Labor & Employment (Collective Bargaining) in Massachusetts

introduced · Massachusetts · Senate

SD 2304: An Act relating to privileged communication between individuals and their labor organizations

This bill creates a new legal privilege protecting confidential communications between employees and their labor unions during representation matters. It directly affects employees seeking union assistance, current union members, and labor organizations by shielding private conversations - such as those about organizing, grievances, or contract negotiations - from forced disclosure, except in limited cases like preventing serious crimes. The law establishes clear definitions for terms like "representation" and "confidential communication," and specifies that unions and employees can refuse to disclose such protected exchanges in legal proceedings. The privilege applies across all relevant Massachusetts labor laws covering public and private sector unions.

Topics ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Collective Bargaining

introduced · Massachusetts · Senate

SD 2280: An Act protecting labor and abolishing barriers to organizing rights

Massachusetts bill SD 2280 (An Act protecting labor and abolishing barriers to organizing rights) expands labor protections for workers not covered by federal law. It redefines "employee" to include workers for nonprofits, healthcare facilities, and vendors serving the state, while explicitly excluding agricultural workers and domestic workers. The bill creates new rules for union authorization (requiring written majority support) and defines "joint employer" to hold multiple entities accountable for workplace terms. These changes aim to strengthen organizing rights and collective bargaining for private-sector workers across the Commonwealth.

Topics ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Collective Bargaining Labor Standards

introduced · Massachusetts · Senate

SD 919: An Act relative to collective bargaining rights for legislative employees

SD 919 extends collective bargaining rights to legislative employees in Massachusetts. It defines "legislative employees" to include all staff working for the General Court, such as committee employees, office staff, and information services personnel, while specifying certain roles (like those in the speaker's or president's offices) may be excluded if classified as managerial or confidential. The bill establishes that bargaining units can include most legislative employees, with specific exclusions for defined managerial or confidential positions in key leadership offices. This directly affects hundreds of non-elected staff working within the state legislature.

Topics ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Collective Bargaining

introduced · Massachusetts · House

HD 2970: An Act relative to collective bargaining rights for legislative employees

HD 2970 extends collective bargaining rights to all Massachusetts legislative staff, including committee members, clerks, HR personnel, and other general court employees. It defines "legislative employees" broadly to cover all such staff, while allowing exclusion of certain managerial or confidential roles (like top aides to legislative leaders) from bargaining units. The bill also updates conflict-of-interest rules to specifically address bargaining representatives under Chapter 150E. This policy change directly affects over 1,000 legislative employees across the state legislature.

Topics ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Collective Bargaining

introduced · Massachusetts · House

HD 2698: An Act streamlining state employee collective bargaining

HD 2698 streamlines how state employee collective bargaining agreements take effect. It requires salary adjustments and economic benefits proposed by the governor to become effective 30 days after submission unless the legislature rejects them. The bill mandates that existing reserve funds - set aside specifically for such costs - must cover these expenses for agreements implemented under this law. This directly affects state employees covered by collective bargaining agreements by ensuring faster implementation of agreed-upon compensation changes.

Topics ✓ Budget & Taxes ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Collective Bargaining Public Employees

passed · Massachusetts · Senate Mar 10, 2025

SD 37: An Act to facilitate labor peace among the cannabis workforce

By Ms. Edwards, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 77) of Lydia Edwards for legislation to facilitate labor peace among the cannabis workforce. Cannabis Policy.

Topics ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Collective Bargaining

introduced · Massachusetts · House

HD 2014: An Act uplifting families and securing the right to strike for certain public employees

HD 2014 modifies Massachusetts law to allow most public employees to strike after six months of collective bargaining negotiations, while permanently banning strikes by public safety employees (like police and firefighters). It changes existing law to require a minimum six-month negotiation period before a strike can occur for non-public safety workers, and specifies that public safety employees cannot strike under any circumstances. The bill amends Chapter 150E to clarify that strike restrictions apply during negotiations and end once an impasse is formally filed, except for public safety roles. These changes directly affect public sector workers in non-emergency roles and their unions. The policy focuses on balancing labor rights with public safety considerations through defined negotiation timelines.

Topics ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Collective Bargaining

introduced · Massachusetts · House

HD 872: An Act to strengthen the state home care program workforce

This bill requires home care agencies providing state-funded home care services to enter into labor peace agreements with labor organizations representing their workers, ensuring uninterrupted service delivery. Agencies must submit regular attestations to the Department of Elder Affairs detailing their labor relations status, including whether agreements exist, negotiations are underway, or no union representation is sought. Failure to comply may result in contract termination and a four-year ban on future state contracts for repeated violations. The policy directly affects home care agencies, workers, and the state's home care program participants.

Topics ✓ Healthcare ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Long-Term Care Collective Bargaining Labor Standards

introduced · Massachusetts · House

HD 2369: An Act protecting labor and abolishing barriers to organizing rights

HD 2369 expands labor protections in Massachusetts by redefining key terms in Chapter 150A to cover more workers. It explicitly includes employees of healthcare facilities, nonprofits, and government contractors (like those providing social or medical services) as "employees," while excluding agricultural and domestic workers. The bill creates a "written majority authorization" process using signed cards or electronic forms (valid for 12 months) to form unions, and defines "joint employers" to hold multiple entities accountable for labor practices. Crucially, it states Massachusetts law will apply if federal labor laws no longer cover certain workers or employers. This directly affects workers in covered sectors seeking union representation.

Topics ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Collective Bargaining

passed · Massachusetts · Senate Dec 18, 2025

S 1306: An Act to protect the collective bargaining rights of certain administrative employees

By Ms. Edwards, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1306) of Lydia Edwards for legislation to protect the collective bargaining rights of certain management classification series employees. Labor and Workforce Development.

Topics ✓ Labor & Employment

Sub-Topics Collective Bargaining Workforce Development

All labor & employment bills