IBEW Local 103 (Boston) Raises Electronic Picket Line Against Troubled Firm

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IBEW to zap company with Web protest
By John Strahinich
Friday, April 1, 2005

As if Biogen Idec didn't have enough troubles, a local of the electrical-workers union promises to launch a new Web site called ``BiogenExposed.''
IBEW Local 103 spokesman Donald Sheehan said a Web site ``opposing the business practices and lack of community commitment to its neighbors by Biogen Idec has been a long time in the planning.''
But Biogen spokesman Jose Juves attributed the IBEW's motives to sour grapes, saying the union was shut out of an expansion of Biogen's Cambridge campus.
``Our philosophy is to engage business partners based on quality and value,'' Juves said, but added that that ``has resulted in 80-percent union involvement in our contracts.''