OUR ADVOCACY

RENOVATE MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOLS NOW

By: Business Manager Bob Butler

As more and more children return to school in person, a critical question looms: how do we ensure our schools are safe for students and teachers?

Getting staff vaccinated, maintaining social distancing, and wearing masks are all key to students’ safe return to schools. What has also become clear is the importance of the structural integrity of our school buildings themselves. Over the past year, COVID-19 has further exposed major cracks in our nation’s infrastructure. Many of the buildings we lived and worked in were not prepared for a global pandemic. Massachusetts is home to some of the oldest educational institutions in the country and in turn, some of the oldest educational buildings in the country. Nearly two-thirds of Boston’s 127 schools were built before World War II, and less than half of those have been fully renovated since then. According to a report by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, 47.9% of school buildings were determined to need repair. To return to school safely, the Commonwealth must immediately invest in state-of-the-art facilities, including up-to-date air quality safety systems.

We know we must all stay vigilant to protect against another surge of the disease — up-to-date air ventilation systems can help keep us healthy and prevent the spread. We know that what many teachers were forced to do this past winter — opening a window to keep air flowing in the classroom — is simply a bandaid on a bigger problem: the inferior air quality of our schools. Prioritizing air quality improvements in our schools this summer will put us in a good position to safely welcome all students back to the classroom this fall.

There are currently four proposed bills that address the air quality in our schools on Beacon Hill. If passed, these bills would begin to provide much-needed improvements to our state’s public school buildings and implement measures that would further ensure a safe return to in-person schooling. The bills, which have broad, strong support from over 35 co-sponsors, call for installing and monitoring improved filtration systems in our public school buildings, ensuring a minimum of four air changes per hour of fresh air.

Building trades workers have already proven they can get the job done in times of crisis. At the beginning of the pandemic, experienced union workers converted the Boston Convention Center into a field hospital for COVID-19 patients in a matter of days, including installing high-quality air ventilation systems. Just as we rose to that challenge, we can rise to this one to keep students safer for generations to come.

A year of remote schooling has shown us that kids need to be in the classroom with their teachers and friends. There’s no substitute for that. Alongside other health and safety measures, this legislation can support safe, supportive learning environments for all, from preschoolers to college students to paraprofessionals and professors.

And by passing this legislation as soon as possible, we can also create thousands of much-needed jobs, and capitalize on industry-leading expertise from our state’s union tradesmen and women. We can begin to heal from a year of tragedy and implement the changes we need to improve the health and safety of our children. Our students deserve top-quality facilities to match their education, to learn and thrive and grow. We owe it to our future and our children’s future.

CLOSING THE PRE-FABRICATION LOOPHOLE

Across the Commonwealth, dishonest contractors are flouting the state’s prevailing wage laws, exploiting a glaring loophole that allows them to pay workers on public construction projects as little as possible. We’ve fought this loophole in the Massachusetts State House before, and we need to end it for good.

Two bills, H.2046 and S.1189, co-sponsored by Representative Jeffrey Roy (D-10th Norfolk) and Senator Paul Feeney (D-Bristol and Norfolk) have been introduced to close the prevailing wage loophole and stop rewarding these companies. We must pass these bills to protect these workers and ensure that public projects are constructed safely, professionally, solidly, and fairly. Please stay tuned for how to get involved to stand up for Bay State working families.

FIGHTING “RIGHT TO WORK” IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

We’ve been working hard over the last few months to help defeat harmful “Right to Work” (RTW) legislation in New Hampshire, and our advocacy is paying off. More than 1,700 union members signed up to oppose SB61 ahead of the committee hearing. And legislators have continued to postpone the vote, which was originally slated for early April.

More and more legislators are recognizing that RTW deprives workers of their freedom to form strong unions, which could cost our families about $10,000 per year. It could also increase the likelihood of workplace fatalities by as much as 49%.

We can’t let up now. Call your representative and tell

them to vote “NO” on “Right to Work.” Together, we can make clear once and for all that anti-worker legislation has no place in the Granite State.

TAKE ACTION, CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS, AND GET TALKING POINTS BY VISITING SMW17BOSTON.ORG.