“WORCESTER, Mass. - City residents and community activists called "Worcester Community United" stood in solidarity with the nurses striking at Saint Vincent hospital Saturday.”
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WHEN LINDA PIZZUTI HENRY and her husband, John W. Henry, bought The Boston Globe in 2013 for $70 million, she announced her intention to adapt the venerable institution to the changing media landscape.
“When I walked into the old Morrissey Boulevard building with John on our first day over seven years ago, past the hum of the presses and the welcoming smell of ink, I wasn’t sure exactly what my role would be,” Pizzuti Henry said. “But I knew that I was lucky to work here, and it was clear to me why this institution needed to not only survive the secular decline of trusted local journalism, but also needed to innovate and evolve and invest in a new way of doing things in order to thrive and effectively serve our mission.”
Read More“Many of us grumbled at some point during the pandemic about delayed unemployment checks or the nonsensical arithmetic behind the two recent stimulus bills. While these were valid concerns, it was shamefully rare to hear public complaints on behalf of undocumented immigrants who were excluded from pandemic relief entirely. While COVID-19 did not discriminate based on citizenship status, our elected officials did. As we receive our first and second doses of the vaccine this month, it is long past time to prioritize the community members the United States has left behind.”
Read More“A coalition of more than 20 human rights organizations released an open letter Wednesday morning calling for a total ban on private and corporate use of facial recognition, an invasive technology that the groups characterized as discriminatory and "too dangerous to exist."
While campaigners have typically focused on the civil liberties threats posed by government and law enforcement use of facial recognition, the rights groups' new letter demands that businesses be barred from using the technology as well, warning that proliferation of face surveillance in the private sector would have serious privacy consequences for workers and consumers.”
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“SPRINGFIELD — In a possible death blow to what some have called a “zombie” project, state environmental regulators have revoked approval for a proposed 35-megawatt biomass energy plant in East Springfield.
The state Department of Environmental Protection, in a letter to Palmer Renewable Energy Friday, cited delays in starting construction at the 1000 Page Blvd. site, as well as “environmental justice” concerns, as the reason for revoking approval.”
Read More“HOUSE SPEAKER RON MARIANO recently announced that he was asking the House Rules Committee to take a look at the rules around “unregistered, or vaguely-affiliated, advocates and coalitions.”
Mariano’s pronouncement created confusion – and some concern – among public policy advocates. But it has also highlighted the complex nature of lobbying on Beacon Hill, with an assortment of coalitions, nonprofits, lobbyists, and members of the public all making their voices heard, under often confusing regulations.”
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“WESTFIELD, Mass., Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The registered nurses of Baystate Noble Hospital and Baystate Home Health, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will hold a safe, socially distanced Light Brigade action in downtown Springfield on Wednesday, January 27 calling on Baystate Health to reach fair contracts with the nurses that respect and value the care they have provided patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Noble nurses, along with Massachusetts Jobs with Justice and community supporters, have also delivered a public petition with more than 1,000 signatures urging Baystate Health CEO Dr. Mark Keroack to agree to a fair contract with Noble nurses that values the care they provide and improves and preserves local, quality care. That petition can be seen at bit.ly/supportnoblenursesand media can request a copy of the petition by emailing jmarkman@mnarn.org.”
Read More“The dawn of the new year brought a some good news for Massachusetts workers, with another increase in the minimum wage and, more importantly, the implementation of guaranteed paid family and medical leave.
The changes, negotiated as part of the so-called "grand bargain" in 2018, will certainly bring at least a modest boost to the fortunes of workers across the state struggling with the financial and health challenges brought on by relentless coronavirus pandemic.”
Read More“IT’S BEEN A TOUGH YEAR for low-wage workers, who were hit hard by the pandemic – losing jobs and income and facing housing and food insecurity.
But in Massachusetts, changes in state law that go into effect January 1 could bring at least slight relief. The minimum wage is set to rise next year, and the state’s paid family and medical leave program will go into effect as well.”
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“In its annual report, The Boston Foundation (TBF) decided to profile leaders of social justice and public service from across the city.
One of those remarkable leaders profiled was Gloribel Beatriz Rivas, who serves as a legislative aide to Rep Adrian Madaro.
Legislative Aide Gloribel Beatriz Rivas was featured in The Boston Foundation’s annual report celebrating those working for social justice.”
Read More“WORCESTER — Respondents to a recent family survey about the Worcester public schools' switch to remote learning this year reported having trouble structuring their child’s learning time, being stressed by their economic and living conditions, and, in the case of single parents, getting little support for their situation.
But that feedback, in a report released this week by the Worcester Education Justice Alliance, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, and the Parents Union of Massachusetts, is a snapshot of what local parents were dealing with in the spring, after Worcester’s sudden shift to distance learning with the arrival of the pandemic, and before the schools’ more focused efforts on and larger investments in supporting remote classes this fall.”
