Labor History News

  • 22 May 2012 8:51 AM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)

    The Greater New Haven Labor History Association is pleased to invite you and your members to this year’s annual meeting and conference, featuring  key note speaker John Wilhelm, President of UNITE HERE, who will be presenting the annual Augusta Lewis Troup Award to the late Vincent Sirabella. We are delighted that Mr. Sirabella’s family will be joining us.

    “Vinnie Sirabella was an extraordinary labor leader, truly a prophet,” Mr. Wilhelm wrote in a recent email message. “Working people in New Haven are better off today because of his amazing work in such historic struggles as the three strikes of Local 35 at Yale in the 1970’s and his militant support of the 1975 strike by the New Haven Federation of Teachers.  UNITE HERE members throughout North America are better off because he inspired so many rank and file leaders and staff.  The whole labor movement today would be better off if more labor leaders had listened to him.”

    In 1995, the Greater New Haven Central Labor Council and the Greater New Haven Labor History Association dedicated their joint publication, the Labor Almanac: New Haven’s Unions in the 1990s, to “New Haven’s Mr. Labor,” Vincent Sirabella. The Almanac included excerpts from John Wilhelm’s 1993 eulogy for his friend and mentor. He wrote of Mr. Sirabella’s deep commitment to and passion for the labor movement and his work in New Haven and across the country.

    Sirabella was a rank and file union member for 20 years, Wilhelm wrote, “working in hotels, restaurants and race tracks on the East Coast from Rhode Island to Florida” before coming to New Haven to work as trustee and then elected leader of Local 217, later serving as the Business Manager of Local 35 at Yale University and the President of the Greater New Haven Central Labor Council.

    “[His] remarkable set of talents enabled Vinnie to accomplish things which seemed impossible,” Wilhelm wrote. “I think of the 1971 strike by Local 35 at Yale, a resounding victory for the union, in what turned into a nationally known civil rights struggle. He literally carried that strike on his back, standing up to an incredibly wealthy and powerful employer that no one in Connecticut had ever successfully challenged. He united union members who had never stuck together before: skilled tradesmen, dining hall workers, custodians, groundskeepersundefinedItalian, Irish, Polish, Blackundefinedmen and women…

    “I think too of the general strike he organized in New Haven in 1975, in response to a local judge jailing 100 members of the Teachers’ Union, because they went on strike,” Wilhelm continued. “Vinnie insisted that in his town we could not tolerate anyone going to jail for striking…I don’t think there had been a general strike in the U.S. for several decadesundefinedhe put it together. We were set to go, all over town, for noon on a Tuesday. Because the threat was real, the Board of Education settled and the teachers were freed.”

    Our second Augusta Lewis Troup award recipient this year is Anthony Riccio, the author of several books about the Italian American working class experience, including the soon to be published Farms, Factories and Families: Italian-American Women of Connecticut. Riccio, who is the Stacks Manager at Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University, has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to documenting the important history of this population that has contributed so much to the labor movement’s struggles and achievements. In addition to his writings, his remarkable photographs vividly evoke the lives of workers and their families, and he graciously contributed several of them to our traveling exhibit, “New Haven’s Garment Workers: An Elm City Story.” One panel of that exhibit, entitled “Garment Workers: Their Stories and Their Lives,” consists almost exclusively of photographs from Anthony’s book, The Italian American Experience in New Haven.

    The event will also include a tribute to the late David Montgomery, our long time member, mentor and inspiration, presented by Professor Cecelia Bucki of Fairfield University; opening remarks from our dedicated outgoing President of eight years, Nicholas Aiello; and a preliminary discussion about the possibility of expanding to become the Connecticut Labor History Association. Music will be provided by our troubadour, Frank Panzarella; refreshments will be served; and there will be ample opportunity to meet other GNHLHA members and friends.

    Please join us for this exciting event!

