On April 11 in Hadley, Massachusetts, near Northampton, dozens of people attended a protest at a Wal-Mart store. They met with the store's manager and told him to re-hire Lisa Lacroix, a worker he recently fired after five years on the job. The protesters believe she was fired for publicly asking Wal-Mart to pay its workers a livable wage.

Wal-Mart is owned by the richest family in the world, the billionaire Waltons. The Walton family pays workers at Wal-Mart factories among the lowest wages in the world. Wal-Mart workers in the U.S. make barely above minimum wage.

About 160 grocery workers in Brattleboro have a tentative first union contract. Within the next week, the workers at the Brattleboro Food Co-op will vote on whether to accept the contract. It was negotiated by a committee that was elected by the workers, and by management. “The contract includes raises and better benefits,” union official Jeff Jones told the Valley Post on April 9. The workers recently voted to join his union, which has a web site: www.ufcw1459.org.

There will be rallies to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage at the Massachusetts and Vermont statehouses, and in Nashua, New Hampshire. A livable wage is enough to pay for rent, health care, groceries, transportation, and other essentials.

The Boston rally is on March 26 at 10 a.m. at 140 Bowdoin Street, Boston. The Boston rally organizers have a web site: www.RaiseUpMA.org. People who need a ride from the Valley should contact Lena Entin. She works for www.n2nma.org and can be reached at lena@n2nma.org or by phone at (413) 210-4217.

Activists are asking the public to attend a rally outside the Springfield courthouse where a multi-million dollar bank's lawyers will try to evict a low-income man from his home. The rally will be on March 4 at 8:30 a.m. outside the Western Housing Court at 37 Elm Street.

After a brief rally, the protesters will put on buttons saying “Mel Watt: Suspend Evictions Now” and will attend the trial. Watt is director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which controls the government-funded mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Watt was appointed by President Obama in December 2013.

Grocery workers in Greenfield and Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts have a tentative first union contract. Soon, all the workers will vote on whether to accept the contract, which has been accepted by the management of Green Fields Market and McCusker's Market. It was negotiated by a committee that was elected by the workers, and by management. “The contract includes raises and better benefits,” John Cevasco told the Valley Post. He has worked as a stock clerk at Green Fields Market for more than 15 years.

About 75 people work at the two stores.

On February 10, the 209 nurses who work at the Greenfield hospital will go on strike. The strike was approved by a vote of the nurses. “One day last week I had to work until 10 p.m. I start at 7 a.m.,” Linda Judd told the Valley Post in October. She is a nurse at the hospital. “They don't let you leave until you finish all your paperwork.”

McDonald's pays its CEO about $9 million a year while its workers make at or around minimum wage. In Northampton and Keene on December 5, dozens of people protested outside McDonald's. In Keene more than 40 people attended the rally. Many of the protesters held signs saying “Super Size Wages” and “$15 an hour.” The protests were organized by Jobs With Justice www.jwj.org and other groups. JWJ is funded by unions.

Nurses are asking the public to attend a rally for justice in Northampton on November 30 from 10 a.m. until noon. The nurses work for the ServiceNet Corporation. They take care of patients in the patients´ homes. In 2011, the nurses voted to form a union. Since then they have met with the company´s representatives repeatedly but the company has refused to sign a union contract. Between 15 and 20 nurses would be covered by the contract.

About 800 workers at a mental hospital in Brattleboro will benefit from a new union contract. About 160 workers at a grocery store in Brattleboro have been negotiating their union contract. “Negotiations recently broke down. We're getting ready to make some noise,” Joe Crompton told the Valley Post. He has worked as a meat cutter at the Brattleboro Food Co-op for 25 years.

Crompton is running for a seat on the co-op board. Ballots are available now. The deadline to vote is 5 p.m. on November 17.

The 209 nurses at the Greenfield hospital voted October 15 to authorize a strike. That means their elected representatives in the union have the power to call a strike. The nurses went on strike last year (see photo, below).