Nobody said this was going to be easy. The Herald has a breaking story that police unions shut down two MWRA work sites this morning that were not going to be covered by police details. The crews were simply going to open a couple manholes to check meters. My guess is we’ll see more of this as Mass Highway starts trying to use flagmen on their sites.
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Were they worried about the MWRA worker’s safety?
Credit: flickr.com.
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p>Could we see sympathy action by Dunkin’ franchisees across the Commonwealth?
If they are trying to win over people, that’s probably not the best route to take for the police union.
I am 100% not opposed to the police unions trying to defend their turf.
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p>I still disagree with them and hope we move forward on more flaggers, all across the state, but police should picket if they want. Though, they shouldn’t shut down the sites IMO. Work needs to get done.
If the IBEW tried to shut down a worksite completely through physical blockage or intimidation, I think some of the union members might find themselves in the custody of these same officers. The cops should not be allowed to halt/interfere with maintenance work. Period.
NECN has footage from the scene in Everett. In Revere, the crew was told that their ‘traffic plan was faulty’, It appears from the NECN clip that the mayor of Everett guaranteed the union a certain level of detail work when they last negotiated their contract and now that level is threatened if the flagman policy is successful. Does anybody know if that is a common practice? Seems pretty shaky to me, making promises based on things not under your control.
maybe the contracts would have to expire before the state plan can be legally implemented.
“Peaceful” sort of suggests that work could have continued, if the MWRA crew had wanted to continue, which may indeed have been the case. Probably they just didn’t want the trouble, or wanted more clarification from somebody before working in the midst of a protest.
… they will increase the cost of projects. Not the greatest PR move in the middle of a budget deficit.