    The GNHLHA Executive Board and Staff

    Nicholas Aiello, President; Mary Johnson, Vice President; Bill Berndtson, Treasurer; Troy Rondinone, Secretary; Dorothy Johnson, Lula White, Steve Kass and Anson Smith, Board members

    Joan Cavanagh, Archivist/ Director

    See below for detailed meeting agenda

    GREATER NEW HAVEN ANNUAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

    ANNUAL MEETING & CONFERENCE
    Sunday, June 3rd, 2012, 1:30-5:30 p.m.  

    267 Chapel Street, New Haven

    KEY NOTE SPEAKER: John Wilhelm, presenting a posthumous award to Vincent Sirabella

    1:30-1:45 Gather; music by Frank Panzarella

    1:45-2:15

             Welcome--Nicholas Aiello, Outgoing President, GNHLHA
             Program OverviewundefinedJoan Cavanagh, Archivist/ Director

             Tribute to David MontgomeryundefinedProfessor Cecelia Bucki,     

                                                 Fairfield University


    2:15   Presentation of Augusta Lewis Troup Award to Anthony                                                             

              Riccio, author of The Italian American Experience in New   

              Haven; Cooking with Chef Silvio; and Boston's North End:

              Images and Recollections of an Italian Neighborhood --   

                                                  Steve Kass

    3:00   Music--Frank Panzarella


    3:30  Presentation of Posthumous Augusta Lewis Troup Award to   

             the late labor leader Vincent Sirabella and keynote   

             addressundefined John Wilhelm, President, UNITE HERE; followed

             by question/ answer session with discussion

    4:30-5:15 Pizza & refreshments

            Business Meeting: Report on the Year’s Work

                                Joan Cavanagh & Steve Kass

            Election of Officers

            Preliminary Discussion about Transitioning to become the    

              Connecticut Labor History Associationundefineddiscussion led by

              Troy Rondinone     

    5: 15 Closing Remarks by the new President
      

    This event is free to current (dues paid to May 1 2013) GNHLHA members with a $10 suggested donation for all others. Please pre-register if possible so we can get a head count for seats and pizza! Email joan@laborhistory.org or call (203) 777-2756 ext. 2

    PLEASE JOIN TODAY OR PAY YOUR ANNUAL DUES, if you haven’t already done so! Make your check out to GNHLHA and mail to 267 Chapel Street, New Haven CT 06513, or join online.

                           Regular Individual                                       $25_________
                                  Unemployed                                               $10_________

                                 Organizations:            100 members or less $100________  

                                                                        101-300 members   $250________

                                                                       Over 300 members    $500_________

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • 30 Apr 2012 9:33 PM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)

    Remember Lawrence!

    The Industrial Workers of the World were once at the vanguard of the class war. They formed in Chicago in 1905, with such labor history luminaries as Big Bill Haywood, Mother Jones, and Eugene in attendance at their inaugural meeting. They composed a constitution, the preamble of which began: “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.”

    The Wobblies, as the group came to be known as, would go on to strike fear into the heart of corporate America. Their ultimate goal was the upturning of the capitalist order and the replacement of the rule by the rich Few with one in which the producers held the levers of power in an “industrial democracy.”

    The Wobblies’ greatest victory took place in Massachusetts in 1912, in the textile city of Lawrence. The battle began when the mill owners, who lorded over a beaten-down city of impoverished workers, cut wages after the state passed a law that shortened the work week from 56 to 54 hours. A Wobbly local organized the workers in protest, and on January 12, 1912, the workers struck.

    The Lawrence strike lasted over two months, involved over 20,000 workers, and resulted in a stunning victory for labor. Not only were dismissed strikers reinstated, but they got a pay raise. The mainstream labor movement, headed by the conservative AFL, stood in disbelief as a rag tag bunch of radicals headed a union filled with immigrant womenundefinedlong dismissed by the mainstreamundefinedin a signal victory that demonstrated that unity and perseverance could win the day over the harsh demands of management.

    This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Lawrence strike.  Today, the Few have never been fewer. Will the Many ask, as did the Wobblies 100 years ago, for Bread and Roses?  

  • 30 Apr 2012 9:32 PM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)

    LEGISLATIVE EFFORT HAS A GOOD RUN                   

    By Steve Kass

    Teaching Labor History in the Connecticut public school legislation received a public hearing in the education committee of the Connecticut state legislature on March 5, 2012. This legislative effort initiated by the Greater New Haven Labor History Association had strong support from the Connecticut AFL-CIO and many statewide unions.

