This week, I joined fellow journalists, journalism educators, and members of the public at large in testifying on a bill to form a Mass journalism commission that is currently before the state legislature. In view of the potential importance of the initiative, my column this week is simply the text of my testimony. For […]
RECYCLING FOLLOW-UP: THE ROAD TO ZERO
Despite a relative win for recycling workers, living wage advocates pledge to keep on fighting
WILL BOSTON SET A NEW REGIONAL PRECEDENT AND FINALLY PAY RECYCLING WORKERS A LIVING WAGE?
For the first time in the city’s history, Boston’s living wage ordinance might finally get applied to low-paid workers sorting the city’s recycling …
VOTE NO! HARVARD CLERICAL UNION REP CRITICIZES UNION’S CONTRACT PROPOSAL
Harvard University is one of the largest employers in Massachusetts, with over 18,000 employees. Thousands of Harvard’s workers are “contingent” and don’t have benefits such as health insurance or paid time off. The Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) is the university’s largest union, with around 5,000 members. HU’s continuing ability to […]
PIZZA BARONS LAY OFF 1,100: PAPA GINO’S & D’ANGELO WORKERS NEED TO ORGANIZE FOR JUSTICE
Mainstream press coverage of mass layoffs like Sunday’s shutdown of almost 100 Papa Gino’s and D’Angelo fast food restaurants generally looks upon such tragic events through a glass, darkly. Because journalism in the service of the rich and powerful is a poor reflection of reality when it comes to all things labor. Which is […]
FROM INJURY TO ACTION: A LABOR DAY REMEMBRANCE (PART III)
In parts one (DigBoston, Vol. 20, Iss. 36, p. 6) and two (DigBoston, Vol. 20, Iss. 40, p. 6), I discussed how working a temp factory job at Belden Electronics on assignment for Manpower for several weeks in early 1989 in Vermont led to my sustaining a sudden and permanent spinal injury while walking […]
PRESSURE FROM BELOW
“People in this country are being taught to think that they don’t deserve pensions, that they don’t deserve good health care coverage … But it doesn’t have to be this way.”
FROM INJURY TO ACTION: A LABOR DAY REMEMBRANCE (PART II)
In part one (DigBoston, Vol. 20, Iss. 36, p. 6), I related how working a temp factory job at Belden Electronics on assignment for Manpower for several weeks in early 1989 in Vermont led to my sustaining a sudden and permanent spinal injury while walking to my car just after my last shift. At the […]
FROM INJURY TO ACTION: A LABOR DAY REMEMBRANCE (PART I)
Every once and a while, I move slightly differently than usual. Maybe I shift position too fast. Maybe I pick up something a bit too heavy. Maybe I’m sitting askew for just a bit too long. Whatever the cause, one second I’m fine… and the next, my old spinal injury flares up. It’s […]
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: LIVING ON SCRAPS
Boston is aiming to achieve “zero waste,” which some say can create more living-wage jobs. Is part of this lofty goal rooted in the region’s dirtiest hypocrisy?
