This year looks again as if it will be a very busy year for the COPE Committee. The committee has been working on the Local’s legislative agenda at the state house. We have numerous bills we are interested in pursuing to improve the working lives of our members. Municipal Lighting Plant Legislation is a bill designed so that cities and towns can break away from the independently owned utility (IOU) companies to start a municipal lighting plant. We are opposed to this legislation on numerous fronts. The city or town would lose significant property tax revenue from the IOU if they set up their own lighting plants. In these difficult economic times these cities and towns can not afford to give up tax revenue. Furthermore the cost of setting up a lighting plant is very expensive. Again in these tough economic times when most cities and town are trying to cut expenses this would be far too costly.

An Act To Promote Utility System Reliability: this bill would change the Deregulation Restructuring Act and force utilities to bring rosters back to the 1997 levels.

An Act To Promote Safe Operation Of Customer Owned Utility Vaults: this bill is to protect our workers who have to work in customer owned vaults by mandating yearly inspections for proper entrance and egress, proper emergency lighting, and proper ventilation.

An Act Relative To Utility Service Contact Centers: there are two call center bills. Both bills address if you do business in Massachusetts your contact center must remain in the state.

An Act Relative To The Safety And Protection Of Utility Construction And Work Sites: stating that utility sites need police details for the safety and protection of our workers.

These bills are just a sample of legislation that we are either supporting or fighting in an effort to protect our work and our workers. For a complete list members can contact me at the Union Hall.

Local 369 Endorses Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty for Mayor of Boston

This past Sunday at our March Membership Meeting Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty spoke to the membership asking for the Local’s support and endorsement for Mayor of the city of Boston. Councilor Flaherty spoke on the issues facing the city of Boston’s union workers. Many of these issues hit home with our own membership. We support his stance when it comes to these issues and the current contract negotiations with the Firefighters. At the conclusion of the membership meeting the COPE Committee met and unanimously endorsed Councilor Flaherty’s candidacy for Mayor of Boston. I would once again like to thank the committee for their hard work.