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New England JLC at Bread and Roses Centennial Festival

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(clockwise from left: New England JLC Regional Director Marya Axner and NE JLC volunteer Amy Mazur; Louis Mandarini, Jr., who works on union relations for the Elizabeth Warren campaign; Amy Mazur (front left), and Evelyn and Bob Ross (on the right - the latter is a professor at Clark College).

(September 5, 2012: Lawrence, MA) - The New England JLC staffed a table at the Centennial Bread and Roses Festival held in Lawrence, MA, on September 3rd . People gathered at the NE JLC table and discussed our work in the region.

This year was the 100th Anniversary of the Great Lawrence Strike of 1912, popularly referred to as the Bread & Roses Strike, when Lawrence, Massachusetts textile workers launched an explosive eight-week strike that popularized the slogan "Bread and Roses" - dignity and improved conditions as well as higher wages. Their victory made it clear that semi-skilled workers - many of them recently-arrived immigrants and nearly half of them women - could organize themselves to improve their working conditions, and their lives.