Rhode Island

R.I. reaches tentative 3-year contracts providing raises of 5%, 4%, 3% to state employees – The Boston Globe

Published

2 years ago

August 9, 2024

R.I. reaches tentative 3-year contracts providing raises of 5%, 4%, 3% to state employees – The Boston Globe

PROVIDENCE — Governor Daniel J. McKee’s administration has reached tentative three-year contracts with state employee unions that would provide raises of 5 percent this year, 4 percent next year, and 3 percent the following year.

Final approval of the tentative agreements is subject to ratification by the membership of Rhode Island Council 94 (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) and the Coalition, a group of labor organizations representing other state employees.

The administration and the unions made the announcement Friday, saying the contracts would boost wages while providing millions of dollars in potential savings in health care.

“Amid a labor shortage in key areas and inflation, we must remain competitive with both the public and private sector as we continue to find new and better ways to deliver services to Rhode Islanders,” McKee said. “These agreements strike a fair balance to help support our critical workforce, to address rising prescription and medical costs, and to standardize our operations.”

Council 94 State Vice President Michael McDonald said, “This tentative agreement provides our members with fair and equitable raises and ensures the continued provision of high-quality state services that the citizens of Rhode Island demand and deserve.”

The 5 percent raise would take effect as of July 1 of this year. The 4 percent raise would take effect on July 1, 2025. And the 3 percent raise would take effect on July 1, 2026.

The contracts would include a prescription drug cost-management program for certain specialty drugs, which could save the state up to $3.3 million while also saving money on out-of-pocket costs for state workers, according to Friday’s announcement from the state and unions.

And the contracts would include “virtual musculoskeletal program” that offers personalized care for workers with joint and muscle pain, saving the state up to $1.2 million, according to the joint announcement Friday.

The agreements offer more overall vacation days for employees who have been working for the state for less than 10 years. And they standardize language across contracts in advance of the state launching its new system for human resources, payroll and finance in 2025.

“The Department of Administration is pleased to have reached tentative agreements with our labor partners that reflect our commitment to our employees as well as government efficiency,” Director of Administration Jonathan Womer said. “We have a lot of exciting projects in the works, but the upcoming launch of our new human resources, payroll and finance system is our most important one right now.”

Carly Iafrate, one of the Coalition negotiators, said state employees deserve fair wage increases amid significant changes in working conditions and inflation. “We are extremely pleased we were able to reach a fair agreement with the State and to do so efficiently,” she said. “We look forward to the ratification process with our members.”

Council 94, Rhode Island’s largest public employee union, represents approximately 4,000 active state employees.

The Coalition is a group of individual bargaining units who have agreed to bargain with the state on areas of common interest, including the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the professional unit of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers, several local units of the Service Employees’ International Union, several local units of the National Education Association, the R.I. Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals, the United Nurses and Allied Health Professionals, the National Association of Government Employees, and the Rhode Island Probation and Parole Association.

Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.

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Rhode Island

Moses Brown showed up late, but it was still ready to win a title.

Published

32 minutes ago

June 7, 2026

Press Room

Moses Brown showed up late, but it was still ready to win a title.

PROVIDENCE – They made the short walk from campus, crossing the threshold at Brown University with 17 minutes to go until the RIIL Girls State Championship game was set to begin.

Moses Brown wasn’t running late. The Quakers were ready – and then they went out and proved it.

The Quakers didn’t just win Sunday’s state title matchup with East Greenwich. They put on a display of utter dominance, winning every facet of the game in extraordinary fashion. MB put up eight goals in the first quarter, triggered a running clock before halftime and rolled to a 20-4 win over the Avengers, winning the program’s fourth straight state crown.

“It feels amazing. We’ve worked for this all season,” Moses Brown’s Avery Butler said. “We’ve had our ups and our downs and it’s great to know all our hard work paid off.”

“It definitely feels great and feels like all our hard work, all year all 365 days of this year really paid off,” Moses Brown’s Goose Brousseau said. “We really did it all together.”

East Greenwich’s afternoon didn’t get off to a good start – Brown University failed to unlock the entrance gate, forcing the Avengers to take a lap around the stadium to get in – and quickly found out what happens when Moses Brown does.

The Quakers owned the draw circle with Jane Belsito, Samantha Mocco and Sophia Mocco winning all but one in the first quarter. When MB had the ball, it did something with it. Butler did most of the damage in the opening 12 minutes, scoring four goals, but it wasn’t by design.

“If I’m taking it or [the Moccos) are taking it, we’re all together,” Belsito said. “If I have them on the circle and I mess up, they have my back. They just calm me down.”

“It’s just what happens. Everyone in our offense is so good, we all take turns having our own moment. It can be anyone at any time and my teammates did a great job finding me and we just worked so well together.”

With the ball on Moses Brown sticks for the large majority of the game, any chance at an East Greenwich comeback was null and void. The Avengers had the best offensive player on the field in Tessa Charello-Ingegneri, but she couldn’t put her skills to use because MB never let it happen.

In the second quarter, the Mocco sisters – Sophia Mocco and Sam Mocco – popped goals 33 seconds apart and Butler’s fifth of the day made it 11-2. With 3:46 left before halftime,Lola Baill scored to bring the running clock into play and Butler added her sixth to make it 13-2 at halftime.

Moses Brown coach Brian Williams didn’t need to make many adjustments for the second half and his players knew exactly what to do over the final two quarters.

