More than a year after City of Richmond workers filed to vote on a union contract, they are celebrating its implementation.

The contract provides workers with an established grievance process, updated health and safety guidelines, and labor management committees to help improve different departments. Workers described the moment as everything they have waited for.

Felicia Boney, management analyst associate in the Department of Social Services for the City of Richmond, said it sends a message to other cities about the efficacy of treating workers fairly.

"The economy has changed," Boney pointed out. "People are looking for better employment, better benefits. It will improve retention of the employees and if employers are treating their employees like they should, it would benefit them."

Cities like Alexandria, Portsmouth, and Newport News are all in different stages of the unionization process. A 2021 poll showed 68% of Virginians favored letting public employees unionize.

Boney noted there was plenty of give and take from the city and workers, making it quite a process to reach this point but with things in place, she emphasized the city is eager to start working with the Joint Labor Management Committee.

Another reason for the contract's implementation is making the city more competitive in hiring. The hope is to attract people to jobs in understaffed departments. She stressed workers are eager to see what lies ahead in a new chapter of Richmond's history.

"We love our jobs, we really do," Boney added. "We just want to be able to be better at doing what we're doing, and I think this gives us an opportunity to do just that. We want to make Richmond great again and I think this is one of the tracks we can take to do that."

Before the contract and unionization, one in 12 of the city's full-time employees could not support themselves on their salary. The city also saw high turnover rates across agencies. In all, it cost the city more than $6.5 million per year.


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There is promising news at the national level and in Minnesota in trying to lower workplace injuries and illnesses. A key labor organization is happy with the results but worries about the obstacles some workers face in being compensated.

Minnesota's Department of Labor and Industry's latest survey data show the state's rate for nonfatal workplace injuries decreased last year by almost a full percentage point, to 2.9%, which mirrors similar movement with the national rate.

Brad Lehto, secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, said the numbers are encouraging but other findings stand out.

"It's good that injuries are down," Lehto acknowledged. "But are people getting benefits is the question."

For injured workers, Lehto feels the levels of benefit claims denied by insurance companies are too elevated. He noted it is complicated because of all the "third-party experts" hired by employers for such cases. Lehto wants more transparency, given all the hoops people have to jump through to file claims, including gathering documents. He does credit some employers, including bigger chains like Costco, for making a serious effort to protect workers.

Health care settings, including state government hospitals, are among the workplaces with higher numbers of reported injuries. Lehto pointed out it is not surprising.

"They're being asked to take care of too many patients and work too many hours," Lehto observed. "You're going to get hurt at that point."

He added a legislative push last year to address staffing levels for nurses stalled at the end of the session. As for worker's comp denial rates, they began to rise after the start of the pandemic, reaching 24% in 2021, excluding non-COVID cases. The numbers began to fall in subsequent years.

Immigrant New Yorkers want lawmakers to create an unemployment bridge program.

It would support unemployed workers who are ineligible for state unemployment insurance by establishing a $500 million fund, providing monthly compensation equal to what other workers receive.

Beyond undocumented people, freelancers and self-employed workers would also be eligible.

Sol Freire Figueroa, labor campaigns director with New York Communities for Change, said this will take a lot of political will.

"Right now in the current environment, the immigration conversation has been a topic that not everyone is willing to talk about, or take care of," said Figueroa. "There are many things the immigrant community needs, and we need the willingness of leadership to stand up for the immigrant community."

While the program has statewide support from lawmakers, it's still a budding concept.

A bill establishing the program was brought before the state Legislature, but failed to advance out of committee.

Figueroa said the biggest source of opposition centers around its potential funding source - a digital ad tax from companies with annual gross revenue from these services of $100 million or more.

While the tax is being debated, it's expected to raise $1 billion for New York, with the unemployment bridge program costing half that.

The program stems from the pandemic-era Excluded Workers Fund which filled a similar role. Figueroa said given how the economy has changed, this program has been a long time coming.

"Considering we're living in an economy where we have more and more workers accessing jobs like working at Uber, or a delivery worker," said Figueroa. "They should be able to access this type of benefit as they are putting the hours in, they are putting the work in."

Once the bill passes the state Legislature and is signed by the governor, Figueroa estimated it could take a year to get the program started.




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Federal investments are helping the city of Boston develop greater workforce training programs.

The city received $23 million in 2022 to develop pathways into quality child care, health care and energy jobs.

Trinh Nguyen, chief of worker empowerment for the City of Boston, said city officials knew they needed to focus on getting communities of color and women into well-paying careers.

"We also knew that there are very motivated, talented Boston residents who don't have a bachelor's degree that can meet employers' demand up and down the supply chain," Nguyen explained.

Nguyen pointed out about 2,800 Greater Boston residents have enrolled in the workforce training program. Already, more than 1,000 graduates have secured employment with benefits and opportunities for upward mobility.

In Boston, a significant focus has been child care, a sector in which young people are not filling positions quickly enough as more experienced providers retire.

Nguyen noted too often young people simply do not have the information they need to learn about training and licensure opportunities or where a job in child care could ultimately lead.

"You really have to go into the community and really inform about career pathways in child care," Nguyen observed. "We want to make sure that we have child care workers that reflect the diversity of the clientele for child care."

Nguyen added a stable and secure child care workforce is crucial to the region's future economic growth and that city officials are working with more than 100 employers to secure well-paid jobs for training program graduates. The training is made possible through the federal Good Jobs Challenge program, created through the American Rescue Plan.