ORDER-2019-7 : A Resolution in Support of United Steel workers District 4, Local #12012, Boston Gas Workers Union.

Transcript (~12 min @ 23:48)

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▶ 23:47 Speaker 2: I will not thank you this order will be sent to the committee on appropriations

▶ 23:50 Speaker 11: order 2019-7 a resolution in support of United Steelworkers district for local Local 12003, Boston Gas Workers Union.

▶ 24:01 Michael P. Zwirko: This order was also, excuse me, this order was sponsored by Ward 7 Alderman Forbes. I understand he would like to seek immediate consideration. You have the floor, Alderman.

▶ 24:10 Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. President.

▶ 24:14 Scott M. Forbes: I guess what I'd like to do is just read the resolution.

▶ 24:18 Speaker 2: I have a couple of- Excuse me, Alderman Forbes, you will be-

▶ 24:19 Scott M. Forbes: I'd like to seek immediate consideration on this order, yes, Mr. President.

▶ 24:22 Speaker 2: Will there be an objection? You may proceed.

▶ 24:28 Speaker 2: Excuse me, if I may, it's 12012.

▶ 24:30 Speaker 1: That's the local number.

▶ 24:33 Michael P. Zwirko: Thank you. Let the record reflect that the local number is 10212.

▶ 24:36 Speaker 11: 12012, thank you.

▶ 24:41 Speaker 2: Thank you, proceed Alderman Foreman.

▶ 24:42 Speaker 1: Thank you.

▶ 24:44 Scott M. Forbes: So the resolution here I would like to do is read the resolution as it stands, read a couple of letters from the city and also from our state legislatures and just a comment on my behalf as well. So this is a resolution in support of United Steelworkers District 4, Local 12012, Boston Gas Workers Union. Whereas National Grid serves numerous residential and commercial natural gas customers within the City of Melrose, and whereas United Steelworkers Local 12012, District 4, Boston Gas Workers Union represents the men and women who operate on gas lines and projects within the City of Melrose. Whereas, many members of the Steelworkers Union reside and work in the City of Melrose. Whereas, the United Steelworkers Union Local 12012 have been bargaining in good faith to achieve a fair and equitable contract with competitive wages and benefits for its members. Whereas, since the lockout on June 25th, the strike has gravely affected union members and their families as they are now struggling without pay and without health care. Whereas the safety and well-being of National Grid customers and the general public is contingent upon high quality and well-trained employees performing services and line inspections on natural gas projects. And whereas a prolonged lockout of national gas workers raises safety concerns for the general public in Melrose neighborhoods and strained service to National Grid customers. Now be it resolved that we, the members of the Board of Aldermen, urge National Grid to end the lockout of its gas workers so gas services line inspections and repairs may continue to be performed by qualified and properly trained union employees be it resolved that the city of Melrose provides heightened scrutiny safety inspections and monitoring on all national grid work being done during the lockout of national grids contract workers in that no new permits for gas contract construction projects be issued by this Board of Aldermen and be it further resolved on this day 20th day of August in the year 2018 a copy of this resolution be spread upon the records of

▶ 26:56 Scott M. Forbes: the Melrose Board of Aldermen if for me this resolution all comes down to public safety I don't think I could have said it any more eloquently than the people that spoke here in this room it is vital to have experienced people doing the work workers that are qualified certified and most important know our infrastructure in the community better than anybody else there are about 20 communities 20 surrounding communities as uh mr sincada has said that have already passed this

▶ 27:28 Scott M. Forbes: resolution in its current written form i also have a letter here from the city of melrose

▶ 27:34 Scott M. Forbes: that i'd like to read from john shenna the department of public works this was received this afternoon and we can make this part of the public record if that's okay allman forbes thank you for reaching out thank you for your email i noticed this order on this evening's agenda i reviewed the resolution and it appears to be placing a moratorium on new construction in other words gas infrastructure projects requiring a grant of location approval from the board of aldermen this is the case i do not see this as a substantial roadblock on daily operations any resolution more significant will require additional review as i feel it may impact daily operation of the department capital projects and more importantly residents in the community requiring services from the natural gas provider i'd be happy more to discuss this further john shenna department of public works i also received a letter this afternoon from our state legislature dated august 20th dear alderman forbes as the house and senate chairs of the joint committee of labor and workforce development we write in support of order 2019-7 as you correctly state in the resolution the lockout of national grid workers begin on june 25th and has continued with no site on end during this time locked out workers have gone without pay and access to health insurance in addition given the sensitive nature of natural gas installation and repair losing these highly trained professionals gives gives rise to serious safety concerns about work being performed during the lockout we urge national grid to end the lockout and for the parties to resolve their differences at the bargaining table to achieve a negotiated settlement that is fair on both sides. Thank you for filing this resolution and for allowing us to offer our comments. Sincerely, Senator Jason Lewis, State Representative Paul Broder. Again, I couldn't have said it better than the men and women that are here in this room. I think that it makes sense in the best interest of everybody in the City of Melrose from a public safety standpoint. Thank you.

