WESTBOROUGH, Mass. – National Grid today announced a tentative three-year agreement with Local 12321-01 of the United Steelworkers.The USW unit, whose current contract will expire on Monday, represents about 220 of the utility company’s natural gas employees in Rhode Island.

House Speaker Sal DiMasi and President HaynesSpeaking at the Massachusetts AFL-CIO's annual Gompers-Murray-Meaney education conference, House Speaker Sal DiMasi told leaders in the Massachusetts labor movement that they had a friend in the Governor's Office and the State House. He encouraged them to take advantage of the favorable political climate, and make solid gains for their union members.

QUINCY - A Quincy-based union has landed in a fight to prevent a rival union from California from taking over representation of about 425 workers at Fallon Ambulance Service.

Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association President Thomas Nee plans to testify before a Senate hearing on crime in Washington, D.C., this morning where he says he’ll blast the Bush administration’s law-enforcement funding cuts as detrimental to police work.

The next Solidarity Committee meeting will be at 6PM in the Jobs With Justice office (3353 Washington St, Jamaica Plain).

NORTHBRIDGE— School Superintendent Paul K. Soojian paints this grim picture of the school district next year:At least a third of the school district’s teaching staff will be laid off, full-day kindergarten will be eliminated, bus transportation for older children at the town’s public schools and the Whitinsville Christian School will be eliminated, the Aldrich Early Childhood Center will be closed, class sizes are going to increase dramatically and high school sports will be eliminated.

Investing in the track will send the message to lawmakers that “we will be an industry worth saving,” said Louis Ciarlone, the track’s union chief. “We have gone from cautiously optimistic to very excited about the future.”

Firefighters union President Fran Capello has charged that the city is not keeping up with routine maintenance and the purchase of new trucks as they are needed.

On May 18th over 80 GEO members showed up to support GEO’s bargaining team in our 13th bargaining session with the University. A wide variety of departments were represented at this session, from Electrical and Computer Engineering to History; from Sociology to Computer Science; from Plant & Soil Sciences to Education to Spanish & Portuguese.

NEW BEDFORD — A casino developer has purchased an option on the Revere Copper Products property on the North Terminal waterfront, claiming to now have control over 30 acres of land in the Hicks Logan area.