BOSTON – During an interview on Sunday’s edition of “Keller At Large,” Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Chrissy Lynch discussed the state of labor in Massachusetts. Lynch also discussed why the organization is endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris in November.
Law for the Protection of the Right to Organize
“It’s really hard to unionize,” said Lynch, a South Shore native and longtime labor activist who has worked hard to change that over the past 11 months since taking her current position.
Lynch discussed the importance of passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a bill introduced in Congress several years ago that establishes and expands a range of protections for workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain.
“Companies have figured out how to make it impossible for workers to unionize,” Lynch said. “The PRO Act would really level the playing field.”
Who is the Massachusetts AFL-CIO supporting for president?
Lynch said the AFL-CIO’s top priority this election season is to elect Democratic candidate Kamala Harris to the presidency. She also had a message for rank-and-file union members considering supporting Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“I would ask them to please look at the issues, because that’s what we do. We don’t look at personalities. We look at where you stand?” Lynch said. “And in issue after issue, Donald Trump has a playbook for dividing working people so that we’re fighting each other over the crumbs. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have consistently stood with working people throughout their time in office, consistently fought for and effectively passed laws to actually help working people grow the middle class. And it’s very clear to me and many of our leaders, when you look at the issues, who stands with working people and who pays lip service to working people.”
Should Massachusetts Eliminate the MCAS Requirement?
As for the Massachusetts ballot questions, Lynch said the union is “absolutely in favor” of Question 2, which would see the state end the use of the MCAS test as a graduation requirement.
“We hear from our educators and unions that high stakes testing is bad for classrooms,” she said. “These classrooms are our teachers’ working environments and our children’s learning environments. I have two children in public schools. This is very personal to me, and when teachers see that students are struggling to learn the basics because they’re stressed, they’re teaching for a test that’s not good for classrooms, that’s not good for children.”
Jon Keller