Read More“WESTFIELD, Mass., Oct. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The registered nurses of Baystate Noble Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, have scheduled a safe, socially distanced informational picket on Wednesday, October 21 at 12 p.m. outside the hospital.
Noble nurses, along with Massachusetts Jobs with Justice and community supporters, have also launched a public petition at bit.ly/supportnoblenurses urging Baystate Health CEO Dr. Mark Keroack to agree to a fair contract with Noble nurses that values the care they provide and improves and preserves local, quality care.”
Read More“WESTFIELD, Mass., Oct. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The registered nurses of Baystate Noble Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, filed unfair labor practice charges on Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after Baystate Health refused for months to respond to information requests from the nurses about councils, committees, boards and local trustees Baystate claims to rely on for public input when making decisions about hospital services.
Baystate has also refused to provide information to nurses about the impact of the Noble ICU closure in August 2019, data about staffing on the 2N/tele unit that merged last year and information nurses need to fully understand Baystate's proposal to eliminate an important overtime standard.”
Read More“In response to the statewide push to reopen schools for in-person education, the recently formed Coalition to Safely Reopen Schools, has issued its position statement citing a number of issues that need to be addressed to ensure that schools can be reopened without jeopardizing the health and safety of students, staff, or the communities schools serve. As a result of that analysis, the Coalition is calling for a phased approach to reopening, with no in-person learning unless and until those issues are resolved.”
Read More“HOLYOKE — The sound of drivers approvingly honking their horns filled the intersection of Beech and Northampton streets Thursday as protesters held signs with a simple message: “birthing access = racial justice.”
The protest was a response to Holyoke Medical Center’s plans to close its Birthing Center by Oct. 1, despite the fact that the state Department of Public Health has deemed those services essential to the community. The group Coalition for Birthing Care Access organized the demonstration to urge HMC’s leadership to reverse course and keep the Birthing Center open.”
Read More“EASTHAMPTON — When Stephany Marryshow and her family moved into the Treehouse Foundation community in the city in 2005, it was because her mother wanted to provide her four children with the best opportunities possible.
But Marryshow stood on the lawn outside of the building that houses the city’s police station on Saturday afternoon and recounted some of the ways she and her loved ones experienced racism while living in the city: A seventh grade teacher asking her brother if he was in a gang or had ever been shot at, a postman asking her mother if she lived in the ‘projects on Pleasant Street’ and being pulled over, herself, by the police ‘way too many times.’”
Read More“BOSTON – With states continuing to experience alarming upticks in the number of new coronavirus infections, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today introduced legislation to halt the Trump administration’s harmful immigration enforcement activities, including deportations, during the coronavirus pandemic to protect public health.
Continued arrests and apprehensions discourage immigrant communities from accessing services necessary for their health and well-being and contribute to dangerous crowding in immigration detention centers.”
Read More“EASTHAMPTON – Mayor Nicole LaChapelle released an initial response to 01027: A Knee is Not Enough (AKINE), addressing their mission and demands.
AKINE is a community-based, grassroots group that was founded in partnership with Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, led by Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC). They believe that more than a symbolic gesture needs to happen in order to address issues of systemic bias, systemic violence, and systemic oppression.
Some of AKINE’s immediate demands included the public release information about the Easthampton Police Department (EPD) practices and policies to the community, regular meetings between EPD and community organizations including AKINE representatives, and an immediate ban on chokeholds and no-knock warrants.”
Read More“For Italian American families like the one I grew up in, recalling our past is a shared obsession. Over endless family dinners, we tell stories about our parents and grandparents and the obstacles they overcame in their early years in the U.S. — arriving here with nothing, speaking a foreign language, working long hours as farmers, garment workers and tradesmen. Like all immigrant communities, pride in our history is the cornerstone of our culture.
That’s why it isn’t surprising that the decapitation of the Christopher Columbus statue in Boston’s North End last week caused a strong reaction from old-guard Italian Americans. Among the ritual condemnations of the destruction of private property, an old argument re-emerged — the Columbus statue is a symbol, not of genocide, but of our heritage.”
Read More“The latest weekly unemployment figures from the US Department of Labor came in today, and the bottom line, note Heather Long and Andrew Van Dam, is that “more than 17 million new jobless claims have been filed in the past four weeks.”
Astonishingly, the unemployment rate, which was 3.5 percent as recently as February, is now higher than it has been since the Great Depression.
“It looks like the unemployment rate is headed to 15 percent,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Bank, wrote in a note to clients, report Long and Van Dam. “This isn’t a recession, it’s the Great Depression II,” Rupkey adds.”
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