Baystate Medical Center in Springfield made a commitment beyond the world class health services that it delivers every day.  It worked with local building trades unions to build its new 600,000 square foot leading edge hospital providing jobs to 450 union trades men and women from the community to build the Hospital.  Watch the video.

President Obama has called on Congress to come together and advance common sense policies that will continue to turn our economy around while strengthening core economic fundamentals that will pave the way for continued growth and shared prosperity moving forward.  We commend the President and agree that this is a make or break moment for the American middle class and those who are striving to reach it.

The New England Carpenters Training Fund (NECTF) will be conducting interview's to establish an "Eligible Pool of Apprentice Applicants". Interviews will be conducted in late March and early April of 2012.

Unfortunately, too many firms have turned to other methods of gaining a competitive advantage, i.e., engaging in the illegal practices of the growing underground economy that include misclassifying employees as "independent contractors," failing to pay the appropriate state and federal tax and insurance obligations, cutting back on safety, and exploiting undocumented immigrants.

Contractors using laborers from a Philadelphia church shelter to renovate Boston’s Marriott Copley Place hotel are under investigation by state authorities for potential violations of wage laws and other worker protections, according to people briefed on the matter.  Attorney General Martha Coakley is investigating whether workers from Victory Outreach International, a church that provides shelter and rehabilitation services to people with drug and alcohol problems, were brought into the state to be used as cheap labor for the renovation project, according to those familiar with the case.

This is the central website for the Bread & Roses Centennial Committee.  The intent of the centennial is to tell the fascinating story of the strike while also using it as a lens with which we can discuss pertinent issues facing our society today and in the future.  Visit the site for information on events.

ONE HUNDRED years ago tomorrow, thousands of angry textile workers abandoned their looms and poured into the frigid streets of Lawrence. Like Occupy Wall Street in our own gilded age, this unexpected grassroots protest cast a dramatic spotlight on the problem of social and economic inequality. In all of US labor history, there are few better examples of the synergy between radical activism and indigenous militancy.

NYT Editorial: The Federal Minimum Wage Is $2.60 Below What It Should Be

The chairman of the NLRB said, “This rule is about giving all employees who have petitioned for an election the right to vote in a timely manner and without the impediment of needless litigation,” Mark Pearce, a Democrat, said in a statement.

There is an epidemic in the United States, a disease coursing through the veins of the American workforce. It has not been contracted by neglect, but by willful deception. It is worker misclassification.