage theft.
Sid Wainer addressed those accusations on Wednesday.
“These workers did not raise any complaints — if they had, Sid Wainer and Son would have addressed them appropriately,” the company said in a statement. “Only after they were notified that we had terminated the contract with B.J.’s did the workers raise certain complaints — which we reviewed and concluded were without merit.”
Shortly after 1 p.m the protest ended., about 45 minutes after it began.
