Labor & Workers
Labor unions, workers' rights, and employment
State lawmakers send letter urging Lifespan to do right by frontline hospital workers and support staff
"If Lifespan is truly committed to investing in their “talented and dedicated employees”, as stated on the company website, then providing hazard pay to our frontline hospital workers and support staff should not be an issue." Six state...
Lifespan continues to deny hazard pay to frontline workers, rewards managers
"Lifespan should know better, and Dr. Babineau should be ashamed of playing favorites with federal stimulus money." Lifespan continues to refuse hazard pay for frontline hospital workers during the COVID pandemic, but this week awarded a...
Hotel workers in Providence rally to guarantee their jobs after the pandemic
"I don't know what my family will do if I don't get my job back once this is all over," said hotel worker Angelique Meas. "This pandemic has been stressful enough as it is. We shouldn't have to worry about if we'll get our jobs back too....
Bannister Nursing Home supporters and caregivers hold march for safe staffing and fair wages
"If you want a better nursing home, if you want your nursing home to grow and for us to recommend people, please, safe staffing!" said Bannister CNA Tenah Nimmo-Powell to Bannister management. "And a decent raise." About three dozen care...
Bannister Nursing Home caregivers begin 3-day strike to demand safe staffing and better wages
"They call us heroes. They call us heroes so we need heroes pay. Don't call us heroes and treat us like dirt." "I work in supplies. I'm a CNA but I work in supplies and transportation," Tenah Nimmo-Powell told me outside the Bannister Ce...
RI's first unionized coffee shop needs your support to become worker-owned
"We, the cafe workers, believe a new worker-owned business model will benefit and inspire the communities we serve and the communities we represent." Last week staff of a popular Providence, Rhode Island cafe, White Electric Coffee, secu...
School bus drivers and monitors authorize work action against Durham
The company has refused to commit to the most basic safety protocols including temperature and symptom checks of students at bus stops, has failed to properly train workers on cleaning protocols and health hazards associated with cleanin...
IATSE marches across Providence to draw attention to the plight of theater workers
"We need people to know to know that individuals, companies and organizations in our industry are on the brink of bankruptcy, and many workers have been pushed to the brink of homelessness, if not actually homeless." Nearly two hundred m...
Governor Raimondo intervenes ahead of nursing home strike; commits to fair resolution of safe staffing issue
“My office is fully committed to working with the Legislature and the leadership of SEIU District 1199 to reach a fair resolution of the staffing issues you have raised and to develop a minimum staffing standard.” From a press release: O...
With a month to go before school starts in Cumberland, school bus company won't negotiate contract in good faith, say workers
"We want to make sure we get them to school safely, that they're protected and we're protected, because that's what it's all about. We drive the most precious cargo in the world. We need an agreement with this company before school start...