Posts tagged Massachusetts
Union representing Maryland state employees opens ranks to supervisors
May 7, 2024 // he legislation applies only to front-level supervisors who do daily supervision of staff and perform similar duties to the people they oversee including, for example, nurse supervisors at state hospitals or lieutenants at a state prisons. It does not apply to state employees in managerial positions who have the ability to hire, fire and make departmental decisions.
Side Hustles in Focus as Gig Worker Laws Stir Uncertainty
May 1, 2024 // In the debate over the classification of gig workers, Massachusetts finds itself at the center of a legislative whirlwind, echoing a lengthy battle around California’s AB5 Gig-worker law. Proposals to reclassify Uber and Lyft drivers as employees rather than independent contractors have sparked heated discussions about labor rights and the unintended consequences of regulatory measures.
Another MIT Grad Student Hits GSU Union with Federal Labor Charges for Illegally Seizing Money for Radical Union Agenda
April 29, 2024 // According to Boukin’s charges, she and other graduate students resigned their memberships in the GSU union, revoked their dues “checkoff” authorizations, and objected under Beck to paying anything going toward GSU’s “political and non-representational agenda and expenditures.” Despite these requests, the charges note, union bosses have “refused to process those Beck objections, refused to immediately reduce the amount of dues and fees collected from Charging Party’s and other graduate students’ [compensation], refused to stop the dues checkoff, and refused to provide Charging Party” with an independent audit explaining the union’s expenses and reduced fee calculation.
Half of Massachusetts residents support legalizing teachers’ strikes
April 22, 2024 // Massachusetts state leaders have said they have no appetite for changing Massachusetts law to make it legal for public teachers to go on strike, but public opinion is more on the union side. In a new CommonWealth Beacon/GBH News poll, 50% of state residents favored legalizing teachers’ strikes, while 34% said strikes should remain illegal, and 16% said they were unsure or did not answer (toplines, crosstabs). The survey, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group, comes on the heels of strikes in five Massachusetts school districts over the last two years. It is illegal for public sector employees to strike in the state, but that hasn’t stopped a wave of walkouts signaling a more militant posture on the part of teachers’ unions. The longest – and most recent – strike closed schools in Newton for two weeks in late January and early February.
OPINION Congress must block Biden’s destructive labor policy
April 16, 2024 // .A California-based tutoring company provides one anecdotal example of the consequences. The company has already let go independent workers in the Golden State and—in anticipation of the nationwide DOL rule—has announced terminations in Massachusetts and New Jersey. It’s the proverbial canary in the coal mine. If Congress doesn’t act, the DOL’s rule risks replicating California’s dysfunction on a national scale. One estimate predicts the independent workers impacted by this rule could face more than $30 billion in lost income. That tracks with a recent Mercatus Center study on the impact of AB 5 in California. It found that after the law was implemented, self-employment decreased by more than 10 percent on average for affected occupations. Overall employment decreased by more than four percent.
Trader Joe’s in Chicago files to unionize
April 11, 2024 // The Tribune reports that the Trader Joe’s filed for a union election on Monday, and needs 140 “yes” votes in order to establish the union. The workers there are not affiliated with an established union and instead are organizing independently under the name Trader Joe’s United. One worker at the store told the Tribune that she makes $22.50 an hour and receives 75-cent raises twice a year. Trader Joe’s spokesperson Nakia Rohde told the Tribune that its workers receive annual raises of approximately 7%.
Labor employees show up to protest for more telework
April 3, 2024 // Ernst and Franklin wrote to Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su seeking more details about what the protest cost the department. “Clearly, these employees know how much more effective they can be when they show up in person. We just wish they had the same level of dedication to serving Americans that they do to serving themselves,” the lawmakers wrote. “As White House Chief of Staff [Jeff] Zients said in January, agencies are still ‘not where they need to be’ on returning employees to the office. If your employees can show up to the office to protest, they can show up to the office to work.” Ernst and Franklin want Su to respond to answers to three questions by April 10: How much taxpayer-funded union time did representatives of AFGE Local 948 log with the Department of Labor (DOL) in the four weeks preceding their rally on March 19, 2024? Were the DOL employees paid—either through taxpayer-funded union time reimbursements or otherwise—for their protest against returning to the office, which they staged at their office? If so, what is the cost to the DOL including but not limited to labor and resources—of this protest?
Jewish MIT students sue union, say they are forced to pay dues to anti-Semitic organization
April 2, 2024 // “Jewish graduate students are a minority at MIT. We can’t remove the GSU or disabuse it of its antisemitism,” Sussman wrote. “But we also can’t support an organization that actively works toward the eradication of the Jewish homeland, where I have family living now.” Sussman and his colleagues initially sought recourse through non-legal channels, sending letters to the union asking for an exemption. UE allegedly denied these requests, however, writing in their reply to Sussman that “no principles, teachings or tenets of Judaism prohibit membership in or the payment of dues or fees to a labor union.” The students reportedly filed their charges through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal body responsible for enforcing worker laws that “make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex … national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.”
Barnes & Noble workers plan union drive at largest US bookstore chain
April 1, 2024 // In a statement, Daunt disputed claims of delays at the negotiating table. He claimed he was in agreement with workers on “the fundamentals” of their demands – but warned of “potential upsides and downsides” to a union. Barnes & Noble has some 600 stores across the US, and Daunt – who became CEO in 2019 – has worked to turn around the business, which had spent years in decline. It is owned by the investment giant Elliott Management, which also owns Britain’s Waterstones, which is also run by Daunt. “Our purpose for unionizing is to get some recognition for the dignity of workers,” said Sepple. “And having sat at the table and currently in negotiations with Barnes & Noble, it is disappointing that Barnes & Noble has not treated this as if that dignity is deserved.”
Strike at MASS MoCA end after union members ratify a deal with museum management
March 29, 2024 // The union, created in March 2021 under Local 2110 United Auto Workers, had been negotiating with museum management since October. As part of these negotiations, MASS MoCA offered to raise its minimum hourly wage by a dollar to $17.25, according to a March 1 press release from the museum. The union had proposed $18.25. “Equity and wage increases for MASS MoCA’s staff have never been a matter of if, but a matter of how fast,” Director Kristy Edmunds wrote in a statement on Wednesday. The museum said new wages will go into effect within 30 days of the agreement.