FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Monday, February 26, 2009

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local l03 of Greater Boston
256 Freeport Street
Dorchester, MA 02122
Tel: (617) 436-3710
Website: www.ibew103.com

For Further Information, Contact:
Lou Antonellis, Business Representative IBEW Local 103,
617-797-1616 (cell), 617-436-3710 x 5 (office)
or Pat Clark, 718-852-2808

Union Protest to Label
Massachusetts Biotechnology Council
as Massachusetts Biggest Chiselers

On Friday, February 27, Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) will lead a demonstration in front of the building housing the offices of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MBC) at One Cambridge Center in Cambridge beginning at 7:30 a.m. The demonstration coincides with an MBC event entitled "Meet the Press: An Inside Look at Biotech Press in Massachusetts" taking place from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

"We are protesting the MBC's role in representing companies whose CEOs are raking in tens of millions of dollars a year while fleecing Massachusetts taxpayers and undermining working and safety conditions on their building projects," stated Mike Monahan, Local 103's business manager. "We are not just fighting to protect working conditions in our state, but to protect all taxpayers including our 7500 members," said Monahan. "Like us, we believe that taxpayers throughout the Bay State will be outraged to know that four company CEOs: Genzyme's Henri Termeer, Biogen Idec's James Mullen and past and present Wyeth CEOs Robert Essner and Bernard Poussot personally pocketed more than $224 million in 2006-2007. How ridiculous and unfair it is that the MBC wants our state legislators, city councils and the federal government to hand over millions more in corporate welfare to these and other rogue companies like AstraZeneca, EMD Serono and Shire while most household budgets are strained to the limit trying to pay for health care, gas, rent and mortgages."

"The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council which describes itself as 'a not-for-profit organization' would be more appropriately named Massachusetts Biggest Chiselers," says Ray Rogers, head of Corporate Campaign, Inc. Corporate Campaign, has formed a partnership with Local 103 to help stop the biotech/pharmaceutical industry's bad labor practices and looting of taxpayers and the health care system.

"Definitions of chiseler include 'to cheat or swindle' or 'to obtain by deception' according to the American Heritage Dictionary. These definitions certainly seem appropriate to describe executives and board members of Genzyme, AstraZeneca, Biogen Idec, EMD Serono and Wyeth/Pfizer, companies prominently represented on MBC's board of directors," Rogers added.

Local 103 and Corporate Campaign launched a website StopBiotechLooting.org last Monday. The website spotlights exposes of six targeted biotech/pharmaceutical companies, their chief executives and board members and the industry's major state lobbying groups.

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