MTA Today - Summer 2018

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wealthy people who received huge tax cuts from the Trump administration — would have paid more under the Fair Share initiative. The tax was projected to raise about $2 billion a year, providing a significant boost in funding for preK-12 schools, public higher education, road and bridge repairs and public transportation.

The fight back began almost immediately, with the MTA and other public school advocates supporting the Senate version of a proposal to update the foundation budget formula, the calculation used to determine how much each district needs to spend to provide all students with an adequate education. That bill, if fully implemented, would have raised over $1 billion annually in new revenues for schools. Both branches of the Legislature approved versions of a foundation budget bill, but legislators failed to reach an agreement on a final measure before the session ended on July 31.

The MTA will be rolling out a plan to greatly increase funding for both preK-12 schools and public higher education.

After the Fair Share amendment was knocked
off the ballot, negotiations quickly resumed over the
fate of other potential ballot initiatives and proposed
law changes. Raise Up Massachusetts representatives
led the negotiations on behalf of workers, while the
Retailers Association of Massachusetts bargained on
behalf of business owners. With the session drawing
to a close, the Legislature approved a package that
some called a “grand bargain” because it gave benefits
to both sides while taking certain benefits away.

On the plus side for workers, it requires most employers to phase in a $15-per-hour minimum wage over the next five years and establishes a fund that will guarantee most employees job-protected paid family and medical leave. The new leave program will provide employees who contribute to it the ability to take paid leave for up to 12 weeks a year to care for a family member or bond with a new child, up to 20 weeks to deal with a personal medical issue, and up to 26 weeks to deal with an emergency related to the deployment of a family member for military service.

Massachusetts is only the third state in the
country to require a $15 minimum wage. According
to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center,
in 2023 the increase will raise the wages of about

840,000 workers, or 25 percent of the workforce statewide. That includes one in five working parents.

In all, low-wage workers are projected to see a total wage increase of $2.75 billion over five years.

“These victories, coming on top of the earlier RUM victories on paid sick leave and raising the minimum wage to $11, represent some of the biggest victories for working families in a generation,” said Page, who serves on the RUM Steering Committee.

On the downside for workers, the bill leads to the elimination of Sunday and holiday time-and-a-half pay, fails to adequately increase the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers, and excludes municipal employees from the minimum wage and paid leave requirements.

The MTA projects that few, if any, MTA members will earn less than $15 an hour by 2023, and the vast majority will have better paid leave benefits through their union contracts than those provided under the new law.

“The outcome underscores that organizing is more important than ever,” said Najimy. “Local associations must be powerful enough to negotiate a living wage and fair benefits for all of their members, and the MTA needs broad member support to make a compelling case on behalf of educators and students in the Legislature.”

Massachusetts is only the third state in the country to require a $15 minimum wage.

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