The plant on Industrial Drive will close on December 15, after the company previously eyed shutting down the facility in 2023.
Employment
Posted inOpinion
Unions are answer to state’s labor shortage
MASSACHUSETTS HAS a crisis on its hands. The Commonwealth faces an alarming labor shortage, with fewer people participating in the workforce and more of the Commonwealth’s residents choosing to move […]
Posted inEconomy
Women have gone missing from the workforce
AS MASSACHUSETTS employers struggle to attract and retain workers, it’s worth remembering that experienced talent already exists here in the Commonwealth among the tens of thousands of caregivers who have […]
Posted inOpinion
Designing benefit plans for ‘platform workers’
THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY has seen significant growth in the “platform workforce:” workers who complete tasks via apps or platforms that allow them to control their own schedule. As of August, […]
Posted inEnvironment
Electricity costs skyrocket along with oil usage
THE NEW ENGLAND power grid kept the lights on across the region in January, but at a very high cost financially and in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The cost […]
Posted inEnvironment
Close calls as region’s power grid walks a tightrope
This story has been updated. THE OVERSEER of the New England power grid warned on Monday that the region is walking a tightrope this winter, flirting with emergency situations that […]
Posted inOpinion
Why we need to identify Green Zones
PRESIDENT BIDEN has signed an infrastructure bill that includes $21 billion for environmental remediation and $150 billion to boost clean energy and promote “climate resilience.” This money presents a tremendous […]
Posted inEnvironment
Maine judge deals blow to Mass. climate change plan
A MAINE JUDGE dealt a blow on Thursday to a key Massachusetts initiative to address climate change by importing hydroelectricity via a 145-mile transmission line running from Quebec down to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Maine judge to rule quickly on transmission line injunction
MAINE DISTRICT Court Judge Michael Duddy said on Wednesday that he would rule in the next two days on whether to grant a preliminary injunction putting on hold a law […]
Posted inEconomy
Unemployment insurance deficit may have vanished
This story has been updated with a Baker administration response. THE DEFICIT in the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund, expected by some to run into billions of dollars eventually, has apparently […]
Posted inEconomy
Reckoning coming as fed unemployment benefits ending
MORE THAN 300,000 Massachusetts residents will lose federal unemployment insurance benefits at the end of this week, and no one is sure what that will mean for them or the […]
Posted inOpinion
Consider the potential of water utility jobs
“WHEN I GROW UP, I want to be a wastewater operator.” That is probably not a commonly heard sentiment, but we think it should be, especially for our young people […]
Posted inOpinion
Living wage needed for human service workers
THROUGHOUT THE CORONAVIRUS pandemic, we have heralded the selfless heroism of our health care workforce and first responders. The doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, EMTs, firefighters, and police continue to […]
Posted inThe Download
A failure to communicate in North Adams
Crane Stationery Co. in North Adams needs to do a better job of communicating. On April 29, the company’s chief operations officer, Dean Daigle, sent an email to employees that […]
Posted inEconomy
25% of state workforce files jobless claims
NEARLY 900,000 MASSACHUSETTS workers, representing almost a quarter of the state’s entire labor force, have filed new claims for unemployment benefits since mid-March as the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread […]
Posted inOpinion
COVID-19 cost Mass. households $673m last week
THE CORONAVIRUS SHUTDOWN cost Massachusetts households at least $673 million in earnings last week alone, according to an extrapolation of data gathered from a survey conducted by the MassINC Polling […]
Posted inThe Download
U-Haul won’t hire smokers in Mass., 20 other states
Police and fire departments across Massachusetts stopped hiring smokers in 1997 as part of a pension system overhaul. In 2011, the Massachusetts Hospital Association implemented the same policy for its […]
Posted inUncategorized
U-Haul won’t hire smokers in Mass., 20 other states
POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS across Massachusetts stopped hiring smokers in 1997 as part of a pension system overhaul. In 2011, the Massachusetts Hospital Association implemented the same policy for its […]
Posted inEconomy
Lockout finally over at National Grid
THE SIX-MONTH LOCKOUT at National Grid ended on Monday when employees approved a new contract that appears to give the utility what it wanted in two key areas while offering […]
Posted inEconomy
Natl. Grid, steelworkers reach tentative deal
NATIONAL GRID and the union locals representing 1,250 steelworkers said late Wednesday night that they have negotiated a new contract that, if ratified, would end a bitter, six-month lockout that […]
Posted inEconomy
Steelworkers call counter-proposal fair, reasonable
THE UNION LOCALS representing 1,250 locked-out steelworkers made a counter-proposal to National Grid on Wednesday but declined to provide any details about the terms of their offer. The two sides […]
Posted inOpinion
Disabled not making gains they should
THE SIGNS BROADCAST from storefronts: HELP WANTED. The federal government says we have achieved “full employment,” that there are currently more jobs than people. The news media reports on particular […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
For casino job hunters, good news and bad
SOME GOOD NEWS recently for the MGM casino in Springfield and for folks hoping to land jobs there: The casino now has more discretion to handle criminal background checks for […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Tipping point for Confederate statues
After this month’s white nationalist rally in Virginia, statues of Confederate leaders are falling across the South. Protests by white supremacists against the planned removal of a Robert E. Lee […]
