Sindicatos y cooperativas de trabajadores de Massachusetts unen sus fuerzas para ayudar a combatir la histórica brecha de riqueza del estado. Los datos del censo muestran que sólo un puñado de hogares tienen ingresos promedio casi 14 veces superiores a los del 20% más pobre.

Kevin O'Brien es un trabajador-propietario de la cooperativa sindicalizada Worx Printing en Worcester. Dice que los trabajadores quieren tener más voz y voto en las condiciones laborales, mayor seguridad laboral y una parte de las ganancias.

"Cuanto más sepan y entiendan sobre la propiedad cooperativa," dice O'Brien, "creo que el cielo será el límite de lo que podrán hacer para combatir esta brecha de riqueza."

O'Brien afirma que existe un gran potencial para que surjan más cooperativas de propiedad de los trabajadores debido al inminente "tsunami plateado" de propietarios de pequeñas empresas que se jubilan y que tendrán que vender o transferir sus activos.

Afirma que el modelo cooperativo ya existe para que las empresas lo reproduzcan, mientras que los sindicatos pueden ayudar a proporcionar los recursos que las cooperativas necesitan, incluido el acceso al capital.

El número de cooperativas propiedad de trabajadores en Massachusetts se ha triplicado en la última década.

Alrededor del 40% de estas cooperativas tienen una mayoría de propietarios trabajadores de color, que pueden carecer de otros medios para construir una riqueza generacional.

Soren Rose es trabajador-propietario de Circus Cooperative Café, en Cambridge.

Dice sentirse orgulloso de ser parte de un movimiento más amplio hacia el empoderamiento de los trabajadores y la sindicalización de los cafés, incluido el recientemente formado Blue Bottle Independent Union.

"Tenemos mucho en común con las luchas de nuestros compañeros sindicalistas," asegura Rose, "y nos gusta compartir recursos y asegurarnos de que todos nos unamos a una lucha más amplia por unas buenas condiciones de trabajo y de vida en la zona de Boston y el noreste también."

Rose dice que algunos clientes de la cafetería vienen por café, pero otros también para apoyar el modelo cooperativo.

Los legisladores estatales han creado una nueva agencia estatal para seguir desarrollando ese modelo y un fondo de asistencia técnica de casi $8 millones de dólares de pequeños subsidios para ayudar.



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Some New York hospitals are not adequately staffing nurses, according to a new report.

The New York State Nurses Association report showed between January and October 2024, hospitals failed to staff intensive care units and critical care patients at the state-mandated ratio more than 50% of the time. The report also said most hospitals do not publicly post staffing ratios as state law requires.

Margret Franks, a registered nurse at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie, said it greatly affects patient care.

"We were regularly coming into a shift where we had eight patients when we were only supposed to have five, with one nurse at six on a 36-bed unit," Franks outlined. "Eight patients means out of every hour that you're there you can only give seven and a half minutes worth of care to that patient in your shift."

She argued it is impossible to provide good patient care and do everything a nurse has to in a given shift. While one recommendation is hiring more and retaining nurses, it is not so simple. Reports have shown labor expenses at New York hospitals grew 36% since 2019. While 2024 is the second year they declined, it is still double what they were in 2019.

Other report recommendations included the Department of Health increasing transparency so people see a hospital's actual staffing levels, enforcing safe staffing levels and expanding nurse recruitment and retention.

Franks stressed the issues outlined in the report exist beyond her workplace.

"This is not a problem that's exclusive to the Hudson Valley where I work," Franks pointed out. "It's not a problem that's even exclusive to New York State, it's nationwide. The reason for this is because you have these corporations coming in, taking over health care systems, and they're all using the same playbook."

Many studies have shown the ongoing nursing shortage is only set to continue due to many factors. Chief among them is the high stress nurses face in their work. Franks feels the shortage is not about people not wanting to enter the profession. Instead, she said it is about nurses wanting better work environments.

"Each facility has to create the kind of work environment somebody would want to willingly go into and work," Franks asserted. "It's not that the nurses who are not at the bedside right now don't want to work, it's just that they don't want to work in the situations that have been created by the facilities."


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In January, low-wage workers in Tennessee will be missing out on pay hikes seen in 23 other states.

In the new year, the minimum wage will reach or exceed $15 an hour for some or all employees in eight states and 47 cities and counties.

Jeff Strand, director of public policy for the Tennessee Disability Coalition, said the state's current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is simply too low, especially for people with disabilities. He pointed to research showing it costs more to live with a disability in Tennessee, making a higher wage even more crucial.

"Nationwide, it cost 27% more income to achieve a same standard of living as someone without a disability, if you have a disability," Strand explained. "In Tennessee, that number is 51% more income to achieve that same standard of living. That low level of wages and income has a much bigger effect on people with disabilities."

In 14 states and 39 cities and counties, the minimum wage will rise in 2025 due to cost-of-living adjustments, according to the National Employment Law Project.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently proposed a rule to eliminate even lower subminimum wages for workers with disabilities. Strand emphasized Tennessee has already abolished the subminimum wage, and he advocates for other states to follow suit.

"We were actually able to ban subminimum wage for people with disabilities," Strand pointed out. "Prior to that piece of legislation, there would be these places -- we'd consider them, like, sheltered workshops -- where just people with disabilities were doing rote, repetitive tasks all day and getting paid, you know, a buck-25 ($1.25) or something like that."

The Labor Department is inviting public feedback on the proposed rule until Jan. 17 to be considered in the rulemaking process.


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Massachusetts unions and worker-owned cooperatives are joining forces to help tackle the state's historic wealth gap.

Census data show just a handful of households now have average incomes nearly 14 times larger than the bottom 20%.

Kevin O'Brien is a worker-owner with the unionized Worx Printing Cooperative in Worcester. He said workers increasingly want a say in workplace conditions, greater job security, and a piece of the profits.

"The more they know and understand about cooperative ownership," said O'Brien, "I think the sky is kind of the limit on what they'll be able to do, to combat this wealth gap."

O'Brien said there's great potential for more worker-owned co-ops, due to the impending "silver tsunami" of retiring small business owners - who will need to sell or transfer their assets.

He said the co-op model is already in place for businesses to replicate, while unions can help provide the resources co-ops need - including access to capital.

The number of worker-owned cooperatives in Massachusetts has tripled over the past decade.

About 40% of these co-ops have a majority of worker-owners of color, who may lack other means to build generational wealth.

Soren Rose is a worker-owner at Circus Cooperative Café in Cambridge.

He said he's proud to be part of a wider movement toward worker empowerment and café unionization, including the recently formed Blue Bottle Independent Union.

"We have so much in common with the struggles of our union comrades," said Rose, "and we like to share resources, and make sure that we're all joining in a broader fight for good working and living conditions, in the Boston area and Northeast as well."

Rose said some café customers come for the coffee - others to support the co-op model, too.

State lawmakers have created a new state agency to develop that model further and a nearly $8-million technical assistance fund of small grants to help.




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