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Boston had right to impose vaccine mandate for city workers, state labor department finds – The Boston Globe

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Boston had right to impose vaccine mandate for city workers, state labor department finds – The Boston Globe


Boston had the appropriate to implement its vaccine mandate for metropolis staff, the Massachusetts Division of Labor Relations concluded this week in response to a criticism introduced by the town firefighters union.

The choice marks a partial victory for the town, however doesn’t carry fast sensible affect: Mayor Michelle Wu’s vaccine mandate for metropolis staff stays on maintain pending separate authorized proceedings.

“The continuing COVID-19 pandemic, with new variants and rising circumstances, coupled with the Metropolis’s curiosity in defending the wellbeing of its staff and the general public with whom they work together, and making certain that there’s ample workers to offer important public security companies, exempts the Metropolis from having to barter with the Union over the choice to require vaccinations,” Gail Sorokoff, an investigator with the labor division, wrote Tuesday. “The Metropolis has established that exigent circumstances permitted it to implement the revised coverage in January, 2022, despite the fact that the events had not accomplished affect negotiations.”

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Boston is required to discount with the union over the impacts of such a call, however metropolis officers had been free to implement the change earlier than that bargaining concluded as a result of extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, Sorokoff wrote.

The firefighters union intends to attraction the choice, based on its lawyer, Leah Barrault.

Wu confronted sharp criticism from metropolis unions when she introduced in December that she would make COVID-19 vaccines a situation of employment for Boston’s roughly 19,000 municipal staff, revoking the choice to check frequently as a substitute of being inoculated. Her resolution drew a number of authorized challenges, in addition to persistent protests throughout the town and even outdoors her dwelling.

However months later, the mandate has but to take impact. An ongoing lawsuit blocked the town from imposing it in opposition to three public security unions, and the Wu administration has stated it won’t but implement the mandate in opposition to different municipal staff both. And the administration has retreated from the mandate considerably, inking an settlement with the Boston Academics Union that may enable unvaccinated educators to proceed working in lecture rooms when COVID-19 metrics are comparatively low.

The overwhelming majority of metropolis staff have been vaccinated.

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Tuesday’s resolution is available in response to a criticism filed in December by Native 718, the firefighters union, which argued that Boston violated its labor settlement in imposing the brand new mandate. Two police unions have related complaints pending.

Wu administration officers cheered the choice and stated it can gasoline their arguments within the separate lawsuit over the mandate.

“This resolution affirms the central function of metropolis governments in defending public well being and security,” a metropolis spokesperson stated.

However Sorokoff’s resolution is unlikely to be the ultimate phrase on the matter, and Barrault stated the firefighters union has a powerful case to make on attraction. She argued that when Wu carried out the vaccine mandate, COVID-19 counts didn’t represent an emergency that may give the town the appropriate to upend the same old labor bargaining practices.

And she or he additionally pointed to a different discovering as a optimistic signal: Town did violate its labor settlement with the firefighters by taking away the useful resource of in-station COVID-19 testing, the labor division stated. Town and the union will proceed to a listening to on that subject.

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Battles over the vaccine mandate have confirmed a dominant problem of Wu’s early tenure, a problem acquainted to Boston mayors, who usually butt heads with public security unions.


Emma Platoff may be reached at emma.platoff@globe.com. Comply with her on Twitter @emmaplatoff.





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Boston, MA

On the front lines of Boston’s Sept. 1 weekend moving chaos – The Boston Globe

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On the front lines of Boston’s Sept. 1 weekend moving chaos – The Boston Globe


Fisher and Braun are two students moving this weekend, a notorious one in Boston when 70 percent of the city’s leases start on the same day. Trying to move in a cramped city at the same time as thousands of others is exasperating. Even those who aren’t moving feel stressed by the congested traffic and piles of junk on sidewalks.

Northeastern University student Nick Fisher moved some belongings on Saturday.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

Adding to the moving confusion is Allston Christmas, an unofficial Boston holiday during which Allston/Brighton students leave their unwanted goods out for people to take. The holiday has grown over the years, expanding well past Allston, and sidewalk piles pop in areas like Fenway, Mission Hill, East Boston, and other neighborhoods with high populations of students.

