State Workers a Big Step Closer to Joining a Union Without Fear in Massachusetts

by Mike Hall, May 17, 2007

State workers in Massachusetts yesterday moved a step closer to being able to join a union, “without fear or repercussions…[and] exercise their legal right more freely,” according to the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill (135–19) that would enable state employees to exercise their freedom to join a union by signing union authorization cards, similar to the majority sign-up provisions for private-sector workers in the federal Employee Free Choice Act.

Says the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Robert DeLeo (D):

It comes down to employees who want to organize should be allowed to without impediment. This creates a new system by which they can do so and that system is fair and efficient….

The bill now goes to the state Senate where it is expected to pass. Last year, both houses approved majority sign-up for state workers, but then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) vetoed the bill. The bill’s backers hope new Gov. Deval Patrick (D) will sign the legislation.

Along with nixing the worker rights legislation, Romney, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, also vetoed legislation that would have boosted the state’s minimum wage. Also after winning passage of his flawed state health care plan that shifts health care costs to working families, Romney used a line item veto to block a provision in the bill requiring employers who do not provide health insurance for their workers to pay a small amount into a state fund. 

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