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Boston Globe
23-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Retired Boston employees push for city to approve a cost of living increase to pension checks
Related : Advertisement Officials with some of the city's most prominent labor unions made their case for the increase before the Boston Retirement Board Friday morning. They were joined by Councilors Ed Flynn and Gigi Coletta Zapata, and council staff representing Councilors Ben Weber and Ruthzee Louijeune. Last year, the council unanimously approved a resolution calling for the COLA increase for retirees, which the board ultimately rejected. Speaking before the board Friday, Coletta Zapata acknowledged that the members must make a fiscally responsible decision, but argued that the city's retirees 'deserve' the modest bump. 'Our Boston retirees have literally built the city, they've dug trenches, they've kept us safe, they've cleaned our schools,' Coletta Zapata said. 'What I would ask is just to consider what the systemic liability is for choosing to keep people in poverty.' Advertisement Annual COLA payments for retired city of Boston employees are based on a set figure called the 'COLA base,' which is currently $15,000 in Boston. State law dictates that municipalities can approve an annual COLA payment for pensioners of up to 3 percent of the COLA base. Last summer, the Boston Retirement Board voted to give pensioners a COLA payment of $450, which is 3 percent of $15,000, for the 2025 fiscal year. Retirees, their labor unions, and city councilors are pushing the board to increase the COLA base from $15,000 to $18,000, which would amount to a $90 boost to annual COLA payments if the board approves the full 3 percent adjustment for the next fiscal year. The city has not increased the COLA base since 2021, when the board raised it from $14,000 to $15,000, according to Janey Frank, a retired Boston Public Schools teacher, who's a leader of the Boston Teachers Union retired teachers chapter. Retired city employees have only had three COLA base increases since 2010, and those increases combined have only raised pensioners annual cost of living payments from $360 to $450. An extra $90 a year, which amounts to $7.50 more a month, would matter to struggling pensioners, said Erik Berg, president of the Boston Teachers Union, before the retirement board Friday. 'For most of us, maybe all of us in this room ... that's not a cost that we need to think about,' Berg said. 'We don't need to think about splitting pills in half, paying the light bills, being able to survive in the city after 20, even 30 years of retirement, after devoting your career to the city. But retirees do. A modest increase is affordable to this city.' Advertisement Wu previously said she would support increasing the COLA base from $15,000 to $18,000 in a candidate forum during the 2021 mayoral election, said Elissa Cadillic, cochair of the City of Boston United Retirees and president of AFSCME Local 1526, the local Boston public library employees union. But when Cadillic and representatives of many of the city's most prominent labor unions met with Wu this week, she told them she couldn't 'in good conscience' advocate for that this year, Cadillic said. Wu made the same argument speaking to the Globe earlier this month. 'I will always support making sure that our retirees and those who have served the city have the most that we can responsibly deliver,' Wu said. But 'as mayor, I have to make decisions that are based on real time information on what is fiscally sustainable, and I still hope that at some point when the larger economy becomes more stable and that our municipal finances can reliably sustain this as well, that we can keep having that conversation.' Niki Griswold can be reached at
Boston Globe
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘May Day. We Love the Constitution.' Hundreds join worker rally, protest Trump, on Boston Common
Union members from the MIT graduate student union, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, Boston Teachers Union, and various locals of the Service Employees International Union gathered in solidarity near the Parkman Bandstand. They stood united, taking aim at President Trump's embrace of tariffs, federal job cuts, the attack on higher education, and other key pieces of his agenda. 'All power to the workers not the billionaires!' read a banner near the bandstand. 'MAY DAY — We Love the Constitution!' read one crimson sign. Handmade signs rose above the sea of heads, bearing slogans such as 'The power of the people is stronger than the people in power!' and 'Hands off our higher ed! Hands off our unions!' Advertisement 'Since Trump returned to office, he has made it his mission to attack the labor movement and workers left and right,' Amari Butler of the Party for Socialism and Liberation said from the bandstand. 'They want to weaken our movements by pitting us against each other. Are we going to let them get away with it?' 'No!' the crowd shouted. Tyler Picl-Ludwig, 22, came as 'part of a labor force that is not yet unionized, in support of the unions that are here, and hoping to one day build our own union.' 'That's what this rally is all about, is every individual workforce coming together and not only representing ourselves, but also upholding each other,' he said. 'Because this country is built off of workers.' Advertisement 'Workers' issues matter for all of us,' said Michael Berger, 58, of Boston. 'So solidarity is really important. And those of us who have any kind of privilege, whether we're union members and are somewhat protected because we have a union, or whether in any other way we're more protected, it's important for us to stand up for those on the margins who are vulnerable.' 'It's really important that we protect everybody, because otherwise no one's protected,' he said. 'It's about allyship,' said Peter Cornell, 26, a private school teacher who came to the protest despite having no 'direct ties to what we're protesting today.' 'It's about showing up for what you believe in, even if you're not in that exact community. … I came today, and I hope they show up for LGBTQ+ rights because I am LGBTQ+.' Solidarity was the word of the evening, even for issues beyond traditional labor. Ukrainian, Palestinian, and pride flags flew alongside American flags. 'Collective action is the way forward,' shouted SEIU 509 president Dave Foley in his speech. Elizabeth King, 75, spoke about how she rejects the idea of the flag as an antithesis to protest. 'Everybody is a patriot who wants America to be a democracy,' she said.