The holiday has a chaotic yet jovial atmosphere, with students walking the streets hoping to find free home goods or furniture treasure amid piles of junk. Though the city warns against picking up stuff from the street for multiple sanitation reasons, including the spread of bed bugs and the sidewalk piles being ideal for rats.

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Other renters prefer listing their odds and ends on Facebook Marketplace.

Northeastern graduate Becca Miller carried her mattress down from her home to the SUV of a buyer she connected with through the online platform. The mattress was one of 13 items Miller sold on the app over the past three days.

Selling the items online was stressful. Miller estimated she talked to around 70 people, many of whom ghosted her or didn’t offer the right deal, before finding buyers for her belongings. She said the process was like having a full-time job.

She was trying to get the belongings sold by her move-out date. Her roommates were already gone, having left the country to study abroad in Indonesia. Miller is scheduled to meet them there in a month for a post-grad opportunity.

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Moving vans along Aberdeen Street took up parking spaces as students across Boston were moving in and out of apartments to get ready for the fall semester.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

Despite the stress, Miller liked the process of buying and selling used goods. Most of the items in Miller’s apartment were second hand because she and her roommates were environmental studies majors.

“Buying new stuff, I have a block around it,” she said.

For Ian Furst, 28, a project manager of a local biotechnology company, moving from the Fenway area was a family affair. His fiancée’s family; his parents, Andy, 60, and Samantha, 54; and his brother Nate, 27, came to help the couple move out.

Furst lived on the sixth floor of his building, something that wasn’t a huge problem until the elevator broke down. It hasn’t been fixed for 15 months, so his family helped him carry boxes, bags, crates, and bulky items down the stairs.

“We love the neighborhood, Fenway is very much our home, but Jamaica Plain was calling,” he said.

Samantha said that last weekend, when they got a head start on moving, her two sons did 110 flights of stairs each. This weekend, she said, it’s somewhere around 50.

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“This sucks,” Nate laughed as he lugged three tote bags of stuff into their minivan before going back up to do it again.

Forsyth Street in Boston near Northeastern University was a busy scene as students were moving in for the fall semester.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

Furst lived in Brighton in 2019. He bounced around apartments in the area before finding the Fenway spot that he’s currently leaving. His parents live in North Reading, but during their college and young adult years, they also rented apartments in and around Allston and Fenway. They were all familiar with the standstill traffic and double-parked streets that fill up this time every year.

“It’s an adventure,” said Andy, of the busy weekend.

Furst was grateful he had some help on that adventure.

“It takes an army to move out of an apartment on a Sept. 1 timeline,” he said.

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Izzy Bryars can be reached at izzy.bryars@globe.com. Follow her @izzybryars.





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Next Weather: WBZ morning forecast for August 31

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Next Weather: WBZ morning forecast for August 31


Next Weather: WBZ morning forecast for August 31 – CBS Boston

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Detroit Tigers rally in Casey Mize’s return, but fall to Boston Red Sox, 7-5 (10)

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Detroit Tigers rally in Casey Mize’s return, but fall to Boston Red Sox, 7-5 (10)


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The Detroit Tigers refused to quit.

Still, they were overpowered by big swings from the Boston Red Sox in the top of the 10th inning.

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The Tigers lost, 7-5, to the Red Sox on Friday in the opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park. A three-run home run in the eighth inning from slugger Kerry Carpenter snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak, but the Tigers — despite forcing extra innings — were unable to complete the comeback.

In the 10th, right-hander reliever Shelby Miller allowed a two-run home run to Ceddanne Rafaela on a two-strike elevated fastball. The next batter, Jarren Duran, hit a solo home run off left-handed reliever Tyler Holton, crushing a first-pitch sinker.

Right-hander starter Casey Mize gave up four runs across six innings in his return from the injured list. He hadn’t pitched for the Tigers since June 30 because of a left hamstring strain.

“A little sluggish, a little slow,” said Mize, who completed four rehab starts with Triple-A Toledo. “I think I finished better than I started, but certainly not good enough. I need to be better. Obviously, not good enough.”

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The Tigers (68-68) have lost two straight following a six-game winning streak. As a result, the Tigers have slipped to 5½ games out of the final spot in the American League wild-card race, with 26 games remaining in the 2024 season.

As Mize battled, the Tigers were shut out until the eighth inning, when Carpenter hit a three-run home run off Red Sox left-handed reliever Brennan Bernardino.

