Dear allies, 

One year ago, we witnessed the unthinkable actions of insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol. It was difficult to watch the new year begin in tragedy, but we remained united in our fight for racial, gender, environmental, and economic justice. Together, we will take lessons from 2021 and strengthen the call to action in 2022.

We are excited to see Boston’s fare-free bus pilot program, a testament of impactful change we can create for our communities when we work together. As we have seen, families rely heavily on the MBTA to access necessary services such as education and health care. Achieving these critical steps towards accessible transit enables low-income families to put money towards basic survival needs such as housing, food, and child care, and brings us closer to our goal of shaping a transit system that works for all.

Recently, Massachusetts decided to launch a “test and stay” program for child care centers that will keep young children and staff in classrooms instead of quarantining at home. This is a step forward in providing child care to working families, as the number of COVID-19 and Omicron cases continue to rise.

We hope to see you fighting alongside us in the advancement for environmental justice, accessible child care, and equitable public transit. Below you will find opportunities to engage and continue the fight on many issues that affect our communities and allies. Please spread the word by sharing our Facebook posts as well as following and retweeting us on Twitter. You can sign up to receive regular updates from CLU.

Contribute to Our Efforts 
Help us ring in the new year by contributing to our campaigns as we fight for working families and our communities in the Greater Boston area. Let’s hit the ground running and tackle the new year with renewed energy to build a better future. To make a donation today, visit Community Labor United.

Rally and Hearing on Siting Reform Bill H.3336
Join the Environmental Justice Legislative Table and the Green Justice Coalition for a rally ahead of the Siting Reform bill hearing on H.3336. They’re fighting for new policies, including an official review of the historic impacts of nearby facilities on environmental justice populations, environmental, climate, and public health impacts. Additionally, the bill demands that the board must consider climate risks in the planning, design, and engineering of any future projects.

The bill, formerly known as, An Act relative to energy facilities siting reform to address environmental justice, climate, and public health, will be heard by the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy on January 11 at 11:30 a.m.
 

Watch & Act Party for Siting Justice
January 11, 2022 | 11:00 a.m.
RSVP here

Victory for St. Vincent Nurses!
Congratulations to St. Vincent Hospital nurses who overwhelmingly approved a new contract, officially ending the 300-plus-day strike. St. Vincent Nurses voted 487-9 in favor of the contract ratification. The nurses, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, owner and operator of St. Vincent, came to a tentative agreement last month after more than nine months of striking, which marked the longest strike in state history. The agreement outlines new staffing additions to improve patient-to-nurse ratio, security measures to increase nurse safety, better health care benefits for part-time workers, and more!

Read more about this victory at the Telegram & Gazette.

Join the fight against Big Tech to drop Proposition 22-copycat ballot measure 
The recent ballot initiative filed by Big Tech giants Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart in Massachusetts would permanently create a “second class” status for drivers, delivery workers, and other “app-based” workers in Massachusetts, more than 70 percent of whom are Black, brown and immigrant workers. The Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights, a growing alliance of consumers, drivers, delivery workers and organizations, is fighting against the expected $100 million campaign funded by Uber and other tech giants, calling out the measure as exploitative, racially discriminatory and deceptive, similar to a fight in California last year. 

Big Tech corporations like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash are trying to run roughshod over workers’ rights and voters’ rights with little regard for the law. We must stand together to ensure that Massachusetts upholds the  protections our workers and consumers deserve. 

Join our campaign and demand that Uber/Big Tech drop their Proposition 22-copycat ballot measure and follow Massachusetts law. Visit https://noprop22ma.com/ to learn more. 

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! Rest, recuperate, and vaccinate
Every Massachusetts worker is entitled to emergency COVID-19 sick leave. Effective May 28, 2021, employers are required to make paid leave time available to employees for COVID-related illnesses, quarantine, and vaccinations, and then may apply for reimbursement from the state. Know your rights on the job, and learn more about the COVID-19 Temporary Emergency Paid Sick Leave Program.

Read more at Mass.gov.

It’s time to lift the ban on rent control!
Join Homes for All Massachusetts, City Life / Vida Urbana, and allies at a virtual press conference on January 11 to urge MA legislators to lift the ban on rent control. Please consider recording and submitting a video testimony to help advance this cause. There’s only 4 days left to testify! To sign up for the action alert list and stay updated for written testimony information, click here.
 

Lift The Ban On Rent Control Now
January 11, 2022 | 10:30 a.m.
Submit a video testimony today

Massachusetts’ biggest climate wins and losses of 2021
“It was a year of head-spinning climate news: Massachusetts endured extreme weather, in the form of a scorching June and a sopping July. Lawmakers signed landmark climate legislation that commits the state to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and the state accelerated its development of offshore wind. As the year drew to a close, though, key pieces of the plan to kick fossil fuels and make the grid more green sputtered and died, raising questions about whether the state’s goals really are within reach.

We asked four experts about the year that was, and what to look forward to in 2022.”

Read more from the article on our climate wins from Samantha Montaño, GreenRoots Director of Organizing.

Thank you for reading and taking action!

In Solidarity,
Community Labor United