June 17: MassNOW launches WAGE club

This will be a place where women can explore what being paid and treated unfairly at work can cost you and your family. The first meeting will be at 12:00pm on June 17 at the MassNOW (National Organization of Women) office, 1105 Commonwealth Ave, Boston. massnow@massnow.org.

June 23-25: 20th Annual WILD Summer Institute

Registration is now open for the 20th Annual WILD Summer Institute: Moving Forward: In Unions, Our Communities and the Political Arena, Wheaton College, Norton, MA. The Women's Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) is an inspirational educational program that provides women with the leadership vision, confidence and skills to become more effective leaders and organizers in the labor movement and workplace in Massachusetts. Workshops include both leadership development and skill building. www.wildlabor.org

Safe staffing bill near passage

As The Bridge goes to press, the Mass. Nurses Association seems to be on the verge of success in passing a bill to ensure safe staffing in the state's hospitals. In a compromise with hospital administrators, the nurses agreed to have staffing levels set by the Department of Public Health. The amended legislation was passed by the Public Health Committee and was to be voted on by the House on May 23rd.

Boston Archdiocese expands use of non-union labor

The Archdiocese of Boston has instituted a new policy under which all construction jobs over $350,000 can be awarded to nonunion contractors if the differential with the union bid exceeds 13 percent. A spokesperson for the church indicated that this change had been “worked out” with the unions, but Plumbers Union head Kevin Cotter, business manager of the Boston plumbers union, said the change “was not mutually negotiated. It is their policy. . . . The building trades have never agreed with anything less than 100 percent union.”

Springfield cafeteria workers bid to take over food service

The Springfield Cafeteria Workers Assoc-iation has submitted a bid to run the food services program in the city's schools. Food service is being privatized as part of the Romney-appointed Springfield Control Board's efforts to cut wages, benefits and public services.

Temp workers’ right to know

Senator John Hart and Representatives Marty Walsh, Ann Paulsen and Louis Kafka have proposed a Temp Workers Right to Know bill which would require temp agencies to provide workers with information ranging from the rate of pay, the location, duration and type of work, and any agency fees charged - none of which are required under current regulations.

Unicco named to “Dirty Dozen”

The National Council on Occupational Safety and Health named Unicco Service Co. of Newton—a prominent target of union organizers—one of its “dirty dozen” employers for its workplace health and safety record. Unicco had seven workplace fatalities between 1999 and 2005. In June, one Unicco window washer was killed and another seriously injured when they fell from scaffolding at a Burlington office building. Two other window washers were killed in Boston.

Hollywell Nursing Home workers vote to join 1199

Seventy-two Certified Nurse’s Aides, Activities Assistants, dietary workers and other caregivers at Hollywell Nursing Home in Randolph, MA are putting together their list of desired improvements after voting 39 to 19 to join 1199 SEIU. Topping the list is improving the quality of care for the seniors and people with disabilities in the home. Together with another election victory in March at a Milton nursing home, the Hollywell vote is part of a rapidly growing movement of nursing home workers throughout the state to improve the quality of jobs and care at their homes. “I give my all when I’m caring for my residents, but in recent years so much has been taken away from the workers at Hollywell,” said Venante Remy, a CNA at the home. “Our sick days have been cut, and the health insurance is unaffordable. I helped to build support for our Union because I want nursing home workers to be respected for the work we do, which will ultimately improve care for residents.”

School bus drivers defend chief steward

Hundreds of Boston school bus drivers marched on the main office of First Student to protest a five-day suspension handed to Chief Steward André François for performing legally protected union duties. First Student has taken an increasingly antagonistic approach to the union since a “visit” in March from Reid Lockheed, CEO of First Student's parent, First Group, Inc., and one of Britain's richest tycoons, with a base salary in 2005 of over $1 million.

SEIU calls for more oversight of human services industry

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 509 has called for increased financial auditing of human service vendors contracting with the state. The union notes that only 20 audits are conducted each year of the 1100 private companies providing services to children and the disabled, meaning that each vendor is audited once every 55 years—compared to every two years for state agencies. “Who could defend a system like this?” asks local president Michael Grunko. “Human service vendors, disguised as charities and backed by a powerful lobby, are getting away with spending state dollars on exorbitant salaries for CEOs and luxuries at a time when funding for services is being cut, direct-care workers are fleeing the field for jobs that pay living wages, and poor care for people with disabilities is on the rise.”