    More than 10 people testified in favor of Senate Bill 304 sponsored by Senate Majority leader Martin Looney (11th District) and State Representative Roland Lemar (96th District). Specifically, the bill calls for the teaching of “labor history and law, including the history of organized labor, the collective bargaining process and existing legal protections in the workplace.” In fact, Martin Looney felt so strongly about the bill, he took the unusual step of testifying himself and citing personal family union history.

    Considering the bill was introduced in a short session during a pressing debate on the most significant educational reform bills in 30 years, it did quite well for a first attempt. Usually, the first time a bill is introduced, the main task is lining up support and generating publicity about the legislation. By any measure, this first organizing effort was a success.

    Planning will continue with the Teaching Labor History Task Force for a second attempt in next year’s longer legislative session. All are welcome to join.

    For more information about upcoming meetings and how to get involved in the project, contact steve@laborhistory.org. See pages 3-4 for more on the public hearing.

  • 30 Apr 2012 9:30 PM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)

    PUBLIC COMMENT ON LABOR HISTORY IN THE SCHOOLS LEGISLATION

    By Joan Cavanagh

    It began on February 10th with a 40 minute rant by former Connecticut Governor John Rowland on the weekly radio program that he co-hosts, “Church and State.”  Inmate # 15623-014, convicted in 2003 of “depriving the public of honest service,” denounced the proposed legislation to teach labor history in Connecticut’s schools as a “communist bill” to “indoctrinate children about unions.”

    It’s a wonderful surprise to get 40 minutes of free publicity from such a credible enemy, but it was even more heartwarming to learn how many friends and supporters are out there. The testimony offered at the public hearing before the Education Committee of the State Legislature demonstrated that this initiative has broad support.

    • Sen. Martin Looney, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Roland Lemar, stated the case succinctly and clearly: “The history of organized labor is a crucial part of American History. It is little taught as part of the general curriculum. In these times when challenges are being issued to hard won rights, it is crucial that younger workers understand what is at stake…The advocacy of labor unions can be credited for a much higher standard [of  working conditions generally] that extends way beyond their own membership.”
    • Other speakers highlighted the same themes. Stacey Zimmerman of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), CT State Council wrote, “For a nation that was founded in a Carpenter’s Union hall, the history that binds all who have to work for a day’s wage is sadly ignored.” Beverly Brakeman, Political Representative of the United Auto Workers Region 9A, said that her “sources” for the fact that this history isn’t being taught are her 12 and 16 year old daughters, adding emphatically, “unions are the reason that my daughters will be able to get jobs with benefits and a weekend, and I want them to learn this!”
    • John Harrity, President of the State Council of Machinists, argued that, in addition to being an integral part of U.S. history, an “understanding of the employer-employee relationship is key to helping students and families develop ‘life skills’ that will benefit them and contribute to their earning power.”
    • The day’s testimony was capped by Jeremy Brecher, whose credentials as a public historian were immediately visible to the legislators. His exhibit, “An Orderly and Decent Government” about the history of representative government in Connecticut is on permanent display at the capitol concourse; and GNHLHA’s “New Haven’s Garment Workers: An Elm City Story” exhibit, for which he wrote the original outline, was also being shown there for the week of March 5-9. “How do we expect young people to relate intelligently to the world of work without some knowledge of how workers have organized themselves in the past?” he asked the legislators. “How do we expect them to grapple intelligently with the problems of today’s changing and extremely challenging workplace without an understanding of how relations in the workplace have changed in the past and how challenges have been met? How do we expect them to be informed participants in the setting and enforcement of rules governing the workplace if they know nothing about the rationale for such rules and how they developed?”
    • Also submitting written and/or spoken testimony in support of the legislation were Roch J. Girard, President of the Connecticut Federation of School Commissioners, AFSA; Kimberly Glassman, Director, Foundation for Fair Contract of Connecticut; Sharon Palmer, President of the American Federation of Teachers, CT; Lori Pelletier, Secretary/Treasurer of the Connecticut AFL-CIO; Joelle Fishman of the New Haven People’s Center; Greg Beyer, Vice-President, State Vocational Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 4200A; and Ray Rossomondo and Gayle Hooker of the Connecticut Education Association.
    • Concluding the day’s testimony was GNHLHA Board member Steve Kass,  coordinator of the legislative effort, who spoke about the Shankar Report which concluded that “U.S. history texts have essentially taken sides in the intense political debate around unionsundefinedthe anti-union side,” adding that “in the face of such depressing news, the GNHLHA hopes to turn around young people’s knowledge of unions and labor history in Connecticut.”
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  • 26 Mar 2012 10:06 PM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)