“We like to play our best every game, but today was really special,” Butler said. “We spent a lot of time preparing. Every practice we were really focused and we had a lot of time to do film and think about what we can do best.

“Today really meant a lot for us that it all worked out well.”

It was a tough end to an incredible season for East Greenwich. The lacrosse community is strong within the town and an annual trip to Brown should be a part of the Avengers’ expectations. They’ll return a strong core of young players – including All-Stater Charello-Ingegneri – and Sunday’s loss should serve as an education experience in what work will need to be done if they want to win a title.

“I’m just happy we got to be here and play our game,” Charello-Ingegneri said. “We knew it was going to be a challenge but I’m happy with our team and all of our success this season. We’re going to come back even stronger next year and this is a learning opportunity for us and we’ll do everything we can do take it next year.

For Moses Brown, it’s the end of an era for a core group of seniors who started as freshmen following a season where the team didn’t win a crown – a 10-8 loss to Barrington in 2022 – and did nothing but win throughout their careers.

The Quakers didn’t do it on just talent. They did it with the things people don’t see.

Like going through a full warmup on your home field prior to the biggest game of the season.

“We have our rituals that we do before we come and that walk from MB to Brown, we are just so centered with ourselves,” Butler said. “When come we do our normal warmup and we feel all right.

“It’s just about channeling nerves and if we warm up calm and relaxed, we don’t have things to worry about in the games. We know who we are.”

“Every single person is doing something for the person next to them,” Brousseau said. “Getting to warm up on our home field and do everything together and really feel at home with everyone was just really important to us.

We came over late because we were just together for longer and that was important to us.”

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Rhode Island

How did La Salle win another state title? Having an ace up its sleeve.

Published

11 hours ago

June 7, 2026

Press Room

How did La Salle win another state title? Having an ace up its sleeve.

PROVIDENCE – The result was so obvious, everyone should have seen it coming.

That’s because Hailey Vigneau doesn’t lose big games.

The La Salle softball team might have been hammered by Chariho during their regular season matchups, but none of that mattered in the postseason. The state’s seen plenty of big-time pitchers, but none that have won like Vigneau. Saturday’s championship game against Chariho only added to her legacy, as she took care of things in the circle, Nikki Pallotta led the offense and the 5-2 win gave the Rams their fourth straight state title.

“We just know how hard we work,” Vigneau said. “We know we have each other. We know how supportive of each other we are. We just know that our team, in the end, will come out on top.”

Softball pitchers are supposed to strike fear with fastballs and sit batters down faster than they can get up to plate. You won’t find many teams that say they’re afraid of Vigneau, but you also won’t find any teams that have beaten her in a game that matters most.

The La Salle senior – who will pitch at Marist next spring – didn’t look bothered by the magnitude of the game she was pitching. If Chariho beat the Rams – which it had done twice this season – that meant an if-game where momentum would be on the Chargers side.

It seemed like a possibility, provided you ignored the fact that Vigneau has never lost a playoff game and wasn’t about to start in her senior season.

Vigneau made one mistake pitch that Adriana Jeannenot hit to outer space, a two-run blast that tied the game in the top of the fourth inning. She took the ball from the umpire, then retired the next batter to end the inning and get her offense on the field.

“I just have to focus on the next one. I can’t dwell on it,” said Vigneau, who gave up four hits and walked two while striking out eight. “Now I can reflect on it, fix what I know I messed up on.

“I didn’t even look. I didn’t turn my head.”

The bats went out and supported their ace. Pallotta had the go-ahead hit, a two-run double that scored Izzy Dong and Samantha Sell. While Pallotta and the Rams struggled to hit Jeannenot in clutch moments in the regular season, it was clear they figured something out.

“Their pitcher is really good and she shut us down in the first game,” said Pallotta, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs Saturday. “In the second game we started to pick up some hits, we started to learn a lot.

“We were lucky enough to play them twice, we got a lot of data off of that and so when we came into RIC … we had a lot of information and we used it.”

Armed with a 5-2 lead, Vigneau took care of things. The home run was a distant memory and when Alaina Valuk led off the fifth with a single, Vigneau barely noticed. She was in control and remained calm, right up until the final out was recorded, ending her career with a fourth straight title celebration.

“I just pitch one pitch at a time, no matter what the situation is in the game,” Vigneau said. “I can’t focus too much on the big win ahead, just one pitch at a time.”

Chariho was emotional after the loss and why wouldn’t it be? The Chargers entered the season with so much promise, finally got over the hump of beating La Salle and then did it twice in this spring.

But the two playoff losses – Saturday as well as the winners’ bracket final – showed that Chariho still has some work to do to in order to get that title the program wants. The loss will only help inspire the Chargers to keep chasing it next season.

“We had a phenomenal season. I’ve never been more proud of this team,” Jeannenot said. “… It definitely pushes us to go for even bigger things. This year our main thing was to beat La Salle, now I feel like we can have even bigger goals and we can have more success.”

This was supposed to be the year La Salle lost. The Rams graduated all that offensive talent, there’s no way they can overpower teams anymore.

Turns out La Salle didn’t need to. It had a secret weapon who shouldn’t have been so secret and closes her career as the most clutch pitcher Rhode Island has ever seen.

“Without her we probably wouldn’t be here at all,” Pallotta said. “She’s been the ace for the last four years and she always comes up when we need her and she shuts them down.”

“I just enjoyed my time with the girls. Whatever happens, happens, but we just work hard and have fun,” Vigneau said. “I couldn’t have imagined this whatsoever.”

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