Boston's Covid-19 testing positivity rate has fallen from a peak of roughly 32% a couple weeks ago to 18.9% on Friday, Dr. Bisola Ojiktu, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said this morning. Read more.
The Boston firefighters union is telling members today that the city has given employees yet another week to show proof they've gotten at least one Covid-19 shot and will not start putting the unvaccinated on leave until at least Jan. 31. Read more.
In e-mail to residents, Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller reported today: Read more.
The head of the Boston firefighters union is telling members tonight that the union will give the bargaining table one last try but if the city refuses to yield on mandatory vaccinations - or offer the union something decent in return - "we are prepared to take our fight to the street." Read more.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke says he agrees with unions representing firefighters and police superior officers and detectives that in terms of collective bargaining, Mayor Wu was wrong to unilaterally impose an absolute requirement that city workers get vaccinated against Covid-19 after her predecessor had signed agreements letting workers opposed to shots undergo weekly testing. Read more.
WGBH reports that Suffolk Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke agreed with the city today that public-health concerns outweigh the collective-bargaining rights of firefighters and two police unions and denied a request to stop the Saturday start of a Covid-19 vaccination requirement.
In court filings this week, Boston officials say they ordered employees to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination not just to protect them, but to protect the public they serve. Read more.
A Suffolk Superior Court judge has rejected a request from the Boston Carmen's Union to block the MBTA from requiring workers to get Covid-19 shots to keep their jobs. Read more.
WBZ reports that Mayor Wu is telling workers that as many as possible who can work at home will soon be doing that due to rising Covid-19 rates. Unlike in 2020, though, City Hall and city schools will remain open.
WGBH reports they will seek to become members of the Workers United Labor Union, which won a unionization vote at a Buffalo Starbucks.
Boston University announced today it will require all students, professors, staff and other "affiliates" to show proof they've gotten a Covid-19 booster shot by Feb. 4. Read more.
Northeastern University today told students, faculty and other workers they will have to show proof of a booster Covid-19 shot by Jan. 18. Read more.
Mass General Brigham yesterday asked a judge to let them shield the identities of most of the members of its panels that decided which employees got religious or medical exemptions from Covid-19 shots because of what's happened to officials in other states who stood up for the vaccines and other anti-Covid-19 measures. Read more.
US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer today rejected a request by a small group of Mass General Brigham employees to make the hospital system give them their jobs back while they fight in court to overturn a hospital requirement they get vaccinated against Covid-19. Read more.
A small group of Mass General Brigham employees who were either fired or quit over their refusal to get vaccinated against Covid-19 have asked the US Supreme Court to order the hospital chain to let them back to work while they continue to pursue their suit over their terminations. Read more.
The Boston Newspaper Guild, which represents newsroom and advertising staffers, announced the deal tonight.
A federal jury yesterday awarded Donna Gavin, a lieutenant in the Boston Police Department, $2 million in lost wages and damages after agreeing that not only did her superior discriminate against her because of her gender, he retaliated against her after she filed a complaint with the state. Read more.
A federal judge today rejected a request by more than 260 Mass General Brigham employees to block the hospital network from firing them tomorrow because they don't want to get a Covid-19 shot. Read more.
The State Police Association of Massachusetts reports supervisors have told six troopers and six sergeants they are now on the verge of losing their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19:
A group of employees at Mass General Brigham, the state's largest hospital concern, today asked a federal judge to block a requirement that they get vaccinated against Covid-19, saying it violates not just their religious freedom but their rights under federal disabilities law. Read more.
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