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Dear <<First Name>>,
Last week, I sent a letter requesting that the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Export Development hold a hearing on Cape Ann to determine the effects of the Trump Administration trade war with China on the Massachusetts lobster industry.
I am concerned that two prominent Cape Ann seafood businesses, National Fish & Seafood and Pigeon Cove Whole Foods have recently shuttered their operations, resulting in a combined loss of approximately 250 jobs and tax revenue to our City. Although NSD Seafood purchased the assets of National Fish & Seafood and is reopening some of the plant’s processing lines and rehiring some of its workers as Atlantic Fish and Seafood, its stability and longevity remain to be seen.
I want to commend Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken and her team and my state colleagues, especially State Senator Bruce Tarr, for working closely with our community to mitigate economic harm of the loss of these two businesses. However, in a time when U.S. lobster exports to China have decreased by 70 percent and Canadian exports to China have increased 50 percent, we must recognize that the closure of businesses, loss of revenue to our communities, and lost jobs for our workers will continue.
Like the waves that pummel our shores, the ripple effect of these tariffs on our industry will only continue to deteriorate and damage a once thriving industry that provided jobs, decent wages, and opportunity. We must understand the full effect these tariffs are having on our communities, our small businesses, and our workers and their families.
We, as a Commonwealth, must advocate for our residents, businesses and communities, and ask the Trump Administration to provide necessary relief and demand a quick resolution to this matter.
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Around the District and Beyond
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Law enforcement and public health officials gathered at the Gloucester House for PAARI's Four Year Anniversary Celebration and Awards Ceremony. Among those honored were Senator Bruce Tarr, Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, Director of Public Health Karin Carroll, Lt. Jeremiah Nicastro, Sgt. Sean Connors, and Lyndsie Sova.
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Senator Bruce Tarr and I attended the "raising of the beam" at Cape Ann Museum's new construction, where Wilbur James described the museum's new project.
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It was great to see Gloucester constituents Jan Pellegrini and George Roark at the State House for Realtors Day!
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Senator Bruce Tarr, Rep. Brad Hill, Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, and I congratulated Rosaria Giambanco-Floyd, D.J. Tardif Jr, Michele French, and Dave Hersey on being named the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce 2019 Small Business Persons of the Year!
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Legislature Sets Sales Tax Holiday Weekend
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The Massachusetts House of Representatives has adopted a resolution filed by Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante (D-Gloucester), House Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, to set this year's sales tax holiday on the weekend of Saturday, August 17 and Sunday, August 18.
The tradition of an annual sales tax holiday weekend was made permanent by legislation in 2018. Under the law, the legislature must designate a weekend in August for the holiday by June 15. During the sales tax holiday weekend, purchases of items under $2,500 will be exempt from the state's normal 6.25 percent sales tax. It will exclude purchases of tobacco, marijuana, alcohol, cars, motorboats, telecommunications, gas, steam, and electricity.
Senator Eric Lesser (D-Longmeadow), Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, filed a companion resolution that was adopted by the Senate.
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House Passes Employee Rights Legislation
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Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante (D-Gloucester) along with her colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted to pass legislation to protect public sector employees’ rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCM) ruling.
The bill enables Massachusetts employee organizations to charge non-members the reasonable costs associated with representing them legally through the grievance process.
“This legislation – which builds on the House’s long-standing support of labor – sends a clear message that Massachusetts will work to secure protections for the working men and women of the Commonwealth,” said House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo (D-Winthrop). “This bill represents a consensus position not realized from last session, and I thank Chair Brodeur for his hard work to move this issue forward.”
“As the daughter of a union laborer and library assistant, I know firsthand that America is strong when working families have the ability to stand together to fight for a living wage and adequate benefits,” said Ferrante. “Generations of Americans fought to give us the rights that we have today. I’m proud that the House of Representatives took this step forward to help our police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other working families in Massachusetts maintain their ability to organize effectively.”
Additionally, the bill will:
- Provide new hires with an opportunity to learn about the benefits and services available to them;
- Protect worker organizations from coordinated outside attacks by empowering them to set policies regarding dues and membership;
- Ensure that employee organizations are able to provide confidential legal advice and other communications by providing up to date employee contact information; and
- Enable employee organizations to conduct meetings at scheduled times at the workplace provided they pay for any associated rental or maintenance fees.
In the decision, the Supreme Court ruled that agency service fees which public employee organizations charged non-dues paying workers were unconstitutional, upending decades of labor practices supported by previous court rulings. Unlike their private sector counterparts, public sector labor unions are obliged to offer all employees, regardless of union membership, full and fair representation in all collective bargaining activities, employee discipline or grievance proceedings, and arbitration processes. Despite this, the Janus decision curtailed the ability of employee organizations to recoup from non-dues payers the costs, which that representation incurs.
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