MARTY WALSH

President Biden on Thursday will announce $36 billion in financial relief to stave off pension cuts for thousands of union workers, the White House said. Biden will be joined by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and union leaders and workers to detail the funding for the Central States Pension Fund, which provides benefits mostly for Teamsters…

Dreams of a comfortable retirement may elude Americans due to a lack of adequate savings. The problem may start with not having retirement plans at work.

President Joe Biden signed a bill into law making a rail strike illegal, preventing workers from walking off the job weeks before the holiday season.

The visit by the French president will include a joint news conference and the first state dinner during Biden's tenure as president.

The House voted with bipartisan support to pass legislation blocking a rail strike before a Dec. 9 deadline, but the path in the Senate is more fraught.

Railroad workers are unionized and their contract is set to expire on Dec. 9, which has prompted speculation about a possible railroad strike that could disrupt travel and cripple supply chains.

The most pro-union President since F.D.R. has struggled to explain his vision for American workers.

Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says jobs will grow despite a slowing economy, but without immigration reform, a bigger 'catastrophe' is coming.

Illinois voters will be asked if workers should have a "fundamental right" to organize under the state constitution.

The Biden administration announced Friday it is awarding $1.5 billion in grants to help states, territories and tribal lands combat the opioid crisis.

Supply chain disruptions have eased since the height of the pandemic, but concern over a potential rail strike, which appears to have been narrowly averted, highlights how that system remains fragile.

President Joe Biden is hailing a labor agreement that avoided a strike that would have shut down railroads across the country as a win for America.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says the deal "balances the needs of workers, businesses, and our nation's economy."

President Joe Biden announced a tentative agreement was reached to give rail workers better pay and improved working conditions.

Rail companies and their workers reached a tentative agreement to avert a nationwide strike that could have shut down the nation’s freight trains and devastated the economy less than two months before the midterm elections.

President Joe Biden, a “car guy” with his own vintage Corvette, showcased his administration's efforts to promote electric vehicles during a visit Wednesday to the Detroit auto show. (Sept. 14)

Railroads have already started diverting freight. A strike could cost the U.S. economy more than $2 billion a day.

A railroad work stoppage could begin late Friday and cost the U.S. economy at least $2 billion daily in lost productivity.

Looming railroad strike could have major impact on the fragile economy; White House officials are holding meetings with top agency officials to avoid a strike.

Pension protections and Illinois referendum guaranteeing collective bargaining are promoted.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says he's pushing airlines to hire more customer-service agents and take other steps to help travelers this summer.

The Social Security trust fund will be able to pay out benefits for a year longer than prior estimates, the Treasury Department said.

Hiring in the manufacturing, transportation and health-care sectors helped the U.S. economy add more than 400,000 jobs in April.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh met Thursday with union organizers at the White House as the administration looks to boost unionization campaigns.

Marty Walsh has the heavy accent of his native Dorchester; Vice President Harris has roots in India and Jamaica. They’ve forged an unexpected relationship in the Biden administration.

When she was elected mayor of Boston in November, Michelle Wu transformed the image of the city’s chief executive.

The sides appear far apart with the season just around the corner.

The sides appear far apart with the season just around the corner.

A Biden administration task force has issued a set of recommendations that could make it easier for federal workers and contractors to unionize.

Federal contractors in 2022 must pay workers at least $15 an hour, boosting their average income by $3,000 per year.

They want Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to fast-track the training of dislocated workers, low-income individuals and unemployed youth.

Michelle Wu has been sworn in as Boston’s first woman and first person of color elected mayor in the city’s history.

President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate will not apply to truckers who work alone or exclusively outdoors, CNBC reported.

The American Trucking Associations said Walsh's comments were "an enormous victory for our association and industry."

Some people won't come back to work until they feel safe, Walsh said.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says slowdowns and bottlenecks at the nation’s shipping terminals are the result of an ongoing pandemic and problems like stagnant wages for some workers along the supply chain.

One of the two candidates In Boston’s historic mayor’s race has found herself questioned about her decision to identify as a person of color.

The city has only ever elected White men.

Boston voters have for the first time narrowed the field of mayoral candidates to two women of color who will face off against each other in November.

Democrat Michelle Wu has emerged the top vote-getter in a runoff election for the next mayor of Boston, but the race to decide her opponent in November is too early to call.

Labor and Treasury Department officials said Thursday that states can use leftover pandemic funds to continue paying income support to the jobless past Sept. 6.

