Agenda Summary
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In support of security officers in Greater Boston and airport service workers at Logan International Airport.
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Official Text
WHEREAS: 3,200 contracted security officers, mostly people of color, who protect Greater Boston’s offices, labs, and universities have negotiated past contract expiration and are campaigning to win employer-paid quality health insurance, a benefit which most officers cannot currently afford; and
WHEREAS: 2,500 contracted airport cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, wheelchair agents, and other service workers, mostly immigrants and people of color, who keep Boston Logan International Airport running, are campaigning for Massport to institute a policy that mandates airlines and their contractors to provide quality, affordable healthcare; and
WHEREAS: The commercial real estate and airline industries are key drivers of the regional prosperity that has largely bypassed these two groups of workers in Greater Boston; and
WHEREAS: Nearly a quarter of these workers report that they have been forced to delay or forego care due to the cost of healthcare and the need to keep up with one of the highest costs of living in the country; and
WHEREAS: These workers have come together through their union, 32BJ SEIU, to raise standards in their industries and secure this critical benefit many others take for granted; and
WHEREAS: The increased contracting-out of this work over the previous decades has led to a situation where fewer workers are able to rely on employer-paid insurance, and increasingly rely on strained public programs, exacerbated by the Trump administration’s recent cuts to healthcare; and
WHEREAS: The wealthiest industries in Massachusetts can well afford to take responsibility for the workers that serve them and their employees; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED: That the Somerville City Council stands in solidarity with security officers in Greater Boston and airport service workers at Logan International Airport; that the City Council calls upon property owners and security clients to support the security officers guarding their buildings, and calls for them to publicly urge the security contractors they hire to bargain fairly and in good faith and to provide quality, affordable healthcare to these officers; that the City Council also calls on Massport to institute a policy requiring airlines and their service contractors at Logan International Airport to provide quality, affordable healthcare to airport service workers; AND BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy of this Policy Order to Hunter Kass, President, Boston Region, Alexandria Real Estate Equities; Christopher Gingrow, Director, Facilities & Engineering, Amgen; Fred Siegel, President & CEO, Beacon Capital Partners; Jim Lucchese, President, Berklee College of Music; Christopher Viehbacher, CEO , Biogen; Russell Garland, VP, East Coast Facilities, BioMed Realty Trust; Giovanni Caforio, Chairman & CEO, Bristol Myers Squibb; Brian Koop, EVP Boston Region, BXP, Inc.; Jacob Fiumara, Senior Managing Director, DivcoWest; Martha Doyle, Chief Administrative Officer, Education First; Abigail Johnson, Chairman & CEO, Fidelity Investments; Kevin Curley, Senior Property Manager, Fortis Group; Scott Brinker, CEO, Healthpeak Properties; Peter Gottlieb, CEO, Hobbs Brook Management; Tsugumi Maki, COO, Institute of Contemporary Art; Peter Palandjian, Chairman & CEO, Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation; Thomas Ragno, Founder, King Street Properties; Kyle Dupreee, Head of Asset Management, LaSalle Investment Management; Janet L. Steinmayer, President, Lesley University; Andrew J. DelPrete, Sr. Manager Workplace Operations, Liberty Mutual; Sally Kornbluth, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Caroline Litchfield, EVP & CFO, Merck & Co., Inc.; Kevin Wenzel, Head of Asset Management, Real Estate, Metlife; Joe Higgins, Vice President for Campus Services & Stewardship, MITIMCO; Stéphane Bancel, CEO, Moderna; John Varrone, Director of Global Security, Morgan Stanley; Keith Craig, President, NB Development; Bruno Vaz, Global Head of Real Estate, New Balance; Joseph E. Aoun, President, Northeastern University; Robert Zamboldi, Head of US Real Estate, Novartis; Erin Silverman, Director, Employee & Labour Relations, OMERS; Rick Bowen, Director of Facilities, Northeast Region, Oracle; Eric Plesman, President & CEO, Oxford Properties; Patrick Gilligan, CEO, Point32Health; Adèle Fondeux, Head of US Business Operations, Sanofi; Brian Taylor, CEO, SmartLabs; Ronald O'Hanley, President & CEO, State Street Corporation; Dave Greaney, President, Synergy Investments; Rhonda Pacheco, President, U.S. Business Unit and U.S. Country Head, Takeda; David Epstein, Founding Partner, The Abbey Group; Eric Schlager, CEO, The Bulfinch Companies; Mike Sales, CEO, Real Assets, Nuveen; Jessica Hughes, Managing Director, Regional Director - Boston, Washington, D.C., Boston, Tishman Speyer; Constantinos Efstratoudakis, Manager, Global Real Estate, Vertex Pharmaceuticals; and to Jeremy Sclar, Chairman & CEO, WS Development; AND BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy of this Policy Order to Richard Davey, CEO of Massport; Patricia Jacobs, Chair of the Massport Board of Directors; Sean M. O’Brien, Vice Chair of the Massport Board of Directors; and to members of the Massport Board of Directors Philip Eng, Lewis Evangelidis, Pamela Everhart, Warren Fields, and John Nucci.