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New from CommonWealth Beacon |
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A BETTER LIFE: Hallie Claflin weaves together stories of success from Worcester’s A Better Life program, which provides families in state-subsidized public housing with case management and a suite of services while requiring them to work, attend school, or participate in community service. The program caught the attention of the Trump administration, which has been pushing to impose work requirements on safety-net programs. |
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MUST READ!
HEALEY OP-ED: Gov. Maura Healey writes for CommonWealth Beacon about her administration's “all-of-the-above strategy” for lowering energy prices, including support for increased gas supply through an expanded Algonquin pipeline and a multi-state push to explore nuclear power. |
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Barring a sudden reversal by their ostensibly pro-labor bosses, the Massachusetts legislative staffers who have long fought to form a union will once again need to wait ‘til next year. |
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House Democrats have quietly smothered legislation that would have given aides in both chambers a clear legal right to organize and collectively bargain. A similar bill is technically still alive in the Senate, but given that top lawmakers there have already voiced concerns about the legal framework for a staff union, the prospects appear dim. |
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As a result, legislative employees will likely ride out the remainder of 2026 in an unchanged position: facing a Senate hierarchy that argues current law does not allow staff to bargain collectively, and a Legislature that does not want to rewrite statute to make that possible. |
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“It’s disappointing. They are for labor, they speak about being pro-labor, and for whatever reason, they don’t see the need to continue or support the measure to allow the staffers to form a union,” said Julio De La Cruz, vice president of the IBEW Local 2222 union that’s working with House and Senate aides. |
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Organizers have been pushing legislation that would codify staffers’ right to organize. The bill idled before the Labor and Workforce Development Committee for months until March 19, when the committee’s co-chair, Rep. Paul McMurtry, wrote to IBEW organizers to share that it would not move forward. |
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“While the bill generated important discussions, there was ultimately not sufficient support for its advancement this session, and it has been referred to study,” McMurtry wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by CommonWealth Beacon. “Although this outcome is not what you had hoped for, the conversations sparked by this legislation have been meaningful and necessary. The role of legislative staff across the Commonwealth is critical, and their contributions to serving our constituents cannot be overstated.” |
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McMurtry’s office confirmed the correspondence and the bill’s status. The Dedham Democrat declined to answer follow-up questions about how he determined the bill did not have support or what his concerns were. House Speaker Ron Mariano also declined to comment. |
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More from CommonWealth Beacon |
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THE CODCAST: After 28 years at the helm of Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, Barbra Rabson is stepping down. Data gathered by MHQP over the years paints a picture of a primary health system that has been “underfunded and undervalued for years” despite its critical importance, she said on this month's episode of Health or Consequences, hosted by John McDonough and Paul Hattis. |
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OPINION: Although the goal of a looming ballot question to impose rent control statewide –- protecting tenants from sudden spikes -- is noble, evidence from decades of research and practical experience shows that broad rent caps often have the opposite effect, stifling the market for new housing construction, write Massachusetts Housing Coalition representatives Steve Callahan Jr., Neily Soto, and Peggy Pratt. |
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UTILITIES: Amid persistent debate about how to make energy more affordable in Massachusetts, state senators are pushing legislation that would bar utilities from passing along to ratepayers the costs of consultants and lawyers who argue in favor of raising prices. (WBUR) |
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MALDEN: Malden voters rejected two versions of a Proposition 2 ½ override Tuesday, the first such proposals ever brought to the ballot in the Gateway City north of Boston. (GBH News) |
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ELECTIONS: John Beccia, a financial technology firm executive, loaned his campaign $1.2 million in recent months as the race for the US House seat being vacated by Seth Moulton continues to generate attention and big spending. (The Boston Globe – paywall) |
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FOOLED YOU: Burhan Azeem, a Cambridge city councilor who’s running for an open state Senate seat, spent $7,000 on a quasi-educational April Fools’ Day prank: advertisements in the MBTA network reminding riders about the abandoned 1947 plans to extend the system much further out into surrounding suburbs. (MassLive – paywall) |
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WEIGHT LOSS: Health and Human Services Secretary Kiame Mahaniah expects that insurance coverage for GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, which the state recently scrapped, will return in a few years once costs fall. (State House News Service – paywall) |
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