    Legislative effort has a good run

    By Steve Kass

    Teaching Labor History in the Connecticut public schools legislation received a public hearing in the education committee of the Connecticut state legislature on March 5, 2012. This legislative effort initiated by the Greater New Haven Labor History Association had strong support from the Connecticut AFL-CIO and many statewide unions.

    More than 10 people testified in favor of Senate Bill 304 sponsored by Senate Majority leader Martin Looney (11th District) and State Representative Roland Lemar (96th District). Specifically, the bill calls for the teaching of “labor history and law, including the history of organized labor, the collective bargaining process and existing legal protections in the workplace.” In fact, Martin Looney felt so strongly about the bill, he took the unusual step of testifying himself and citing personal family union history.

    Considering the bill was introduced in a short session during a pressing debate on the most significant educational reform bills in 30 years, it did quite well for a first attempt. Usually, the first time a bill is introduced, the main task is lining up support and generating publicity about the legislation. By any measure, this first organizing effort was a success.

    Planning will continue with the Teaching Labor History Task Force for a second attempt in next year’s longer legislative session. All are welcome to join in the planning process.  To take part, please visit our Labor History in the Schools web page where you can sign up to receive meeting announcements and updates.

  • 25 Mar 2012 1:38 PM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)
    The article below is sourced from the online blog Lawyers Guns and Money at http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2012/03/this-day-in-labor-history-march-25-1911

    This Day in Labor History: March 25, 1911

    [ 13 ]March 25, 2012 | Erik Loomis

    On March 25, 1911, 146 workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City died when the building in which they worked caught on fire. One of the most important events in American labor history, the Triangle Fire brought attention to the terrible sweatshop conditions of American labor, helped spawn important labor reforms, and became a touchstone for justice advocates over the next century.

    The Triangle Factory, located in the Asch Building at 23-29 Washington Place in New York (today on the campus of NYU), was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, Jewish immigrants who had made their fortune as “The Shirtwaist Kings.” The shirtwaist, a necessity of women’s clothing during the late Victorian Era, was immensely profitable, but by 1911, the fashion was becoming outdated as American women moved toward modern fashion. In order to maximize profits in a trade with low start-up costs, Blanck and Harris took advantage of the enormous immigrant masses entering New York in the early twentieth century. They set up a sweatshop on 3 floors of the building and hired workers, mostly women, for very low pay. They also hired children. One corner of the factory was known as the “Kindergarten,” where young girls sat for 12 hours days snipping threads. The average working day for all workers was 12-14 hours at least 6 days a week. That included Saturday, which was important because 60% of the workers were Jewish women, as were their employers. During the peak production season, which was eight months of the year, the women were required to work all 7 days. A sign above the elevator read, “If You Don’t Come In On Sunday, Don’t Come In On Monday.”

    Max Blanck and Thomas Harris

    Blanck and Harris claimed they had earned their fortune by hard work and that other immigrants could do the same, although the obvious argument against that is that their primary good luck was arriving in New York earlier than most Jewish immigrants. When workers throughout the New York textile industry struck in theUprising of the 20,000 in 1909, Blanck and Harris stood their ground, criticizing smaller operations who signed contracts with the union, and asserting their right for complete control over the factory. Blanck and Harris hired prostitutes to act as strikebreakers, serving as escorts for scabs, and starting fights with the strikers. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) focused its attention on Triangle, as it was the largest company and had the most union-hating employers. The Uprising of the 20,000 was generally a successful action, but Blanck and Harris held out until the end, agreeing to raise wages and slightly shorten hours, but without any sort of union on the factory floor.