The three runs in the eighth inning were sparked by Andy Ibáñez’s walk and Matt Vierling’s single. Carpenter hasn’t been successful against left-handed pitchers in limited opportunities, but he pushed Bernardino’s first-pitch sinker — located up-and-away — for an opposite-field homer to left field.

It was Carpenter’s first homer off a lefty pitcher in 2024.

“It’s a tough matchup,” Hinch said of Carpenter, who entered Friday’s game hitting .048 (1-for-21) in 24 plate appearances against lefties this season. “He did a good job of hanging in there and taking a good approach.”

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After making it a one-run game, the Tigers opened the ninth with Zach McKinstry’s leadoff single off right-handed reliever Kenley Jansen. McKinstry immediately stole second to advance into scoring position. With one out, Jake Rogers smoked a first-pitch cutter at the top of the strike zone for a double to score McKinstry and tie the game at 4-4.

The Tigers had a chance to walk-off the Red Sox, but Riley Greene struck out swinging on Jansen’s cutter way above the strike zone to strand Rogers at third base.

In the top of the 10th, the go-ahead homer from Rafaela snapped Miller’s streak of nine relief appearances without a run. Miller threw three elevated fastballs in a row to Rafaela, who whiffed at the first two before driving the third one to left-center, into the second row of seats.

“I’ll stand by that decision all day,” said Rogers, who called the three fastballs in a row. “Obviously, it’s not the right call. We’d be in a different position if I made a different call. We went up, went up higher and went up even higher. I’m not mad at that one. It sucks to go down there, but it’s obviously the wrong pitch call. I need to be better about that. But it’s impressive, honestly, that he hit a ball like that.”

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Greene, who served as the free runner in extra innings, scored in the bottom of the 10th inning on consecutive outs, making it 7-5, but it was too little, too late for the Tigers.

[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ] 

Casey Mize returns

The Tigers fell behind in the first inning.

Mize, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick, allowed four runs on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts in six innings, throwing 85 pitches. He has a 4.36 ERA in 17 starts.

“I thought Casey was good, in his own way,” Hinch said. “He was pretty efficient because they were swinging early. He’s going to be frustrated with the way it ended. From a volume standpoint, it was very positive. I thought he was good at times and also misfired at times.”

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In the first, Mize surrendered a leadoff double to Duran on the first pitch of the game. Two batters later, Duran scored on a groundout for a 1-0 Red Sox lead.

The Red Sox grabbed a 2-0 lead on Wilyer Abreu’s sacrifice fly in the third inning, soon after another double from Duran. The Red Sox then made it 3-0 with Connor Wong’s double after Mize walked Tyler O’Neill on six pitches in the fourth inning.

He registered three of his four strikeouts in the sixth inning, but with two outs and two strikes, Wong pulled a down-and-away slider for a solo home run, the fourth and final run against Mize.

“I wanted that one to be off the plate,” Mize said. “It catches some plate, but it’s at the bottom rail of the zone. Not a horrible pitch, but in the context of 0-2 and two outs, probably needs to be better, for sure. It was a gut punch of a home run there.”

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Mize generated nine whiffs on 40 swings — a 22.5% whiff rate — with four fastballs, one splitter, two sliders and two curveballs. There was a lot of hard contact on the 20 balls in play from the Red Sox.

His fastball averaged 93.9 mph, down 1.7 mph from his average fastball velocity in the 16 starts.

“The velocity has been in line with what the rehab outings have been,” Mize said. “Definitely a little bit down from pre-injury. My body feels great. I think it’s just a little bit of my brain catching up, realizing my legs are OK. It’s going to take a little bit of time to move the exact same way I was pre-injury, but physically, I feel great. I think we’ll get there.”

Before Carp’s homer

Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck carved up the Tigers for most of Friday’s game. He fired six scoreless innings on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts, using 95 pitches.

The Tigers didn’t get a hit against Houck until McKinstry’s leadoff single in the fifth inning.

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McKinstry was later thrown out while trying to advance from first to third on Parker Meadows’ single, ending the inning. Hinch wanted to challenge, but umpire Chris Guccione determined Hinch didn’t decide to challenge within his allotted 15 seconds.

“Yeah, we ran out of time,” Hinch said. “The information afterwards, it’s probably a coin flip that it even gets overturned. That’s why he pointed to his watch.”

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.





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