Pioneer Valley

About a dozen labor union members rallied Monday night in support of changes to the National Labor Relations Board. As a hearing was held in Washington, Monday afternoon, on the proposed changes, members of the S-E-I-U Local 509 gathered at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets in Springfield.

Federal labor officials plan to release $3 million to help create temporary jobs for people hardest hit by severe storms and tornadoes that struck central and western Massachusetts.

"It starts with organized labor, building what people are going to use and enjoy for years to come," said Jason Garand, Business Manager, Local #108. Call it a victory for union workers looking for a job.

Governor Deval Patrick, Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray and other local leaders were in Springfield Tuesday to help announce Caring Health Center will be moving forward with its $18.7 million dollar Main Street expansion.

Superintendent of Schools Alan J. Ingram on Friday announced the plan for repayment options, which was ratified by the Springfield Education Association and approved by the School Committee. In total, about $1.2 million in overpayments were given out to teachers when the school district made a mistake putting a new salary schedule into effect earlier this year. The average overpayment amount was between $600 and $800 per teacher, Ingram said.

In February 2010, the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division opened an investigation after receiving a complaint alleging that workers had not been paid properly at two separate prevailing wage jobs at UMASS Amherst. During the course of the investigation, allegations were made that Raleigh retaliated against a former employee in an attempt to get the individual to withdraw the wage complaint filed with the AG’s Office. As a result of the investigation, Raleigh and her company were cited and have been ordered to pay more than $4,000 in restitution and a $22,000 penalty to the Commonwealth.

One week after severe tornadoes struck the Western Massachusetts region, thousands of families struggle to clean up their ravaged properties and piece their homes and lives back together. The Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO, through its non-profit charitable arm, the Union Community Fund, has tapped into the energy of the collectivist spirit of its unions and union members to pitch in and help.

Yesterday, hundreds, if not thousands, of our friends and neighbors suffered life-changing setbacks as a result of the tornados that devastated our region. To help ease the financial burden on these unfortunate families, the Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO's charitable organization, the Union Community Fund, is launching a special Tornado Disaster Relief effort.

Toymaker Hasbro Inc. announced Wednesday that it’s reorganizing its games business, moving about 70 marketing and game-development employees from Massachusetts to Rhode Island. The company is also laying off about 75 Massachusetts employees by the end of the year. Senior executives met with employees Wednesday at Hasbro’s factory in East Longmeadow, Mass., to tell them the news, spokesman Wayne Charness said.