Improving and enforcing the City’s Responsible Employers Ordinance (REO) – that’s what the March 22, 2018 hearing and rally in Springfield, Massachusetts was all about. And that’s where Sisters and Brothers were. They mobilized and turned out to support a University of Massachusetts report that proposed a higher hiring requirement for women, which is currently at 2 percent. Check out the photos of members waiting to testify and standing with their signs.

The report also set minimum guidelines for Springfield residents, minorities, women, and veterans; including the requirement that at least 35 percent of employment for “all trades” must be Springfield residents. Check out the photo of Tyeka Robinson (yellow shirt), Steward and Springfield resident, as she testifies at the hearing in support of this requirement.

As for progress, Lisa Clauson, SIB chair says, “A full-time compliance officer has been hired and we have had good preliminary meetings with him.” She continues, “We are also working with City Councilors and the Mayor’s office around revamping the REO, with some progress being made and some steps backward.”

CLICK HERE for online coverage of the rally in the Boston Business Journal.