In a letter, Biden's Treasury and Labor Secretaries said Labor Day will be the end of expanded unemployment, which 26 states moved to end early.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said in a letter that President Joe Biden wants Congress to include unemployment reform in the budget reconciliation process.

"We've been in contact with the state, and we're watching this unfold very closely," Marty Walsh says. The $300 benefits are off and on and off again.

President Joe Biden's Cabinet secretaries have been touring the country to marshal support for the president's infrastructure package and the larger Biden agenda.

Marty Walsh remembers what it was like when a Cabinet secretary would come to town. "He was speaking on behalf of President Obama and Vice President Biden, and people hung on every word.” Now Walsh, as secretary of labor, is on the other side of the equation, crisscrossing the country on behalf of President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan.

The emergency temporary standard does not apply to all workplaces despite thousands of COVID-related complaints from a variety of industries.

The emergency temporary standard does not apply to all workplaces despite thousands of COVID-related complaints from a variety of industries.

The Biden administration has issued an emergency rule that requires health care employers to take steps to protect their workers from COVID-19. For all other industries, there is updated guidance.

Boston’s police commissioner has been fired following a bitter battle to keep his job after decades-old domestic violence accusations came to light.

President Joe Biden is warning Republicans not to "get in the way" of his infrastructure plans. In Cleveland Thursday, Biden held up a card with the names of GOP lawmakers who rejected his COVID aid bill but later promoted its help back home. (May 27)

An administration official says they've been trying to figure out what they can do, but DOL is generally limited to administrative funding matters.

Negotiations between the White House and Senate Republicans over President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan are hitting a crucial stage ahead of talks Friday.

President Biden signed an executive order Thursday that aims to safeguard families, businesses, and the government from the financial fallout of a changing climate.

In February, Walsh denied he had any knowledge of the domestic abuse allegations prior to appointing Dennis White as Boston police commissioner.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says he'll reinstate an Obama-era pilot program that aims to aid minority and disadvantaged groups by ensuring local hiring for public works construction projects.

President Biden may begin issuing pardons before the 2022 midterms, The New York Times reports. Per the Times, administration officials have begun evaluating clemency requests, and activists have said they feel they're getting the sense pardons and commutations may be signed by the president within the next year or two. "We asked them not to wait to the end of a term to execute pardon and commutation power for photo ops, and they definitely assured us that is not this administration's plans," DeAnna Hoskins, the president of the criminal justice group JustLeadershipUSA, told the Times. Hoskins participated in a Zoom call between White House officials and formerly incarcerated citizens last month. While Biden appears to be getting the ball rolling early, the process itself will be quite deliberate and in conjunction with the Justice Department, which oversees a "rigorous application vetting process," the Times reports. That differs from former President Donald Trump's pardon approach, the Times notes, which often bypassed the Justice Department and instead relied on "an ad hoc network of friends and allies." Not everyone loves that idea, though. Desmond Meade, a voting rights activist who is seeking a federal pardon for a decades-old military conviction for stealing liquor and electronics on Navy bases while he was serving in the Army, said the Justice Department's application is "way too bureaucratic" and "daunting." He tried to convince the Biden administration to move the process outside the department, but it appears they are not inclined to do so, the Times reports. Read more at The New York Times. More stories from theweek.com7 scathingly funny cartoons about Liz Cheney's ousterThe GOP's blatant disregard for democracyThe White House is apparently overrun with flies

Millions of women have left the workforce during the pandemic as schools stopped in-person learning. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says the recovery hinges on women returning to work.

The rule change could potentially effect gig workers if they are found to be misclassified, but its ramifications in that area were not immediately clear.

