In November 2010, the technicians at Boch Honda voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) but they are sill without a contract. The technicians were joined on Sunday by hundreds of union supporters to pressure Boch Honda to agree to a contract with its workers.

SEIU Local 509 says Massachusetts violated the Pacheco Law, which requires that the state prove privatization will save money, when it outsourced 100 case managers from the Department of Mental Health.

Evelyn Moniz, a 92-year-old former labor organizer and current Recording Secretary with the New England Joint Board of UNITE HERE, has written a book about her work with unions.

Instead of the inflatable rat that has become ho-hum at union protests in New York, a giant three-headed dog with fangs was the effigy on display as about 250 unionized nurses rallied outside the Midtown headquarters of the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Last year the firm added 10 mostly Catholic community hospitals in the Boston area to its portfolio, promising to keep the same level of services or to provide even better services. But carrying signs that proclaimed “Cerberus Is a Lying Dog,” and that urged “Get Wall Street Out of Health Care,” members of the nurses’ union, National Nurses United, accused the firm of proving to be more like its namesake, the canine monster in Greek mythology that guarded the gates of hell.

National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 34, headquarters in Woburn, has raised $23,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Town officials have settled two more contracts with employee unions, leaving just one union in need of a new contract. Town Manager John P. Musante said the town has settled with both the Service Employees International Union Local 888, which represents about 60 technical and clerical staffers, and the police union, with about 40 members.

Cambridge Works recently celebrated the accomplishments of its seventh class of participants during a special graduation ceremony at Cambridge City Hall. The transitional jobs program serves residents age 18-35 who have been unable to get or keep jobs.

It turns out that today’s Harvard students, protesting on behalf of the 99 percent, are hardly an anomaly, but are part of a proud tradition of affluent Americans -- those who inherited or worked for their fortunes -- finding common cause with the poor, the working class, and progressive movements for social justice.

The Pittsfield metropolitan area had one of the biggest percentage gains in jobs over the past year, up 3.7 percent, as the state has continued to see a drop in unemployment rates.