Posts tagged Massachusetts
Republic Services sues Teamsters over alleged actions on picket line as strike passes two week mark
July 17, 2025 // According to the suit, on the first day of the strike, picketers at a Revere facility swarmed a rental car and vans with management and 40 replacement workers, trapping them for three hours. Republic Services alleges that a union official slashed tires on two vans, while others rocked the vehicles and screamed profanities and homophobic slurs. (The suit claims that Revere police on scene took no action in response to the incident. A Revere police spokesperson didn't return a request for comment.) The suit alleges that on another occasion, the same union official spit in the face of a security guard hired by Republic Services. WBUR left messages with the union official seeking comment but did not hear back. The company claimed in the suit that Local 25 President Thomas Mari yelled at Republic General Manager Kenny Runge, words to the effect of “You think this is bad? Wait until we ramp it up."
Gig Drivers Unionize Without Employee Status Under State Plans
July 17, 2025 // Unlike in California, Lyft and Uber remained publicly neutral on the Massachusetts ballot measure and Uber recently vowed to do the same in Illinois. For the companies, the bargaining schemes have the benefit of keeping drivers classified as independent contractors. “As we’ve said for years, we’re willing to work with state legislators on benefit and protection legislation that prioritizes preserving drivers’ independence and flexibility,” said Uber spokesperson Josh Gold.
New York State Looks to Take Over Labor Law Enforcement Amidst Uncertainty at the NLRB
June 26, 2025 // With mounting uncertainty about the lack of a quorum and near term future of the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB” or the “Board”), New York State legislators are attempting to usurp the powers delegated to the Board by Congress.
Fenway, MGM concession workers vote to authorize strike
June 17, 2025 // "Boston is a union town, and it's time to bring all Fenway workers' wages up to standard," said Carlos Aramayo, president of UNITE HERE Local 26, which represents the Fenway workers. "Local 26 hotel workers fought for, and won, $10-an-hour raises last year, and Local 26 university dining workers will be making a minimum of $30 an hour by 2028. There's no reason for Fenway workers to be left behind. They deserve raises and respect!"
ALEC Releases Landmark State Labor Policy Rankings: States That Work
June 12, 2025 // ALEC’s new report also profiles states like Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee that have taken bold steps to protect private sector workers’ right to cast secret ballots in union elections. Meanwhile, states like Nebraska, Florida, and Louisiana also receive recognition for passing Universal Recognition laws that ensure licensed workers can continue their professions without red tape after relocating.
5.9% of Washington Workers Are Union Members, 6th Most in the U.S.
June 9, 2025 // Union membership in the United States has declined to its lowest point in decades. In 1979, unions represented 24.1% of the American workforce. By 2024, that share had fallen to just 9.9%, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and UnionStats. In absolute terms, this represents a drop of roughly 6.7 million members—from a peak of 20.9 million in 1979 to around 14.2 million in 2024.
Commentary: Workers Need More Transparency from Unions
June 5, 2025 // We’re not labor experts or lawyers. We’re too busy doing our day jobs. Unions should be required to disclose a lot more information. Things such as who funds unionization drives, which other unions or groups they’re affiliated with, and whether they’re paying workers to push unionization. This information could have changed the outcome at my old Trader Joe’s store. The best system would equip workers with the facts well before they’re expected to vote. If workers unionize, unions should be required to more regularly provide some of this timely information. Additionally, the Department of Labor should publish the data more often and in a more user-friendly format. For instance, at my old store, we didn’t know that the union officers would be taking salaries from the union — we only found out 18 months later, and we had never agreed to them, which upset many of my co-workers who had supported unionization.
‘We’re losing doctors every day’: As Mass General Brigham primary care doctors vote on union, effort is slowed by Trump
June 2, 2025 // The health system says the NLRB regional director in Boston erred by allowing 237 primary care doctors at 29 practices to vote on whether to form their own union. In fact, MGB says, as many as three-quarters of those physicians were ineligible to vote under NLRB rules because they work in practices that are integrated into acute-care hospitals with other kinds of doctors. Under the rules, MGB contends, the proposed union would have to include all physicians at those hospitals, an argument the regional director previously rejected.
Michael Watson: The Union and the Republican Prize Patrol
May 19, 2025 // But as “the union that rules New York” waves goodbye to its self-interested longtime boss, allow me the opportunity to give a brief history lesson, one that should serve as a warning to those Republicans and conservatives who hope to appease unions into political dominance. Because even as he was launching the political careers of leftists like former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), Gresham and his predecessor Dennis Rivera played union whisperer to a now-deceased faction of New York State politics: the Republican “Prize Patrol.”
National Right to Work Foundation Launches Campaign to Expose Unite Here’s Bullying of Workers
May 12, 2025 // The NRLB is supposed to enforce federal labor law, including adjudicating disputes between management, union officials, and individual employees. Similar cases of UNITE HERE's malfeasance are being litigated in Washington, D.C., Boston, Seattle, and Orlando. As RedState reported, UNITE HERE Local 11 in Los Angeles struck the death knell to the 100-year-old iconic restaurant The Original Pantry Cafe, which was owned by former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan. After Riordan's passing, his trust attempted to sell the restaurant. UNITE HERE swooped in, supposedly on behalf of the workers, and instead of protecting the employees, managed to wreak havoc.