Thousands of Massachusetts construction workers will strike on Monday over coronavirus safety

Around 10,000 construction workers in Massachusetts are set to strike on Monday over concerns of construction site safety related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters has directed its members to walk off their job sites the union says can’t be kept safe, according to the Boston Globe. The organization is the largest construction workers union in the Northeast United States.

The decision to keep sites open in the state has largely been left to local municipal leaders. While some, including Boston and Cambridge, have shut down nearly all work sites, others have allowed work to continue.

Gov. Charlie Baker released guidelines to help mitigate the spread of the virus on work sites, similar to those now in place in Los Angeles, but stopped short of a statewide shutdown.

Union executive Tom Flynn said “there’s no real enforcement” at some sites because local governments lack the resources to do so, adding that “nothing we’ve seen has been able to ensure the safety of our members, or workers at other sites.”

The Massachusetts Building Trades Council, a group of trades unions, asked Baker to shutdown sites statewide earlier this week.

New York State shut down https://therealdeal.com/2020/03/27/new-york-halts-most-construction/ the majority of non-essential work sites last week, but work has been allowed to continue at some commercial sites. Washington State mandated a shutdown as well.

Flynn’s organization will continue to work on healthcare projects that will aid the response to the pandemic. [Boston Globe] – Dennis Lynch