Uncategorized Archives

WELFARE KINGS: BAKER MOVES TO MAKE CORPORATE GIVEAWAYS EVEN SWEETER

June 28, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS If you think that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of Boston lavishing $270 million in tax breaks and direct aid on General Electric in exchange for moving their world headquarters to the Hubis unconscionable, you should realize that the deal is

JASON PRAMAS June 28, 2016

KILL SHOT: YEARS OF STATE AUSTERITY BUDGETS PUT UMASS BOSTON IN JEOPARDY

June 10, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Community needs to join Faculty Staff Union movement for a return to full funding There is only one appropriate response to the looming layoff of 400 unionized non-tenure track faculty at UMass Boston. Rebellion. We are well past the era of shots across

JASON PRAMAS June 10, 2016

AUSTERITY BUDGET, PART 4

June 6, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The Worst of the Senate FY 2017 State Budget Proposal Continuing to track the worst proposed cuts at different stages of the vicious and dispiriting annual Massachusetts state budget process, it’s time for a look at the full Senate budget proposal. As with

JASON PRAMAS June 6, 2016

#makeGEpay Budget Amendment Filed in MA Senate; Advocates Encourage Public Support [an Apparent Horizon breaking news report]

May 25, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The #makeGEpay advocacy network — including Jewish Voice for Peace-Boston and dozens of other local community organizations — just announced that Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) has filed a “Community Benefits for Corporate Tax Breaks” amendment to the Massachusetts Senate’s budget proposal. If included in the final state

JASON PRAMAS May 25, 2016

AUSTERITY BUDGET, PART 3

May 24, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The Worst of the House and the Senate Ways and Means Committee FY 2017 State Budget Proposals A weekly column like this one can only keep up with a limited number of current events. Although committed to tracking the worst proposed cuts at

JASON PRAMAS May 24, 2016

IMMIGRANT ADVOCACY GROUP OF CAMBRIDGE PROVIDES MODEL FOR MUNICIPAL HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM

Joint Committee Meeting of the Cambridge City Council to Discuss Immigrant Representation and Resources, May 12, 2016. Photo by Jason Pramas. Copyright 2016 Jason Pramas. May 23, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS We live in strange times. On the one hand, the United States is a more diverse society than

JASON PRAMAS May 23, 2016

GE BOSTON DEAL: THE MISSING MANUAL, PART 7

May 11, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS General Electric tries to cheap out on cleaning up its PCB apocalypse on the Housatonic River In 1929, Swann Chemical Company began commercially producing polychlorinated biphenyls for industrial use as an electrical insulator and as a coolant. PCBs were immediately a huge success,

JASON PRAMAS May 11, 2016

ECONOMIC VIOLENCE: VERIZON CUTS OFF HEALTH CARE BENEFITS TO STRIKERS AND THEIR FAMILIES

May 6, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS As the Verizon strike enters its fourth week, the 39,000 union members on picket lines up and down the East Coast—and now taking their campaign nationwide—are continuing to hold fast for a better contract than the giant corporation has thus far been willing

JASON PRAMAS May 6, 2016

AUSTERITY BUDGET: PART 2

April 28, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The lowlights of the Mass House Ways and Means Committee FY 2017 state budget proposal Time for a look at the latest act of the Commonwealth’s annual fiscal circus: the House Ways and Means Committee (HWMC) FY 2017 budget proposal. As with the

JASON PRAMAS April 28, 2016

STRIKE MATTERS: VERIZON’S UNION EMPLOYEES FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS

Photo by Jason Pramas April 22, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS BOSTON – From the St. James Avenue side of Copley Square on Thursday afternoon, passers-by could be forgiven for wondering what the group of 300 people in red T-shirts opposite them was cheering about. If they were told that

JASON PRAMAS April 22, 2016