In early February, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino visited the 1199SEIU offices in Boston to kick off the Earned Income Tax Credit program. This free tax preparation service gives Massachusetts residents the opportunity to get their taxes done for free.

SEIU members in Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly on February 4 to support Elizabeth Warren’s candidacy for in the November election for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Scott Brown.

On Saturday, January 28, 1199SEIU members and Carney Hospital management came together to promote new services being offered at Carney Hospital, located in Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston.

A delegation of personal care attendants from across Massachusetts kicked off a campaign for a new contract at the Massachusetts State House recently with an energetic rally and series of visits to lawmakers whose support they are seeking.

Recently, 1199SEIU was able to bring back 29 new union jobs at Boston Medical Center. BMC cancelled a contract that outsourced phone center work to Jacksonville, Florida. Union members raised concerns about the quality of work being performed by out of state phone operators and patients complained about talking to somebody in Florida who knew nothing about Boston Medical Center.   After several mishaps with the company, 29 new BMC positions were funded to handle this work that was contracted out and patients calling to make Primary Care appointments will now speak with knowledgeable 1199 members.

At Eagle Pond Nursing Home in South Dennis, MA, union members recently ratified a new two-year contract.

In December, 1199SEIU member Michelle Joyce, a physical therapist at Jordan Hospital, published a book on her experience living with cancer. Our breast cancer journey is Michelle’s first-person account of living with cancer for eight months. The book details the ups and downs living with the disease and how her husband, Corey, helped her get through the diagnosis.

On Saturday, December 10, a contingent of 1199SEIU members from Massachusetts joined a rally of thousands of union members and community allies for a march in New York City to the United Nations building. The march was co-sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and 1199SEIU.

Hospital workers at Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, MA, have voted overwhelmingly to join the state’s largest healthcare union, 1199SEIU. The vote means that the nearly 200 hospital workers at Merrimack Valley will now join with thousands of other workers across Massachusetts in several other Steward Healthcare facilities.

In early December, more than 200 1199SEIU delegates from Massachusetts convened to discuss the accomplishments we’ve made over the last year and to ratify goals for the union in Massachusetts for the coming year.