The front door opened and bullets flew, cops say.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has said that he thinks more workers in the “gig economy” should be reclassified as employees. The trouble is that Secretary Walsh is attempting to relitigate battles of the 1930s, when he should be looking at how work and the priorities of workers have evolved. The secretary appears to think that gig-economy workers are being exploited by the platforms they work with and not being given their fair due in terms of benefits. On this view of the world, workers are best off with an employment contract that grants access to a trove of government-mandated benefits, including healthcare and restrictions on working hours. Yet taking a step back and considering what people want from work reveals a different view. The employment contract is just one way of working, and one that is increasingly out of step with what workers want. At heart, the employment contract puts one in a subordinate relationship with the employer — so subordinate that the law calls it a master-servant relationship. The employer buys your time and is entitled to ask you to do whatever she wants with it (within reason). That’s why, for instance, if an employee crashes his van into you, you sue his employer and not him (unless the employee was engaged in what the law calls a “frolic” unrelated to the employer’s needs). This doesn’t exactly sound very empowering, does it? The power of the employer over the employee explains why a host of labor and employment laws were passed in the 1930s to try to reduce the power of employers. Labor laws gave unions the right to negotiate contracts on behalf of all employees, and employment laws burdened employers with delivering a variety of social policies demanded by government. The 1930s were a different time, however. Many jobs could be performed by anyone with minimal training (they were literally “labor” jobs). The Great Depression meant that there were many people willing and able to do a given job. So what employees wanted was job security and some limitations on what employers could ask of them. They were willing to sell their time and labor without many conditions. Times have changed. Many jobs require specific skills, giving the worker more power. Workers also have other demands than those of workers in the 1930s. In the private sector, most see no need for labor unions. The rise of the gig economy provides alternatives. For instance, people who value flexibility in hours had been held back by the master-servant economy (they had to settle for rare part-time arrangements employers were often loath to offer) but suddenly found new choices in the gig economy. This was particularly the case with parents who valued being able to see to their children’s needs over the security of a 40-hour, 9-to-5 work week. Employment itself has also changed. The idea of a vertically integrated firm with career progression and jobs for life has waned in most sectors. Firms these days organize along different lines, contracting out non-essential services to other firms or to freelancers. Many employers don’t want to operate in a master-servant relationship, preferring to contract commercial terms instead. Gig-economy platforms are the most obvious example of that, but any firm that offers, for instance, extended time off or tuition benefits that encourage workers to leave the firm are operating under a different set of preconditions than employment law currently imagines. However, the idea that a master-servant relationship with an employer is somehow best for the worker remains prevalent. This has been the motive behind various attempts, most notably California’s AB5 bill, to forcibly convert gig workers into employees. The effect of these attempts has been to sweep up many traditionally freelance jobs that survived the legislation of the 1930s into an employment relationship. This is what helped doom the California attempt. Voters recognize that some people do not want an employment relationship and gravitate towards freelance work — which would not exist in an employment-only world. So many people were affected by AB5’s broad brush that California voters rejected AB5 by a large majority in a ballot initiative. Yet Secretary Walsh’s remarks indicate that the Biden administration might attempt to repeat AB5’s mistakes. The PRO Act, for instance, which President Biden has touted as an essential part of his infrastructure package, aims to make all gig-economy and freelance workers eligible for unionization, a first step on the road to AB5 and the imposition of a master-servant relationship neither the workers nor the platforms want. Instead of trying to force everyone into an outdated model, Secretary Walsh and his department should be looking at how work has changed, and should provide the president with proposals to send to Congress that reflect those changes.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says the Biden administration is exploring the idea that some in the gig economy are due labor law protections, benefits.

Shares of Lyft, Uber and DoorDash dipped Thursday after Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh told Reuters that gig workers should be classified as company employees.

Vice President Kamala Harris will chair a new White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, the Biden administration says.

Gerrit Cole struck out 13 and walked none over seven scoreless innings in his most dominant start since joining the New York Yankees, overwhelming the Baltimore Orioles 7-2 for his first win this season.

FILE - In this May 14, 2013 file photo, Leonard Nimoy gives a "Live Long and Prosper" hand gesture arrives at the LA premiere of "Star Trek Into Darkness" in Los Angeles. The Museum of Science, Boston, in collaboration with the Nimoy's family announced the development of a monument shaped in the hand gesture made famous by the actor's character, Mister Spock, to honor the Boston native who died in 2015. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)BOSTON – The Museum of Science in Boston is paying tribute to city native Leonard Nimoy with a 20-foot sculpture shaped like Mr. Spock's split-fingered “live long and prosper" hand gesture, the museum and the late “Star Trek” actor's family announced Friday. The announcement was made on the same day former Mayor Marty Walsh proclaimed Leonard Nimoy Day in the city. “The ‘live long and prosper’ symbol represents a message that my dad believed so strongly in,” his daughter, Julie Nimoy, said in a statement.

