Activists seek support for worker safety agenda
Labor unions and community groups fanned out across the State House on Tuesday to push for bills that constitute a "healthy workplace legislative agenda" they said will make workplaces safer for all employees.
Led by the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH), the lobby day featured briefings on "priority bills," speeches from workers and union leaders, and visits to wrangle support among lawmakers.
MassCOSH plans to push this session for two bills that came up short last session. One bill (SD 239), filed by Sen. Marc Pacheco, builds on a 2014 law requiring that all executive branch workers be covered by safety measures that meet federal Occupational Safety and Health Act standards by extending that requirement to all public employees.
MassCOSH will also revive its advocacy for a bill that would expand the scope of workplace disfigurement injuries covered under workers' compensation policies to include scarring anywhere on a person's body, and that would potentially increase the compensation a disfigured worker could receive. The bill (SD 251) filed by Sen. Sal DiDomenico, would eliminate the requirement that a scar be exclusively on a worker's face, neck or hands, and would update the compensation from a maximum $15,000 to 30 times the average weekly wage, according to MassCOSH.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments