Posts tagged Karen Spilka
Another union push from legislative staffers
September 22, 2023 // Last July, Senate President Karen Spilka refused to recognize a union push by staffers to affiliate with IBEW Local 2222. State law allows employees in the executive or judicial branch to unionize, but not those who work in the Legislature. Legislation filed by Sen. John Keenan and Rep. Patrick Kearney would change the law and allow legislative staff to unionize.
Massachusetts: Defying Spilka, senate staffers vow to continue union fight
August 3, 2022 // Spilka invited staff members to meet with Senate counsel Friday afternoon to discuss a legal review that she said found no path forward for union recognition because of the unique structure of the senate. Two staffers who attended the closed-door meeting, Morgan Simko and Evan Berry, said afterwards the lawyers identified which state laws create hurdles to union recognition. They said changing those laws is a question of legislators' willpower. "Ball's in their court," Berry said. "If they really want to say to the unions that have supported them election cycle after election cycle that they are pro-labor, they will show up and say, regardless of where you are in Massachusetts, you deserve a union and Beacon Hill is no exception." Sen. Becca Rausch, Senate President Pro Tempore Will Brownsberger,