    The lack of a union mattered a great deal as workers had no representatives to improve their working conditions or enforce safety rules. Wanting maximum control over its workers, Blanck and Harris ordered all doors out of the factory locked except for one. On March 25, 1911, just as the long workday was ending, a fire broke out on the 8th floor and quickly spread to the 9th and 10th floor. The factory offices were on the 10th; Blanck and Harris escaped, getting to the roof and hopping to another building. Workers on the 8th floor got out. No one told workers on the 9th floor that the building was on fire. They didn’t know until the flames were licking their shoes. There were 250 workers on the 9th floor. A few managed to escape on the elevator, some more on a fire escape, at least until it collapsed from the weight of so many people. But 146 did not escape. They rushed to the second door, but found it locked. They desperately tried to open it but they couldn’t find the key and had to give up. They burned to death or jumped from the windows as a last resort. Fire department ladders only stretched to the 6th floor. Firefighters stretched nets to catch the jumpers, but they couldn’t handle the force of bodies falling from that height.

    The tragedy of the Triangle Fire finally drew public attention to the plight of the sweatshop workers. ILGWU organizers and workers had predicted tragedies in the workplace, though not of this level, but, even though the Uprising of the 20,000 had received a good bit of public attention, little had happened since the strike to improve working conditions and safety. On April 5, 350,000 New Yorkers came out to the ILGWU-organized funeral of seven unidentified workers. New Yorkers quickly remembered that Blanck and Harris had been the most anti-union owners in 1909 and the public excoriated them. As textile leader and overall amazing woman Clara Lemlich said, “If Triangle had been a union shop there there would not have been any locked doors, and the girls would have been on the street almost an hour before the fire started.” One reporter noted, “I remembered the great strike of last year, in which the girls demanded more sanitary workrooms, and more safety precautions in the shops. These dead bodies told the results.”

    The public funeral of the Triangle workers.

    City and state agencies responded to the public outrage by investigating the conditions of the textile industry and the state of the city’s sweatshops. They discovered that half the city’s workers labored higher than fire department ladders could reach, and most worked in factories with conditions far worse than Triangle, with iron bars blocking fire escapes, overcrowded conditions, and wooden rickety buildings. Governor John Dix created the Factory Investigating Commission, led by Alfred Smith and Robert Wagner and including Frances Perkins. ILGWU leaders like Clara Lemlich demanded the commission accompany them on unscheduled factory visits to get the real story. Said Perkins, who personally witnessed the fire, “We made sure Robert Wagner personally crawled through the tiny hole in the wall that gave exit to a steep ladder covered with ice and ending twelve feet from the ground, which was euphemistically labeled ‘Fire Escape.’” The inspections created wide-reaching laws that began the reform of labor conditions in this country, including new standards for lighting, ventilation, and sanitation; fire exit laws, limiting the hours women and children could work, and reorganizing the state’s labor department.

    Blanck and Harris had insured the heck out of the building and received nearly $200,000 from 41 different insurance companies. Shortly after the fire, they tried to open a new factory. Building inspectors fined them for lining up the sewing machines so close that “the girls when seated would have no space to move about or leave their places without all getting up together.” Blanck and Harris were charged with manslaughter on April 11 for keeping the back doors locked in the factory. They paid $25,000 bail each and hired one of the nation’s top trial lawyers, Max Steuer. They managed to delay the trial until December when jury selection began. But when that happened, 300 women met them at the door. Shouted one young girl, “Here are the murderers of poor Stella. Hit them, mamma, for killing my poor sister.” The women chanted “Murderers! Murderers! Kill the murderers!” From that point on, the police controlled the crowd. After the trial, the jury took only 105 minutes to deliver its verdict of not guilty since it could not determine with certainty whether Blanck and Harris knew the door was locked. In 1913, Blanck was in fact charged with locking the door to one of his new factories and was fined the minimum of $20. The following year, the two factory owners were fined for sewing fake consumer labels into their clothing saying the factory met minimum working standards.