Former Boston City Council President Kim Janey, 55, speaks after being sworn in as Boston's new mayor at City Hall, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in Boston. She was the City Council president and will serve as acting mayor until a mayoral election in the fall. She also pledged to work to ensure that police in the city serve all residents fairly. Pressley described Janey as “a proud fourth-generation daughter of Roxbury," the heart of the city’s Black community. Her father was one of only eight Black students to graduate from the city’s prestigious Boston Latin School in 1964.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s Cabinet is nearly complete with the confirmation of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. A panel will also vote on advancing the nomination of Polly Ellen Trottenberg to be deputy secretary of transportation. And even as the Biden administration moves through picking nominees, there's no guarantee they'll all receive a smooth confirmation. And some of the deputies have become political footballs for Republicans looking to score concessions from the Biden administration. Cruz continues to hold up Biden’s nominee for deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, until sanctions are imposed.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s Cabinet is nearly complete with the confirmation of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh on Monday. A panel will also vote on advancing the nomination of Polly Ellen Trottenberg to be deputy secretary of Transportation. And even as the Biden administration moves through picking nominees, there's no guarantee they'll all receive a smooth confirmation. And some of the deputies have become political footballs for Republicans looking to score concessions from the Biden administration. Cruz continues to hold up Biden’s nominee for deputy secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, until sanctions are imposed.

The state crossed that mark Monday, exactly a year after officials reported the first case of a coronavirus infection in Massachusetts. — Maryland’s acting health secretary says the state’s hospitals have received less than half of their expected allocations of second doses of the coronavirus vaccine for front-line health workers this week. Schrader says state officials were talked with the federal Department of Health and Human Services all weekend trying to figure out what happened. The CDC says Iowa has delivered 190,689 first vaccine doses to individuals, or 6,044 per 100,000 people, the third lowest rate in the nation. Ad___PRAGUE — The Czech Republic is not planning to limit use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for elderly people like some other European Union nations.

That could lead to battles with progressive Democrats who want to push the new administration further left than it likes. She acknowledged, however, that she does not think major change is "going to be a cakewalk” for Biden. In introducing Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as his choice for labor secretary, Biden noted that he gave “serious consideration” to progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Progressives also have clamored for Democrats to scrap the Senate filibuster rule, which would make things even easier for Biden’s legislative agenda. But Biden has opposed doing that, and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, poised to become the new majority leader, was noncommittal this past week.

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris introduced additional key nominees for their economic and jobs team at an event Friday in Wilmington, Delaware. Among them were Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for secretary of labor, a position for which Biden had also considered Senator Bernie Sanders. "I did give serious consideration on nominating my friend Bernie Sanders to this position. If Sanders had been nominated to labor secretary, his Senate seat would be up for grabs. "This is one of the most important departments to me, I trust Mayor Walsh and I'm honored he accepted," Biden said.

– President-elect Joe Biden on Friday introduced the governor of Rhode Island, the mayor of Boston and a small-business advocate from California as the newest members of his economic team. Gina Raimondo as his choice to become commerce secretary, Mayor Marty Walsh as his candidate for labor secretary and Isabel Guzman as his pick to lead the Small Business Administration. As commerce secretary, Raimondo would help set the Biden administration's trade policy and promote U.S. opportunities for growth domestically and overseas. When the Democrat took the oath of office in 2018 for his second term, Biden presided over the inauguration. Biden's pick for the leader of the Small Business Administration, Guzman, is the current director of California's Office of the Small Business Advocate in the California governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)BOSTON – President-elect Joe Biden will select Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as his labor secretary, according to a source familiar with the decision, choosing a former union worker who shares his Irish American background and working-class roots. Walsh, 53, has served as the Democratic mayor of Boston since 2014. Before that, Walsh served as a state representative for more than a decade. He’s also had to grapple with the city’s history of racial tensions to try to make the city more welcoming for people of all backgrounds. The event pulls together the state’s top elected officials, Democrats and Republicans, to enjoy Irish music and food — and cringe-worthy jokes.

President-elect Joe Biden intends to nominate Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo to serve as commerce secretary and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to lead the Labor Department, CBS News confirmed Thursday, according to multiple people familiar with the choices. The decision to pick Raimondo comes after she was considered by Mr. Biden over the summer to be his running mate. During the vice presidential vetting process, Biden grew fond of the governor, a Biden campaign senior adviser told CBS News in August. She has been Rhode Island's governor since 2015 and was the co-founder of a venture capital firm, Point Judith Capital. In addition to the Cabinet picks, the Biden-Harris transition team also announced they will be nominating Don Graves as deputy commerce secretary.

FILE - In this June 25, 2020, file photo, a statue that depicts a freed slave kneeling at President Abraham Lincoln's feet rests on a pedestal in Boston. On Tuesday, Dec. 29, the statue that drew objections amid a national reckoning with racial injustice was removed from its perch. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)A statue of Abraham Lincoln with a freed slave appearing to kneel at his feet — optics that drew objections amid a national reckoning with racial injustice — has been removed from its perch in downtown Boston. Workers removed the Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Emancipation Group and the Freedman’s Memorial, early Tuesday from a park just off Boston Common where it had stood since 1879. Freed Black donors paid for the original in Washington; white politician and circus showman Moses Kimball financed the copy in Boston.

