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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Boston University Service Workers Edge Closer to Strike

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Thursday, October 30, 2014   

BOSTON - They work three different shifts at Boston University, so it took time to take the vote, but when the results were tallied there was little doubt about where university service workers stand. Roxana Rivera, Director with 32BJ SEIU District 615, says they have been negotiating with BU since August and with 700 service workers' contracts set to expire Friday, time is running out.

"Our hope is by Friday we will have an agreement, and we are going to continue to bargain in good faith," Rivera says. "But if we don't, then the bargaining committee will be able to call for a strike."

Rivera says members voted by an overwhelming majority in favor of granting the strike authorization. The major issues on the table are the union's demand for a cost-of-living increase and provisions that would keep health-care costs affordable.

Rivera says the 700 custodians, mailroom workers, groundskeepers and skill trades workers have good jobs. She says the goal is for them to keep pace financially in a city that is already ranked fourth in the nation for pay inequality.

"If we don't get a cost-of-living wage increase, if workers and their families have to pay more for health care, they're going to fall behind," says Rivera. "We're saying Boston needs more good jobs especially when the institution is doing well financially, that has to be part of the equation in terms of how we move forward as an institution, how we move forward as a city."

A university spokesperson had this to say about the talks, "We have enormous respect for our employees and the contribution they make to Boston University, and we are hopeful we can reach an agreement."



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