Frustrated Bay State union leaders say a dark cloud hangs
over Labor Day today, with their movement under siege as state and federal
officials crack down on hefty payrolls and strong-arm tactics.
“We’re not the bad guys we’re portrayed to be,” said Bob
Rizzi, president of the Quincy and South Shore Building Trades council,
referring to the labor community. “Here we are trying to fight for workers and
get fair salaries and safe working conditions and now some people are trying to
call it extortion. It’s ridiculous.”
Unions long have wielded political clout in
Massachusetts, and in Boston in particular, as pols in the deep-blue Bay State
sought to curry favor with the formidable voting bloc.
But the bright pro-union outlook has darkened on both
Beacon Hill and in federal court, thanks to a grim cascade of events including:
• U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s indictment of two of Boston
Mayor Marty Walsh’s City Hall aides in July on extortion charges. She contends
they forced organizers of a music festival to hire union workers. Her real
target, however, appears to be the pro-union Walsh — former general agent of
the powerful Building Trades construction union — as she continues her
investigation into whether City Hall is pushing union interests at the expense
of non-union businesses in Boston.
• Ortiz is also prosecuting four members of Teamsters Local
25, charging them with extortion for intimidating the crew of “Top Chef” during
a local filming in 2014.
• Seeking to save taxpayers money, Republican Gov. Charlie
Baker began acting on his three-year reprieve from the pro-union Pacheco law
earlier this year, contracting out emergency mental health services in
southeastern Massachusetts. The Pacheco law had required state agencies to
prove that a private contractor would provide cheaper services at a quality
higher than or equal to unions.
• The Herald reported Saturday that the T’s Fiscal
Management and Control Board, seeking to cut down on exploding operations and
maintenance costs at the MBTA, is eyeing privatizing bus drivers and mechanics
in the agency. This comes after Baker pushed to privatize the MBTA’s cash
storage operations.
The labor crackdown is raising hackles.
Despite a recent report showing MBTA bus drivers are the
highest paid in the nation, Massachusetts Building and Trades Council president
Frank Callahan said he doesn’t believe there will be much of a cash savings if
those jobs are privatized.
“We don’t think it’s going to solve the problems,” said
Callahan. “I think the T riders are going to suffer from a lack of service and
these changes will be borne mostly on the backs of the people who make the
trains run every day.”
But, Callahan said, the real damage to the labor movement
has come from the overall anti-union sentiment, saying it casts those who are
fighting for workers as villains.
“I am concerned that they are trying to criminalize
people who are trying to make things better for workers out there,” said
Callahan, who will join pols including Walsh and Attorney General Maura Healey
at the annual Labor Day Breakfast today.
“I think it’s a mistake. We go out every day trying to
secure better hours and working conditions,” he said. “Labor Day was founded as
and continues to be a celebration of working people across the nation, and
we’ll continue to fight for them.”
Source: Boston
Herald
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