Union Notices

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

Please provide copies of what your staff call "union notice" in the last 12 months, as well as any policy documents that summarize when to notify unions.

An example of this is the December 17, 2024 BY ELECTONIC MAIL AT rgarthe@seiu888.org letter to Ravilla Garthe Staff Representative, SEIU, Local 888

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, and is not made for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Brian McCarter

To help narrow the request, we are first trying to understand what union notices are, when they are required, and who receives them. At this stage, we don’t have a clear definition of the terms you referenced—specifically, the five unions and eight units.
We’ve observed that a union notice was issued in connection with the opening of a facility. We’d like to understand whether notices are also required in other scenarios, such as changes in staffing levels, moving staff between facilities, or other operational changes.
At this point, any summary documents, internal guidance, or other materials that are easy to generate and provide a high-level overview would be more helpful than conducting a broad, exhaustive search. This context will allow us to ask more targeted follow-up questions, especially since little appears to be publicly available on these topics.
If definitions or explanations of the unions and units exist, we would appreciate those as well.