State House News Service | By Andy Metzger | August 20, 2015 The MBTA plans to test the appetite among private bus companies to provide service on all of the express bus routes, the lesser-traveled routes in Boston and the suburbs and late night service. All 93 buses and their 65 drivers that would be…
Boston Globe | By Nicole Dungca | August 20, 2015 The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is exploring the privatization of more than two dozen bus routes, a move that the president of the T’s largest union says amounts to a “betrayal” from Governor Charlie Baker’s administration. James O’Brien, the president of the Boston Carmen’s Union, said…
Dear brothers and sisters, As you may have heard, last night’s regular meeting of the membership was standing room only (click here to see more photos). President O’Brien went over the recent legislative and privatization update, and then informed the membership of a meeting with the new MBTA chief administrator, Brian Shortsleeve, who is a…
Dear members, Effective July 7, 2015, Governor Baker signed a $38 billion dollar budget in law, which included the relaxation of the Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA), otherwise known as the Pacheco Law, for three years. For those who were not able to attend our most recent membership meeting on Thursday, July 21, 2015, below is…
Boston Globe | By Sarah Roberts | August 12, 2015 Quick thinking and bold action were all in a day’s work for one MBTA bus driver who steered his bus into a car to slow it down and call for help when he saw that the driver was unconscious, MBTA Transit Police said. Paul Healy, 58,…
WBZ-TV | By Julie Loncich | July 17, 2015 BOSTON (CBS) – Four neighborhood kids got the thrill of their summer, thanks to a MBTA bus driver and his willing passengers. John Lohan was in mid-route on Centre Street in West Roxbury Thursday when he decided to stop. “I said if anyone is in a…
Boston Globe | By Jim O’Sullivan | July 17, 2015 AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman spoke at an MBTA union workers rally at the State House in May. Labor unions, stung by legislative maneuvering to ease privatization at the MBTA, are targeting top House Democrats, meeting privately to strategize, and discussing the possibility of running more pro-union candidates…
COFAR Blog | By David Kassel | July 13, 2015 In what has been widely viewed as a setback for state employee unions in Massachusetts, state legislators last week approved a state budget for Fiscal Year 2016 that includes a provision freezing the Pacheco Law for three years with regard to the MBTA. The Pioneer Institute apparently…
WBZ-TV | By Jim Armstrong | July 9, 2015 Catrina Mitchell has been a Green Line trolley operator for seven years — since she was just 21 years old. It can get chaotic. “I have to be the eyes of myself, the cars, the bikes, and the buses because we are all on the road at the…
Yesterday, the Massachusetts legislature did a great disservice to working families, T riders, and taxpayers across the Commonwealth with the suspension of the Taxpayer Protection Act (or Pacheco Law) for the next three years. The goal of the Taxpayer Protection Act (or Pacheco Law) was to protect the Commonwealth from the waste, fraud, and abuse…
Watch the video below as U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren defends the Taxpayer Protection Act (Pacheco Law) at a Banking Committee hearing. The following is an excerpt from her remarks: “I think it’s clear we need to address our long term transportation funding issues but in a manner that provides the same quality of service and…
Governing Magazine | By Suzanne M. Bump | June 26, 2015 When it comes to regulating the privatization of government services, it seems that one person’s mindless bureaucratic obstacle is another’s essential accountability mechanism. Thus it is in Massachusetts, where an exemption from a state law governing privatization is being sought in the name of fixing…
Salem News | By Marc R. Pacheco | Sunday, July 5, 2015 In a recent column for The Salem News, Eileen McAnneny states that the Taxpayer Protection Act has “hindered the T’s fundamental ability to maintain and repair its assets. Over the past five years, the barriers created by the Pacheco Law have contributed to…
Boston Globe | By Beth Healy | July 2, 2015 Two top officers of the Boston Carmen’s Union, Local 589, who serve on the MBTA pension fund board, issued a statement Thursday calling for “an immediate, open and complete audit” of the retirement system for transit workers. According to the statement, by president James O’Brien…
Commonwealth Magazine | By Michael Jonas | June 26, 2015 The temperature is rising on Beacon Hill in the battle over reforms to the much maligned MBTA. The Globe‘s David Scharfenberg reports today that both sides in the T debate are turning up the heat, with the Carmen’s Union that represents MBTA workers hitting the…