Regional union stories

[image:1024]Former Governor Michael Dukakis and presidential candidate addressed the Massachusetts AFL-CIO education conference to talk about his perspective on the issues facing America and working Americans.

Article description:
Senator Thomas McGee from Lynn and Represenative Lida Harkins from Needham make a powerful argument for the passage of the Workforce Solutions Act of 2005 to help Massachusetts weather the coming "perfect" economic storm.

With rallies today in the financial districts of Boston and San Francisco, the AFL-CIO will launch a nationwide grass-roots campaign against President Bush's Social Security plan, arguing that scandal-ridden financial services firms in Boston and other cities should not be entrusted with private retirement accounts.

Despite massive concessions in pay from two local unions at the Danaher plant in Springfield, MA, Danaher Tool will be permanently closing its facility in June and begin shifting its workforce to non-union workers in the South starting in March.

If the bill becomes law, it would let public sector workers in Massachusetts join a union without having to go through an intimidating anti-union campaign.

"People are being paid the money in the contract, but we're owed 2½ years of raises," said Dan Clawson, president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors and a sociology professor at UMass Amherst. "People are owed thousands and thousands of dollars, cumulatively."
State Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said the Legislature is committed to funding the retroactive pay. Retroactive pay from July 1-Dec. 31, 2003, was included in a supplemental budget in the summer, but Gov. W. Mitt Romney vetoed the funding, and the Legislature went into recess and couldn't override the governor's veto.