Axios
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Axios
What to expect from Wu's address
👋 Mike Deehan here, back with Spill of the Hill, my column unraveling Massachusetts politics. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is set to deliver her annual State of the City address tonight. It's her first big opportunity this election year to outline her coming campaign in front of voters and to respond to building criticism of the way she runs City Hall. Why it matters: Any big speech from an incumbent on the ballot will be scrutinized as a campaign moment, so expect clear goals to be outlined tonight in addition to the normal victory laps of a first-term mayor. Between the lines: Wu has a couple fires burning that voters may want her to address, but don't expect the mayor to spend too much time on the trickier issues: The pressure from community groups to stop the renovation of White Stadium into a home for a new professional women's soccer team. Her recent 180 on some city bike-lane protections and admission that her administration was hasty about them. Her opponent, nonprofit leader and billionaire's son Josh Kraft, and who's campaigning against what he's characterized as Wu's regnant leadership style. Then there are the real big problems in Boston: schools, housing affordability, and a recovering economy facing uncertain support from Washington. Wu has made affordability a cornerstone of her tenure, but national economic trends have mostly overwhelmed anything a mayor could hope to accomplish in one term. What we're watching: Wu has some political wins that have flown under the radar. She was endorsed for reelection by health care, public service and property service workers this month, partially solidifying her support on the left as she prepares to take on more moderate interests in the campaign. The intrigue: One dissatisfied union plans to be very vocal tonight at Wu's speech: the Boston Teachers Union. The BTU is in negotiations over a new contract and increased wages. Teachers will be out in front of the MGM Music Hall to "rally" — not protest — for Wu to accept their asks for higher pay. The big picture: Wu's speech probably won't vary much from previous addresses: a progress report and a vision for the future.
Boston Globe
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Markey, teachers unions denounce Trump's move to dismantle the Department of Education
However, Markey during a press conference Monday at the 'The Trump administration has set its sights on gutting public education,' Markey said. Advertisement Markey said he would vote against Related : Speaking to reporters last week, Markey, during Monday's press conference, blasted McMahon. 'We know what her mission is going to be. It is going to be to sell out the children in our country who need it the most — the educational opportunities that are being provided right now — for tax breaks for billionaires,' Markey said. Advertisement Lea-Antoinette Serena, the executive vice president of the Boston Teachers Union, said Trump's efforts to shut down the Education Department was not just about an agency in Washington, but was part of an attack on public education. 'It's an attack on every student, every teacher, every classroom and every family that relies on a strong, well funded and equitable public education system,' said Serena, who attended the city's schools as a first-generation American. Last week, One of the education department's primary roles is distributing billions in student aid dollars to the states, including $18 billion through Title 1, which supports students living in poverty, and $15 billion through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, which helps students receiving special education services. The department administers the student loans and federal financial aid colleges rely on for revenue, distributes federal grants to K-12 schools with low-income students, funds special education programs, collects data, and enforces federal antidiscrimination laws. Related : The Department of Education, Advertisement Since then, the department's headcount has approximately doubled, to 4,300 employees, and its annual budget grew to $60 billion. It is the smallest of the 15 Cabinet-level departments. In Massachusetts, the agency provided more than $720 million in funding to Massachusetts during fiscal 2024, according to US Senator Edward J. Markey's office. That money included $366 million for 182,000 students with disabilities, which represents about a fifth of the state's student population, according to Markey's office said. Funding also included $289 million to schools enrolling 425,000 students from low-income backgrounds, and $20.5 million for 97,000 English learners, Markey's statement said. The Project 2025 report The Office for Civil Rights within the Education Department enforces federal civil rights laws in schools, investigating claims of discrimination based on sex, race, and disability status. Project 2025 recommends transferring responsibilities for civil rights in education to the Department of Justice. Trump, in December, called for Advertisement 'We want to move education back to the states,' Trump said in the interview. While Trump moves to shutter the nation's education department, he hasn't sworn off federal involvement in schools entirely. Early in his second term, Trump has already issued several directives for the federal government to promote 'patriotic' learning in K-12 schools and Trump ordered federal He also This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates. Hilary Burns, Mike Damiano, and Mandy McLaren of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Auzzy Byrdsell can be reached at
