The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited J.A.M. Construction Co. Inc., of Middletown for alleged "willful, repeat and serious violations" of excavation safety standards following an inspection at a Newport job site. The contractor faces a total of $69,600 in proposed penalties.

Congressman McGovern is proving no easy target for resurgent GOP

The 100+ Registered Nurses, members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association who work at North Adams Regional Hospital, North Adams MA, have given official notice to the Hospital for a strike to begin at 6 a.m. on Friday, September 3.  This follows many month of protracted and largely unproductive negotiations with the Hospital’s high-priced “Union Avoidance” consultant.

Among the many management proposals still being proposed by management that the nurses find unacceptable are those that would force nurses to accept staffing policies that would require a nurse to work a shift even if not previously scheduled; cancel a shift without notice; send a nurse home in the middle of a shift; require a nurse to work mandated overtime; remove any certainty about how many hours a week a nurse will work or how much money s/he will make; and remove a provision in the nurses’ contract that allows a nurse to decline overtime if she/he is exhausted or ill.

As the nurses prepare for the possibility of a strike (negotiations resume on August 31) they are looking for local and regional union and community allies to attend their pre-strike rally on

When: Thursday, Sept. 2, at 5 p.m.

Where: St. Elizabeth’s of Hungary Parish Center (Saint Anthony Drive, North Adams).

Here is a Google Map link for directions:  http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=st.+elizabeth's+parish+north+adams&fb=1&gl=us&hq=st.+elizabeth's+parish&hnear=North+Adams,+MA&cid=0,0,15487169268903564906&ei=H2B1TIOYD4W-sAOx1a2gDQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQnwIwAA

Please note that because at least one attendee at this rally who has Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. We are asking people who are coming to the Thursday rally to please refrain from using recently applied chemical hair treatments such as perms, hair straightener/relaxers, coloring and leave in conditioners or scented products such as aftershave, cologne, perfume, hairspray, mousse/gels, highly scented deodorant or soaps.  We also ask that people not smoke prior to the rally, or wear clothing which has been recently dry-cleaned or which is brand new, particularly leather products. 

Second, barring a last-minute contract settlement, the nurses are looking for union and community allies to join them on the Hospital picket line (North Adams Regional Hospital is at 71 Hospital Ave.), especially on Friday, September 3 (the strike begins at 6 a.m.) and through the Labor Day weekend.  Firm date/time commitments are best; but drop-ins are always welcome.

Here is a Google Map link for directions:  http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=0,0,14829129033442849820&fb=1&hq=regional+hospital&hnear=North+Adams,+MA&gl=us&daddr=71+Hospital+Avenue,+North+Adams,+MA+01247&geocode=17931512468606757400,42.705939,-73.108405&ei=WZh2TJ-6FsaqlAeq0djtCw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=directions-to&resnum=2&ved=0CCIQngIwAQ

Please invite family and co-workers to the rally and the picket line.  And please RSVP to this email to let me know if you are planning to attend the Thursday rally and/or the picket line and if you will be bringing anyone with you.  We especially need to know who is planning to attend the rally.

In solidarity,

Cookie

Barbara "Cookie" Cooke, RN

Associate Director

Massachusetts Nurses Association

Region 3 Community Organizer

Cell Phone: 508.345.9219

Safe Staffing Saves Lives!

The two Democratic candidates vying for their party’s nomination for the 10th Congressional District seat locked horns on Social Security and the Cape Wind project in a debate yesterday, two issues the men seemed to disagree on most sharply, while they also traded barbs over their salaries and pensions.

Haskon Aerospace employees and their union representative held a press conference Thursday morning making clear their intention of finding a company to keep their manufacturing site alive.

Peter Knowlton says that Esterline Technologies Corp., during the nearly nine years it has owned Taunton’s Haskon Aerospace, has never dealt fairly with its employees at the 336 Weir St. manufacturing facility.

The registered nurses at North Adams Regional Hospital are looking for community support as they near a Sept. 3 strike date.

"In a time of crisis, a family sticks together. We nurses are in crisis, and we need your support," begins a new 30-second television spot filmed by the local unit of the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

The police department's three captains will get an 11-percent boost in base pay and money for education incentives will be restored in a proposed settlement reached with the town.