▶ 29:34 Michael P. Zwirko: Thank you, Alderman Forbes. You had mentioned that you would like to add a letter to the record. Could you make the move for that now?

▶ 29:40 Scott M. Forbes: Yeah, I'd like to move to add both a letter from John Shannon, Director of Public Works, and also the joint letter from State Senator Jason Lewis and State Representative Paul Broder to the record.

▶ 29:50 Peter D. Mortimer: Second the motion to make that amendment.

▶ 29:53 Michael P. Zwirko: Thank you, so Alderman Forbes moves to amend the order to attach the correspondence he referenced and that has been seconded by Alderman Mortimer. discussion all those in favor of the motion to amend any opposed the motion

▶ 30:09 Michael P. Zwirko: to amend the order is now before you any other members of the board willing to speak on this order at this time Alderman Lipper-Garabedian I wanted to

▶ 30:18 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: just maybe through the president ask whether the sponsor would consider in the fifth whereas amending the word strike to be lockout my understanding is this is not a strike that in fact the employer has locked these workers out and so I would suggest that perhaps just as a friendly amendment we change that

▶ 30:46 Michael P. Zwirko: word understood is that all you had at this time Thank You Alderman Lipper-Garabedian any other members wishing to speak at

▶ 30:52 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: time alderman lemmerman thank you i want to thank the members of the union who came down to speak to us tonight and for expressing your concerns and giving us some of your experience that you've had during this time i also want to thank alderman forbes for bringing this forward i think it's very important order i also think as we heard several neighboring communities have done something similar and this is a great opportunity for us as a municipality to stand with our with our neighbors in support of these workers i did just want to to state that i had an opportunity to speak earlier with alderman wright who couldn't be here this evening but he did express his support also for this resolution and during the course of our conversation uh we actually discussed something that i think is reflected in what we heard from the members of the public this evening um the members of the union in um in various ways which is which is basically that the city requires that the gas workers that do work here in the city have certain certifications and certain skills and proof of those skills in order for them to do the work here and we're now in a situation where there are workers who are doing work that are not necessarily put to that same level of scrutiny scrutiny excuse me which is a public safety issue we sort of discussed how that you know could be resolved with the city having a policy in place perhaps to require that anyone doing work in this city on on the gas be held to the minimum standard that our workers who have been doing this for years and years and give us the comfort in knowing that they have the skills to do it I don't think that it actually in light of the letter from mr. Shana is appropriate to offer it as an amendment which we had considered because it sounds like we would need to really think through making sure that it did not significantly impact the residents and getting the services that they need but I do think it's worth having that discussion perhaps with DPW and with the city solicitor and hope we will do that going forward in implementing some sort of policy in the city that anyone doing this work particularly during this lockout has the skills and the experience and the certifications that these men and women have that have been doing the work in our city for four years and I wanted to also just convey that message from our colleague Alderman

▶ 33:19 Speaker 2: Wright as well thank you any other member wishing to speak on this at this

▶ 33:22 Michael P. Zwirko: time I believe there was a motion that was proffered by Alderman Lipper-Garabedian Alderman Forbes move to further amend the order with the language that

▶ 33:33 Scott M. Forbes: Alderman Lipper-Garabedian no I'm fine with with changing the term from strike

▶ 33:38 Michael P. Zwirko: to lockout that's fine second that you move to further amend based on the

▶ 33:41 Peter D. Mortimer: language yes second the motion to further amend further men has been

▶ 33:43 Michael P. Zwirko: seconded by alderman Mortimer that that motion to further them in the order is now before you all those in favor aye any opposed that being said motion to

▶ 33:54 Peter D. Mortimer: pass a resolution second the most second emotion for passage alderman Forbes moves

▶ 33:57 Michael P. Zwirko: to for passage of this order that has been seconded by alderman Mortimer any further discussion before we take the vote seeing none I would list like before we take the vote to say something on this myself I wanted to thank Alderman Forbes for bringing this forward and for working with me over the past couple of days on the resolution I think that this is not only prudent but it's right down the middle of the plate of where we should be in supporting our union brothers and sisters with this public safety aside union ranks have been decimated over the years and union workers are not only skilled to do the work that they do but they also enter into these agreements after they've agreed to them with their employers and they sat at the table for two years trying to further agree and yet they showed up to work one day and they were locked out that's just wrong it's unconscionable puts them and their families in financial hardship there was a great story on NPR last week ran for about eight minutes it was very well done that really moved me to want to do something here I'm really happy that Alderman Forbes did so if we don't stand up for our unions now when do we with that said the motion to further amend order for passage is before you all those in favor aye aye any opposed the order passes

▶ 35:16 Scott M. Forbes: move now to orders from committee oh do i have to motion a place on file um well it's for is that