    In 1914, Blanck and Harris settled the civil suits against them, paying $75 for each life lost. This only made people more angry because BLANCK AND HARRIS HAD PROFITED OFF THE FIRE!!! Quite literally–they had so much insurance that they cleared $65,000 in profit off their factory burning and workers dying.

    There is also this fascinating document I’d like to share with you. In 1912, the National Association of Manufacturers collaborated with the Thomas Edison Company to produce “The Crime of Carelessness.” This film tried to shift blame for Triangle away from the factory owners and toward worker carelessness. This was part of the NAM strategy to keep the factories union-free and a useful film for placing today’s anti-union madness in historical context. This is a truly disgusting film, though fascinating. Worth 14 minutes of your time.

    Many of the quotes for this piece came from Jo Ann Argersinger, The Triangle Fire: A Brief History with Documents, which is also a great book to teach.

    This series has also covered such events as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the creation of the CIO in 1935.

  • 25 Mar 2012 1:36 PM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)

    Tell them NO EVICTION!

                The Yale graduation and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas

             want the Green. Why can’t the great university and the festival take pride in

           one of the few remaining Occupy encampments and its message of virtue,

               truth and genuine effectiveness in government, industry and society?

                                         Why isn’t Occupy an important Idea?

    Students

    And the City

    Rally

    For Occupy

    Tuesday, March 27th

    5-8pm

    The upper Green

  • 25 Mar 2012 10:59 AM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)
    “New Haven’s Garment Workers: An Elm City Story” was shown in its entirety in the concourse of the Legislative Office Building at the State Capitol in Hartford March 5-9, 2012. 

    This was its latest stop on its tour around the state of Connecticut and beyond, and happily coincided with the public hearing before the Education Committee of the State Legislature about the Greater New Haven Labor History Association’s raised bill to mandate the teaching of labor history, the collective bargaining process and the history of existing legal protections in the workplace as part of the Connecticut public school curriculum.  Learn more about the Labor History in the Schools initiative here.

    Next stop for the Garment Workers exhibit: the Southern Connecticut State University’s annual Women’s Studies Conference, April 20-21, 2012.

    Aaron Goode Photograph 

    For further information, please visit the Garment Workers' Exhibit page or contact GNHLHA Director/Archivist Joan Cavanagh at info@laborhistory.org.
  • 23 Mar 2012 11:01 AM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)
    Unfinished Business:

    A Panel Discussion on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Cate Bourke's memorial installation Crewel Linen: Unfinished Business. What does the past still have to teach us about workplace safety, labor organizing and immigrants' rights?

    Members of the panel are Jennifer Klein, Professor of History at Yale University, Carl Proper, Communications Director for New England Joint Board, Unite Here!, Megan Fountain of Unidad Latina en Accion, and Cate Bourke.

    Moderated by Henry Lowendorf,
    Chair, New Haven Peace Council

    Saturday, March 24, 2 until 3 p.m.
    People's Center,
    37 Howe Street,
    New Haven, CT

    followed by a reception from 4 until 6 p.m. at the

    West Cove Studio,
    30 Elm Street,
    West Haven, CT

    Bourke's centennial/commemorative work in memory of the 146 individual workers who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, is made up of an eight foot length of shirtwaist cloth for every one of the victims, with a name embroidered on each panel.

    The installation is now on view through March 24, 2012


    Friday and Saturday, 10 until 4
    or by appointment, phone 203-500-0268 for directions
  • 17 Mar 2012 8:01 PM | Posted by GNHLHA (Administrator)
    Wednesday, March 21, 2012, 4-5:30pm
    Location: Council Teachers Building, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT
    Parking and entrance in back lot via Saltonstall Ave.

    Open meeting for those interested in working on the legislative initiative for Labor History in the Schools.

    Click here for more info.
 
Greater New Haven Labor History Association * 267 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT 06513 * (203) 777-2756 ext. 2 * info@laborhistory.org
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