Circuit City Action

In the best tradition of solidarity, Steelworkers joined Food AND Medicine members outside the Circuit City store in Bangor this spring to protest the firing of 3,400 Circuit City employees nationwide, four at the local outlet.

The Circuit City workers had been let go not because they were doing a bad job, but because they were making too much money. These senior employees were told that after a "cooling off period",  they could reapply for their old jobs, but at entry-level wages and benefits.

"The most blatant power-grab by a corporation in recent memory," is how Jack McKay, director of Food AND Medicine, described the mass firing, noting that other companies try to ease older, better-paid workers off the payroll, but usually by more subtle means.

After chanting and leafleting at the entrance to the store's parking lot, the protestors marched noisily across the lot and into the store. McKay attempted to meet with management to discuss FAM's concerns, but the group was ordered out. The store also called the police, but the protestors were dispersing as the cruisers arrived.

About a month later, a local Circuit City employee showed up at the Solidarity Center in Brewer, saying the workers who still had jobs at the store were appreciative of the action. She said some of the chants, including "Circuit City, what a pity!" were often heard repeated in the store's back rooms.