Day Supports Passage Of Employee Rights Legislation

A release from the office of State Representative Michael Day:

Representative Michael S. Day (D-Stoneham) along with his colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed legislation to protect public sector employees’ rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCM) ruling.

The bill, which passed the House by a 155-1 vote, enables Massachusetts employee organizations to charge non-members the reasonable costs associated with representing them legally through the workplace grievance process.

“This legislation – which builds on the House’s long-standing support of labor – sends a clear message that Massachusetts will work to secure protections for the working men and women of the Commonwealth,” said House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo (D-Winthrop).

“Massachusetts continues to lead the way on protecting the rights of workers to bargain collectively, and I stood with almost every one of my colleagues on this bipartisan vote to provide protections to our working women and men,” said Representative Day. “The House will not walk away from our responsibilities to rebuff the near-constant attacks on labor on the national front, and I was proud to debate and vote for this bill.”

Additionally, the bill will:

 Provide new hires with an opportunity learn about the benefits and services available to them;
 Protect worker organizations from coordinated outside attacks by empowering them to set policies regarding dues and membership;
 Ensure that employee organizations are able to provide confidential legal advice and other communications by providing up to date employee contact information; and

 Enable employee organizations to conduct meetings at scheduled times at the workplace provided they pay for any associated rental or maintenance fees.

In the Janus decision, the Supreme Court ruled that agency service fees which public employee organizations charged non-dues paying workers were unconstitutional, upending decades of labor practices supported by previous court rulings. Unlike their private sector counterparts, public sector labor unions are obliged to offer all employees, regardless of union membership, full and fair representation in all collective bargaining activities, employee discipline or grievance proceedings, and arbitration processes. Despite this, the Janus decision curtailed the ability of employee organizations to recoup from non-dues payers the costs, which that representation incurs.

The bill will now go to the Senate.