Posts tagged Department of Developmental Services
State employees frustrated that raises are tied up in Legislature
October 24, 2023 // The Local 509 bargaining units -- featuring employees at the Department of Children and Families, Department of Transitional Assistance, Department of Developmental Services, Department of Mental Health, and other agencies -- reached a contract deal in April that was ratified in May, for raises that would have been retroactive to January. The pending list of bargaining agreements before the Legislature has risen to 82, and while some are contracts that would take effect in the future, like the State Police Association of Massachusetts, others are historical, like an agreement for faculty and professional staff at the state's 15 community college campuses that deals with raises due back to 2021. The 82 contracts are laid out in Gov. Maura Healey's $2.15 billion budget bill (H 4090) to close the books on fiscal 2023, which ended almost four months ago. The list also includes five agreements with MassDOT employees, 23 with University of Massachusetts personnel, nine with Registry of Deeds workers, 35 with employees of county sheriff's departments, and an agreement with National Association of Government Employees units that cover tens of thousands of employees across the executive branch.
Union group home workers strike across Connecticut
May 24, 2023 // More than a thousand union group home workers walked off the job Wednesday morning, demanding a new contract that includes better pay. As the governor and state lawmakers get closer to the deadline on budget negotiations, about 1,200 unionized group home workers walked off the job at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. SEIU District 1199NE, the New England Health Care Employees Union, represents over 25,000 caregivers in Connecticut and about 4,000 in Rhode Island. The union said that most of its workers have been without a contract for about three weeks and are demanding what they call “living wages,” affordable health insurance and better retirement benefits.