The Boston Teachers Union and the Wu administration have signed a "memorandum of agreement" under which teachers who refuse to go near a needle can keep working as long as they undergo two Covid-19 tests a week - and as long as Covid-19 infection rates are relatively low.
According to the mayor's office: Read more.
The Boston Teachers Union today sued BPS over the way it allegedly refused to grant accommodations to teachers and paraprofessionals with serious underlying health conditions that should have been enough to allow them to continue working remotely during the pandemic even after schools re-opened for in-person learning. Read more.
A Massachusetts Appeals Court justice has order Boston not to carry out its Covid-19 vaccination mandate for city workers until she can review the situation. Read more.
Boston's Covid-19 testing positivity rate has fallen from a peak of roughly 32% a couple weeks ago to 18.9% on Friday, Dr. Bisola Ojiktu, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said this morning. Read more.
The Boston firefighters union is telling members today that the city has given employees yet another week to show proof they've gotten at least one Covid-19 shot and will not start putting the unvaccinated on leave until at least Jan. 31. Read more.
In e-mail to residents, Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller reported today: Read more.
The head of the Boston firefighters union is telling members tonight that the union will give the bargaining table one last try but if the city refuses to yield on mandatory vaccinations - or offer the union something decent in return - "we are prepared to take our fight to the street." Read more.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke says he agrees with unions representing firefighters and police superior officers and detectives that in terms of collective bargaining, Mayor Wu was wrong to unilaterally impose an absolute requirement that city workers get vaccinated against Covid-19 after her predecessor had signed agreements letting workers opposed to shots undergo weekly testing. Read more.
WGBH reports that Suffolk Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke agreed with the city today that public-health concerns outweigh the collective-bargaining rights of firefighters and two police unions and denied a request to stop the Saturday start of a Covid-19 vaccination requirement.
In court filings this week, Boston officials say they ordered employees to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination not just to protect them, but to protect the public they serve. Read more.
A Suffolk Superior Court judge has rejected a request from the Boston Carmen's Union to block the MBTA from requiring workers to get Covid-19 shots to keep their jobs. Read more.
WBZ reports that Mayor Wu is telling workers that as many as possible who can work at home will soon be doing that due to rising Covid-19 rates. Unlike in 2020, though, City Hall and city schools will remain open.
WGBH reports they will seek to become members of the Workers United Labor Union, which won a unionization vote at a Buffalo Starbucks.
Boston University announced today it will require all students, professors, staff and other "affiliates" to show proof they've gotten a Covid-19 booster shot by Feb. 4. Read more.
Northeastern University today told students, faculty and other workers they will have to show proof of a booster Covid-19 shot by Jan. 18. Read more.
Mass General Brigham yesterday asked a judge to let them shield the identities of most of the members of its panels that decided which employees got religious or medical exemptions from Covid-19 shots because of what's happened to officials in other states who stood up for the vaccines and other anti-Covid-19 measures. Read more.
US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer today rejected a request by a small group of Mass General Brigham employees to make the hospital system give them their jobs back while they fight in court to overturn a hospital requirement they get vaccinated against Covid-19. Read more.
A small group of Mass General Brigham employees who were either fired or quit over their refusal to get vaccinated against Covid-19 have asked the US Supreme Court to order the hospital chain to let them back to work while they continue to pursue their suit over their terminations. Read more.
The Boston Newspaper Guild, which represents newsroom and advertising staffers, announced the deal tonight.
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