This surveillance image provided by the Boston Police Department shows a man approaching a ballot drop box outside the Boston Public Library, early Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020, in downtown Boston. Massachusetts election officials say a fire was set at the ballot drop box holding more than 120 ballots in what appears to have been a deliberate attack." (Courtesy of Boston Police Department via AP)A fire was set Sunday in a Boston ballot drop box holding more than 120 ballots in what appears to have been a “deliberate attack,” Massachusetts election officials said. The state has asked the FBI to investigate the fire that was set around 4 a.m. in a ballot drop box outside the Boston Public Library downtown, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin's office said. If those voters don't submit a new ballot, “their original ballot will be hand-counted to the extent possible,” Galvin's office said.

Seven of 10 intensive care beds were filled in Utah hospitals and about six in 10 in Montana. Due to competing demands, particularly from flu season, 71% of the state’s hospital beds are occupied, the Nevada Hospital Association reported. State officials worry that hospital beds will fill up if trends continue. Minnesota reported 35 confirmed new COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, tying a single-day record set on May 28. And the Iowa Department of Public Health reported 31 new deaths, the most confirmed in a 24-hour period since the beginning of the pandemic.

Like other states, health officials in Wisconsin had warned since the pandemic began that COVID-19 patients could overwhelm hospitals. Nearly 678 COVID-19 infections per 100,000 people have been diagnosed over the past two weeks, leading the country for new cases per capita, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The space isn't exclusively for coronavirus patients but could be used to treat them if needed. Last week, the state had the nation’s sixth-highest rate of coronavirus infections per 100,000 people, according to a White House coronavirus task force report dated Sunday. The number of reported coronavirus cases in Oklahoma increased by 980 on Wednesday, with 13 additional deaths, state health officials said.

BOSTON The Boston Symphony Orchestra is asking the music world to help it celebrate former conductor Seiji Ozawa's 85th birthday Tuesday. As part of the celebration, Mayor Marty Walsh has issued a proclamation declaring Tuesday Seiji Ozawa Day in the City of Boston." Ozawa is the longest-serving conductor in Boston Symphony history, holding the title of music director for 29 years from 1973 until 2002. He has also been affiliated with the New Japan Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and New York's Metropolitan Opera. Ozawa announced in 2010 that he had esophageal cancer, but the Boston Symphony said his health currently is stable.

Casinos, gyms, movie theaters, and museums are among the businesses allowed to reopen in the state on Monday, under the third phase of Massachusetts Gov. Pay attention #Massachusetts #COVID19 is on the rise. Charlie Baker to consider rolling back his decision to move the state into the third phase of his reopening plan if case numbers dont improve. Gina Raimondo on Wednesday delayed the next phase in the states reopening plan by another month. Baker and other state officials stress Massachusetts' key virus measures remain far below those in other states, and below where Massachusetts stood when he began the phased reopening in mid-May.

The fireworks were not announced until an hour or so before to avoid attracting large crowds during the coronavirus pandemic. This is traditionally a weekend for gathering in large groups for historic ceremonies and social events, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said. The Fourth of July remains a party, though Americas 244th birthday wont be the usual blowout bash. Fireworks will still crackle over the National Mall in Washington and other places, though with fewer people packed together watching them. But whether its big cities or small towns bursting with pride, theres a desire to make sure some show goes on, no matter what it looks like.

BOSTON Generations of Italian Americans embraced Christopher Columbus with little thought to the dark side of his legacy. There has always been the feeling that Italian Americans all feel the same way about Columbus, said Heather Leavell, 46, of Bedford, one of the founders of the group Italian Americans for Indigenous Peoples' Day. For some, however including Francis Mazzaglia of the group the Italian American Alliance the destruction leveled at the Columbus statue amounts to a hate crime against Italian Americans. Corrie Popp, a 46-year-old high school English teacher and Waltham resident, said many younger Italian Americans are ready to dump Columbus. Most Italian Americans are big-hearted people, said Popp, whose mother is of Italian descent.

Tensions were high in cities around the globe, nearly three weeks after George Floyd, a black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to his neck. A Black Lives Matter group in London called off a demonstration, saying the presence of counter-protesters would make it unsafe. Officials feared far-right activists would seek confrontations with anti-racism protesters under the guise of protecting statues. The march was led by supporters of Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody in 2016. A petition with 5,000 signatures said the statue represents a black man beneath someone else.Hundreds rallied in Prague for the second straight weekend in support of protests in the U.S.