Plymouth/Bristol

The town of Rockland may have municipal health care in the future. Selectmen voted a their Monday night meeting to begin bargaining with all unions in order to come to an agreement in accordance with Mayflower Health Group. However municipal health care in Rockland is not guaranteed. The proposal has caused resistance by union workers who fear their health care costs will rise while their coverage shrinks.

Dan Hurley said he’s been involved with organized labor his whole life, having grown up as the son of a longshoreman in a pro-union South Boston household. Hurley, 48, was elected president of the Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 in September, and officially took the position last month. The Braintree-based union chapter represents about 3,300 workers in eastern Massachusetts, including employees at NStar, National Grid and Entergy.

With a relatively stable budget and a tax rate in place, Mayor Thomas Koch will turn his focus to employee contracts, all of which either have expired or will expire in 2012. These are the first contracts to expire since the 2008 recession. For teachers, the city’s largest employee group, their next contract will be their first since the 2007 deal that ended a divisive strike. Union officials believe the city likely won’t be able to afford to be overly generous. Many unions agreed to wage freezes and deferrals that Koch asked for in two recent years.

Daniel F. Hurley of Braintree, Mass., has been elected the new president of the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 369. The union represents 3,300 natural gas, electric and nuclear energy employees working in cities and towns in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, as well as the Cape and Islands.

Two roofing workers were struck by electricity Wednesday morning when the aluminum ladder they were using hit a power line in Bridgewater. An investigation is under way to determine whether there were violations of work safety standards by OSHA.

Customer Communication Technicians who work out of Comcast's Fall River and FairHaven offices have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to supervise a union representation election. If a majority of the techs vote for union representation it will finally compel management to begin talks with employees for improvements in wages and working conditions.

Unions representing custodians, cafeteria workers and clerical and para-professional employees successfully negotiated a contract with the town of Norton.

Carol Doherty, who has taught in New Bedford and came to Taunton when Bennett School first opened, later became a guidance counselor and served as president of the Taunton Education Association before heading the MTA. “I am looking forward to bringing my experiences in education practice and policy to serve the children of Taunton through the very important work of the School Committee,” she said in a statement. “I believe that all students can meet our high expectations given the right set of circumstances and the resources to achieve their goals.”

Two former owners of a Stoughton, Mass.-based temporary employment agency were convicted of paying their employees under the table to avoid paying more than $7 million in taxes and workers’ compensation insurance premiums. Michael Powers and John Mahan were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and their workers’ compensation insurers, one count of mail fraud and two counts of false tax returns.