Workers at Butler Hospital began chanting, cheering and trudging in the mud out front of the psychiatric hospital at 6 a.m. Thursday morning and remained on strike by the end of the day. Members of the union’s bargaining committee say the workers are fighting for higher wages across the board and better staffing. They began […]
Labor
Posted inHealth, Labor, Local
Butler Hospital’s unionized employees set to strike over workplace safety and wages
Butler Hospital’s unionized nurses, mental health workers and other staff are expected to walk off their jobs at 6 a.m. on Thursday, as temporary agency staff prepare to step in to keep the psychiatric hospital on Providence’s East Side running. Butler Hospital will remain open, and provide “safe, compassionate, and uninterrupted care” during the strike, […]
Posted inLabor, Local, Politics
Lawson wins R.I. Senate presidency while retaining prominent union role
After Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader Val Lawson won a lopsided vote Tuesday to lead the chamber following the recent death of Dominick Ruggerio, she downplayed potential conflicts stemming from her work as the president of one of the state’s largest teachers’ unions. Lawson (D-East Providence) easily outpaced rival Sen. Ryan W. Pearson (D-Cumberland) on […]
Posted inHealth, Labor, Local
Butler Hospital’s unionized staff vote to authorize a strike
Unionized workers at Butler Hospital have voted to authorize a possible strike, saying the hospital’s operators at Care New England have refused to address concerns about workplace safety and wages. Leadership of the SEIU District 1199 New England – which represents more than 4,000 workers in Rhode Island, including over 400 frontline staff at Butler […]
Posted inLabor, Local, Politics
Poll shows support for union issues in Rhode Island
Rhode Islanders remain pessimistic about the direction of the state, although they have a favorable view of organized labor and a number of the issues championed by unions, according to a new poll commissioned by the Rhode Island AFL-CIO. Based on responses from 400 registered voters in early February, the poll done by Fleming & […]
Posted inLabor, Local, Metro Desk
Medical residents at three Care New England hospitals vote to unionize
Medical residents employed by three Care New England hospitals voted Wednesday to unionize with Service Employees International Union’s Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR-SEIU). Residents at Kent Hospital won their union election with 72.5% of the vote, 74-28. At Women and Infants they won their union election 40-8, or 83% of the vote. Finally, Butler […]
Posted inLabor, Local, Metro Desk
Rhode Island Hospital medical residents win union election, 464 to 27
Medical residents with Brown University Health, formerly called Lifespan, have formed a doctors’ union at Rhode Island Hospital. In a small fluorescent-lit room in the Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. federal building in Boston Tuesday afternoon, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) employees spent more than 90 minutes opening envelopes and counting ballots. When it came time […]
Posted inHealth, Labor, Local
Strike averted at Women & Infants Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital says it’s reached a tentative agreement on a new nearly three-year contract with members of the 1199 SEIU NE union. Frontline caregivers had voted last week to authorize a strike, citing uncompetitive wages and a refusal to bargain in good faith, among other things. Union officials said the hospital’s lack of […]
Posted inEducation, Labor, The Weekly Catch
Child labor law violations in Fall River, behind the failed Star Store-UMass Dartmouth deal, and more
A seafood processing plant in Fall River is at the heart of a new lawsuit that claims the plant employed underage migrant workers – and says the teens were exposed to potentially dangerous conditions. The suit comes a year after an investigation by The Public’s Radio into possible child labor violations at seafood processors in New Bedford. Also, a year after UMass Dartmouth abruptly closed its arts campus at the Star Store in New Bedford, an investigation by the Massachusetts Inspector General gives us a clearer picture of what exactly happened and who’s to blame. And we hear a studio session with Providence-based jazz combo, the Leland Baker Trio. That and more on this week’s show.
Posted inLabor, Local, Metro Desk
Outraged by Brown’s threats of faculty discipline, some professors call for institutional reform
It’s been more than two weeks since student protesters at Brown University struck a deal with school administrators, packed up their tents, and peacefully ended a pro-Palestinian encampment that had lasted nearly a week. But some faculty members at Brown say they are unwilling to move on and forget about a series of ominous letters […]
