Posts tagged Maura Healey
A Union for Home Care Workers? Many Are Wary.
July 17, 2026 // New York Focus independently spoke to more than a dozen aides for this story, and eight were either against it or leaning in that direction. Saba Nakhai, 32, who cares for her mother in Westchester full time, told New York Focus that she doesn’t see a place for the union in her work. “Maybe if I was working at a corporation, I would want a union,” she said. “But here, who’s the enemy, my mom?” Saba Nakhai, a young woman, stands smiling behind and holds the arms of her older mother, who is seated and wearing sunglasses. The room seems celebratory; a cake is on the table in front of them, and pictures of Saba hang from the ceiling. Saba Nakhai cares for her mother in Westchester full time. | Courtesy of Saba Nakhai To win, 1199 must convince workers like Nakhai that they need an advocate — not against their patients, but against the sprawling bureaucracy that sets their wages and benefits. If it’s successful, 1199 — already one of New York’s political kingmakers — will become even more powerful. Its membership and dues revenue will balloon, enabling more organizing and lobbying.
Mass General Brigham sends cease-and-desist to Nurses Association over ‘significant noise’ related to strike
July 13, 2026 // Mass General Brigham sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Massachusetts Nurses Association Friday over “significant noise” related to the nurses and technician’s strike that began Wednesday, the healthcare company announced. In a statement, Mass General Brigham wrote, “We have heard concerns from patients, families, visitors, staff, and nearby residents about the significant noise and activity outside the hospital, particularly overnight. Because this disruption is affecting residents and the hospital’s healing environment and creating challenges for patients and care teams, this afternoon we sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Massachusetts Nurses Association regarding excessive noise and other disruptive activities associated with the picketing, and we will be sharing a letter of apology with our neighbors.
Unions in uproar over Gov’s plans to tap pension fund for economic development grants
June 15, 2026 // The Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research is echoing the same call, saying the governor should not be directing money from the state’s pension fund towards “preferred companies.” “The state’s pension fund is not an economic development program. The state owes taxpayers and retirees the best risk-adjusted returns possible,” Pioneer Institute COO Mary Connaughton told the Herald. “It should invest its pension assets based on sound financial judgment, not direct them toward preferred companies or limit investments by geography.”
Unions skeptical of potential Healey plan to offer buyouts to state employees
November 5, 2025 // Local 509 SEIU, which represents 8,600 employees that fall under the executive branch, most of whom are human service workers, sent a memo to its members on Friday saying that the administration “has presented all state worker unions, including Local 509, with a proposal to reduce the number of full time employees across the Commonwealth.” The new of potential buyouts was first reported in The Boston Herald. “The Commonwealth has proposed $10,000 for a voluntary resignation and $20,000 for retirement. Our understanding is that when these positions become vacant, they would not be backfilled and would be eliminated,” the memo says. SEIU President David Foley said he and other union officials who represent the over 45,000 executive branch workers in Massachusetts were immediately concerned about the idea, especially since the Healey administration chose last month not to adjust its revenue estimate despite raising alarms that they can no longer reliably depend on federal revenues and reimbursements.
Republic Services and Teamsters reach 5-year agreement in Boston
September 25, 2025 // After the Boston-area strike began, other Teamsters locals across the country either went on strike for their own contracts or halted work in solidarity. At the peak of the action in mid-July, more than 2,000 Republic Services workers represented by Teamsters were off the job. Since then, three other local chapters have reached agreements with Republic Services and returned to work. Teamsters Local 728, which represents 32 Republic Services employees in Cumming, Georgia, remains on strike over alleged unfair labor practices, according to a union official. Republic workers represented by the local in Columbus, Ohio, walked out last week in solidarity with members already on strike.
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.
Fed-up and furious: Gov urged to put State Police into receivership
February 8, 2024 // Galvin said a key issue still not addressed is the power the State Police union has, especially having sergeants allowed in the union as they oversee troopers who are fellow members. "The union has way too much power," he said. "It's an investigation of power from the Legislature on down with no oversight." All this, he lamented, as they MSP "goes down the tubes."
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.
Rolling rally highlights push for Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize
July 13, 2023 // The industry-backed group Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work, which has also rallied drivers at the State House this year, says many drivers prefer the independence that comes with contractor status. The group favors one bill that would establish drivers as independent contractors while also providing some new benefits, and another that would create company-funded “portable benefit accounts” for drivers. Conor Yunits, spokesman for the Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work, said in a statement to GBH News that unionization bill “would force drivers to become employees for all intents and purposes,” and that his group will “continue to encourage the legislature to bring all parties to the table to find a compromise that protects the independence that drivers demand and the benefits they deserve.” Other bills on Beacon Hill also propose different strategies for addressing the pay, benefits and classification of gig economy drivers. Lawmakers on a pair of committees, the Financial Services Committee and the Labor and Workforce Development Committee, will hold hearings at some point in the two-year session to explore the issues.
Labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan snags government employee union endorsement in AG campaign
April 4, 2022 // The National Association of Government Employees, a Quincy-based union which represents 22,000 public-sector employees in Massachusetts and more than 40,000 nationwide, announced Tuesday that its members unanimously voted to back Liss-Riordan, who hopes to succeed Attorney General Maura Healey, who is running for governor.