About 30 union leaders, workers, and advocates gathered on the State House steps Tuesday afternoon to hold a moment of silence to honor those who lost their lives on the job for Workers Memorial Day.
But before that moment of silence, labor leaders used a megaphone to speak out against workplace hazards, which Rhode Island AFL-CIO President Patrick Crowley said, claim an average of 385 U.S. workers every day.
| Rhode Island AFL-CIO priorities |
“It’s not really great to have to think about how dangerous it is to work in America,” Crowley told the crowd.
Union leaders want state leaders to strike now on a trio of bills they say will ensure more workers can be protected from physical dangers as well as anti-union messaging. Among those priorities: ending the exemption from the state’s indoor smoking ban at Rhode Island’s two casinos.
“We’ve known for decades that smoking kills,” Crowley said. “That’s why it’s important that we pass legislation to ban smoking in these casinos.”
Matt Dunham, president of Table Game Dealers Laborers Local 711, said the local’s 600 workers have to endure second-hand smoke every time they enter Bally’s Lincoln and Tiverton facilities.
“They’re tired of going to work each day wondering if they’re putting their future health on the line to put food on the table tonight,” Dunham said.
Workers have made the push to end Bally’s exemption for years, only to be stalled at the committee level. But that changed after House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi allowed a symbolic committee vote to advance the proposal at the end of the 2024 legislative session.
Shekarchi is now one of the 10 cosponsors listed on the latest edition of the bill to end the exemption the casinos have from the state’s indoor smoking ban. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Teresa Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat and has the backing of 55 of the chamber’s 75 members. The House Committee on Finance held an initial hearing on Tanzi’s bill on April 10, when it was held for further study — as is standard practice for a first look by a legislative panel.
In the Senate, however, passage of a smoking ban has faced repeated roadlocks.
The late Senate President Dominick Ruggerio had been a staunch opponent of such legislation, citing concerns it could decrease revenue. The chamber’s new majority leader Frank Ciccone, a Providence Democrat, has expressed the same concern.
But newly-elected Senate President Valarie Lawson, an East Providence Democrat, said she personally supports the measure, chamber spokesperson Greg Paré confirmed in an email Wednesday.
“But it is also her understanding that the parties are working together towards a resolution that would not require legislation,” Paré said in an email. “At the same time, the legislation will undergo the normal, public committee review process.”
Legislation introduced Feb. 7 by Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, a South Kingstown Democrat, has yet to be scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Committee on Labor and Gaming.
Can’t stand the heat? Fix the kitchens
Union leaders believe the state also needs to act on companion bills that would establish standards for working in extreme heat and cold.
Katarina Ezikovich, an organizer with SEIU 1199NE, knows firsthand the dangers workers face during extreme heat. A lab technician at Women & Infants Hospital, she recalled how the hospital’s HVAC system failed over the winter.
The kitchen staff felt the impact first.
“People were as red as the potatoes they roasted. They sweated more than the onions. Haute cuisine had nothing on the flambé that our employees were becoming,” Ezikovich said. “The puns here might be funny, but what wasn’t funny was our employer’s response.”
Ezikovich claimed hospital administrators advised workers to drink Gatorade and take extra breaks. Care New England spokesperson Raina Smith said the hospital network is aware of the concerns raised by union workers and that a temporary HVAC solution has been in place since mid-February.
“We remain committed to transparency and to upholding the highest standards of safety, quality, and respect for every member of our hospital community,” she said in an emailed statement.
But Ezikovich said the hospital has not fixed the problem and that their bosses’ solutions have been nothing more than “a Band-Aid on a gaping, gushing wound.”
“You can only take so many breaks before returning to a hellfire work site,” she said.
Union leaders believe such issues can be mitigated under companion bills by Rep. David Morales, a Providence Democrat, and Sen. Lou DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat. Their legislation would require employers to provide workers with adequate heating and cooling equipment, access to paid rest breaks, along with training to recognize and mitigate heat and cold-related risks.
Morales’ bill received its initial committee hearing Feb. 12, while DiPalma’s bill had its first review by a Senate panel on March 12. Both bills were held for further study.
No more mandatory meetings
Rhode Island labor leaders are also targeting an end to so-called “captive audience meetings” — mandatory employer gatherings where workers are required to hear company views on religion, politics, or unions.
Such meetings are allegedly used by employers to convince their workers that they’d be better off without a union, said Teamsters Local 251 organizer Patrick Leonard.
“They’ll pull workers on the shop floor into a conference room, close the door behind them, outnumber them with management and tell them this is a voluntary meeting.” he told the crowd.
A growing number of states have begun to ban such meetings, including Connecticut in 2022. Captive audience meetings were deemed unlawful by the National Labor Relations Board in November 2024.
Rhode Island’s Senate has already passed such legislation earlier in April. The bill sponsored by Sen. Matthew LaMountain, a Warwick Democrat, would prohibit employers from punishing or firing workers who choose not to attend meetings or read messages where the company shares its views on religion or politics.
Workers who believe they were unfairly disciplined or fired would be allowed to sue their employer to get their job back, receive financial compensation, and have their legal fees covered.
Leonard said codifying such protections would give workers reassurance that they can hold onto their own beliefs without risk of being fired.
LaMountain’s bill is before the House where companion legislation by Rep. Robert Craven, a North Kingstown Democrat, was held for further study by the chamber’s Committee on Labor on April 2.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