Boston Globe
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘Every teacher I've talked to is completely freaked out by it': Trump's order on critical race theory thrusts White House into the classroom
Critical race theory is an academic s In Massachusetts, the largest teachers unions, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, and the Boston Teachers Union, have denounced Trump for trying to politicize the nation's schools. Advertisement 'If we're not taught that history and we don't know what happened, then we don't understand why things are the way they are today,' said Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts. 'And then I think it undermines democracy in the longer run.' Related : While lessons involving race and racism are taught in public schools, many K-12 school systems, including those in Massachusetts, said critical theory is not. 'The simple answer is, 'no,' we do not teach CRT,' according to the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, in a 2021 position paper. Trump's order said federal money can't be used on the 'indoctrination' of children, including 'radical gender ideology and critical race theory.' Trump's order, which also calls for a bar on many sexuality issues, describes critical race theory as an 'inherently racist policy.' Advertisement Bridges said students benefit from a complete telling of the nation's history. 'It really doesn't set children up to be responsible adults and citizens,' Bridges said. 'All of those moments of American history really provide context for understanding the present.' During his last presidential run, Trump campaigned on stripping federal funding from schools or programs that Trump said MacRae, a Bourne School Committee member, 'We need to focus on spending the taxpayers' resources on education not indoctrination,' MacRae said. William A. Jacobson, a law professor at Cornell Law School and president of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, also supported Trump's order. Jacobson's organization is a Rhode Island nonprofit that operates 'Teaching children in public schools to focus on and assess their lives based on skin color is extremely damaging to the children, sets children against each other, and tears the country further apart, particularly when parents are excluded and demonized for objecting to such doctrines,' Jacobson said in a statement. Advertisement While federal grants are only a portion of local education budgets, Trump's order could be far-reaching, some educators said. For Marcus Walker, a humanities teacher at Fenway High School in Boston, Trump's order not only threatens academic freedom for educators, but he says students will also lose out if their schooling is curtailed by political decree. And that's damaging for a democracy, he said. 'As citizens, we are obligated to be responsible. We're obligated to understand our government, to learn how the government works, and we're obligated to get accurate information,' Walker said. 'All of that gets short-circuited if we're teaching history that is dishonest.' Trump's order on education was part of a leaders spinning. He tried to freeze Related : K-12 schools and universities across the country have been scrubbing references to diversity and equity, after Trump decreed that organizations with diversity, equity, and inclusion policies could lose access to federal contracts and grants. And K-12 schools have also found themselves on another political fault line — Advertisement Rajesh Sampath, an associate professor of the philosophy of justice, rights, and social change at Brandeis University in Waltham, argued Trump's recent orders are meant to push the power of the presidency as far as possible. 'He'll push the constitutional limits of the executive branch,' Sampath said. Angela Onwuachi-Willig, a law professor and dean of Boston University's School of Law, criticized Trump's order. She said she knows of no CRT scholar who teaches that members of one race, color, sex, or national origin 'are morally or inherently superior' to someone else. 'If the executive order is intended to target or ban CRT, it is misguided in its efforts and displays a lack of understanding about CRT. Critical Race Theory focuses on structural racism, and the Executive Order does not,' Onwuachi-Willig said. Eliminating critical race theory from the nation's schools was a priority included in Project 2025, a conservative outline for overhauling government. Trump repeatedly distanced himself from the document as a candidate, but many who contributed to it have joined his current administration The Project 2025 report said the 'noxious tenets of 'critical race theory' and 'gender ideology' should be excised from curricula in every public school in the country.' Trump's order against critical race theory called for schools to offer 'patriotic education' to students, and reestablished the 1776 Commission from Trump's first term. The commission's guide for teaching history plays down the role of slavery in the United States, and criticized the civil rights movement for taking actions that 'ran counter to the lofty ideals of the founders,' according to the document. Advertisement Learning about these subjects is vital to creating informed voters, said Jordan, the retired Haverhill teacher. 'If you simply say to students, we have never had a problem, everything is fine, then the fundamentals of democracy start to come off its wheels,' Jordan said. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. John Hilliard can be reached at
