A man who worked as a delivery driver for Pat's Pizza, 2254 Dorchester Ave. for 18 months yesterday filed suit, alleging the restaurant failed to reimburse him for all the mileage he put on his car, paid him less than the state minimum for overtime and kept all the "delivery charges" that customers might have thought were meant as tips. Read more.
Starbucks Workers United reports workers at the Starbucks at 1304 Commonwealth Ave. in Allston and 277 Harvard St. in Coolidge Corner both voted unanimously to unionize today.
Starting March 1, Northeastern University will still make testing available to students and staff, but people without any symptoms will only have to take a test if they feel like it, the school announced today. Along with that, the university will be dropping its Covid-19 dashboard.
A Massachusetts Appeals Court justice today extended her ban on the Wu administration's efforts to make city workers get Covid-19 shots by threatening their jobs, saying the requirement would cause the workers and their unions "irreparable harm" and that the city's public-health claims are overblown since most city workers are already vaccinated. Read more.
Two Boston teachers who belong to the anti-vax group that holds morning protests outside Mayor Wu's house today sued the Boston Teachers Union for a signing an agreement with the Wu administration that could force unvaccinated teachers to dip into accumulated sick leave to keep getting paid while on leave until citywide coronavirus numbers dip below city benchmarks. Read more.
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.
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