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Massachusetts AFL-CIO Testimony Before Joint Standing Committee on Labor and Workforce Development
Bob Haynes, MA AFL-CIO Testimony ~ Wednesday February 13, 2008 ~ 10 AM ~ Room B-2
LABOR AND WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT
Chair David M. Torrisi of North
Andover Chair
Thomas McGee of
Vice Chair John W. Scibak of South
Hadley Vice Chair
Pam Resor of
Paul C. Casey of
Colleen M. Garry of
Demetrius J. Atsalis of
Barbara A. L’Italien of
Sean Curran of
Martha M. Walz of
Thomas J. Calter, III of
I am here today to testify on behalf of a number of pieces
of legislation that are of importance to the working families of this
Commonwealth. I am here today to talk about safety and fairness in the
workplace. I am here to urge you to do the right thing for workers in
First, allow me to register the full support of the
Massachusetts AFL-CIO for House Bill 1866/Senate Bill 1088, An Act to Provide a
Safe Workplace for Employees of the Commonwealth and Its Political
Sub-Divisions. Amazingly, public sector workers in
The over 100 work-related fatalities since 1990, and the thousands of injuries in that same time period are inexcusable and we have a chance to ensure that similar accidents, similar injuries and similar loss of life do not happen to workers and their families in the future. We have a chance today – excuse me, YOU have a chance today – to say to families of workers like Roger LeBlanc, a 39-year-old MassPort electrician who died on the job three and a half years ago in an entirely preventable accident, that Massachusetts is a state that is committed to providing for a basic level of safety procedures in our public workplaces. You can prove that this General Court values life and values the contributions of our public servants. You can prove that you value public service by instituting basic measures of safety precautions and protections for our public sector workers. It is a travesty that it has taken this long, but you can end the travesty by moving positively on this bill.
In addition to demonstrating your respect for the lives of public servants, you can also do a fiscally responsible thing for the Commonwealth with this bill. Those of us in labor are constantly defending the necessity and fairness of Workers’ Compensation. Workers who are injured on the job need the vital safety net that is Workers’ Compensation. However, the Commonwealth can spare itself of some of the more than $50 million in Workers’ Compensation costs for injuries and illnesses suffered by state workers because basic safety provisions do not currently exist. If you go down beyond the state level to the county and municipal level, that number soars to $200 million. At a time when we’re talking about rising costs of public service and declining public revenues, it seems to me that we want to do everything we can to limit costs like these. Since most of these injuries, illnesses and even deaths are preventable with the institution of the basic safety measures provided for in this bill you should do right by our workers and our budget by reporting this bill out favorably
Additionally, I am here to register the strong opposition of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO towards House Bill 1795, An Act Clarifying the Definition of an Employee. This legislature worked very hard in recent years to clarify the definition of an employee. You worked tirelessly and correctly to address the fraudulent practices of those who would 10-99 their employees, label those who were truly employees as “independent contractors”, and deny the state the requisite payroll, workers’ compensation, unemployment and other taxes rightfully due to us. You addressed the uneven playing field that 10-99 and independent contractor abuses had created in our economy. This bill seeks to undo all your good work and take what is now a much more even playing field and send it back to the days when employers abused the system to enhance their competitive advantage at the expense of the workers and the Commonwealth. I urge you to please protect our workers by giving them the protections they rightfully deserve by giving them the rights and benefits that come with being employees. Independent contractors are denied legal protections under basic labor laws. Do not endorse the notion that employers should be able to continue to abuse workers and rob the state of literally millions of dollars in various tax revenues by misusing the independent contractor concept. Do not endorse the notion that we should continue to reward those who cheat and abuse the system, and punish the good employers who play by the rules and do right by the workers and the Commonwealth. Reject House Bill 1795 out of hand immediately with a negative report and put to rest this ridiculous debate about who is an employee. We know what an employee is and this bill seeks to undermine that concept and hurts workers and the Commonwealth in the process.
Additionally, HB 1830 needs to be addressed. The hard working men and women of the Steamship Authority, members of the Marine Engineers’ Benefactors Association (MEBA), have been waiting for years to be given binding arbitration to settle their contracts. They have been forced to go far too long without contracts and are willing to subject themselves to a third party to try and get a resolution that is fair. I would say to you that it is categorically unfair and defeats the process of collective bargaining if the employer at the Steamship Authority can delay and delay and deny the workers a contract they deserve. Give these workers binding arbitration like you’ve done with other key public personnel, particularly around transportation.
