As scores of reporters, photographers and news cameras jammed the room at Boston City Hall, actor/director Ben Affleck and Mayor Thomas M. Menino stood side by side with local hospital workers to call for Free & Fair union elections. The high profile endorsements lifted the hospital workers' message to center stage in the Boston media.

Click here to read samples from the tidal wave of print and web media coverage.

Click here to view television news coverage of the event, which ran around the clock on Tuesday into Wednesday morning.

Ben Affleck, who grew up here and is raising his family in the Boston area, said Free & Fair elections are basic and reasonable, and would like workers to have a voice and feel respected if he ever needed to seek medical care.

"This is not a cheap city to live in and these folks are not asking for much," said Affleck.

Hospital workers Anestine Bentick and William Timmons spoke from first-hand experience about struggling to make ends meet and provide the best care in Boston's hospitals. Anestine also spoke of her experience with anti-worker campaigns when her and her co-workers tried to form a union not too long ago. Billy, standing with his baby daughter in his arms, said he had worked at Massachusetts General Hospital for over two decades and wanted to finally see his co-workers treated with respect and dignity.

Immediately following the press conference, the Boston City Council Labor and Workforce Committee heard testimony from local hospital workers, union leaders from a wide variety of industries, and community supporters. The council expressed support for a resolution calling on hospital CEOs to agree to Free & Fair elections for hospital workers. If passed, that resolution would declare that hospital workers should be Free to make up their own minds in Fair secret ballot votes. Such a Free & Fair election process, which has already been agreed to by dozens of hospitals throughout Massachusetts and the nation, would ensure quality patient care and good jobs for working families.

Hours after the hearing, hundreds of hospital workers, religious leaders, elected officials, community groups and patient advocates rallied in the Longwood Medical Area in a spirited show of unity. The rally was co-sponsored by 1199SEIU and the Boston Area Trades Council.

Rally speakers included Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, members of the state legislature including Marie St. Fleur, Greater Boston CLC Secretary Treasurer Rich Robers, Mass. AFL-CIO President Bob Haynes, hospital workers, and 1199SEIU President George Gresham.

In coming months, the effort to achieve Free & Fair union elections for hospital workers will only continue to grow and will become one of the most prominent issues concerning healthcare and working families throughout New England and the nation.

For more information: Call Corey Hope Leaffer at 617-284-1142.