SEIU Gets New Residency Rules... and GPS

Published Mar 13 2007, 09:14 PM by David S. Bernstein

Hot on the heels of Boston's new contract with AFSCME, the city has finalized a contract with SEIU. It includes the 10-year "rolling residency" requirement that AFSCME got, according to a release from Mayor Menino's office. AFSCME has about 1200 city workers, and SEIU has about 700, so that's a huge chunk of the city government's civilian workforce now operating under the new residency rules that will allow some city workers to live in less-expensive suburbs. City Council President Maureen Feeney, among others, was opposed to the change, but, well, that'll show you how much the City Council matters.

The new contract "also allows the city to place GPS devices in city-owned equipment and vehicles upon notice to the union," according to the city's release. That's a win for the city, which desperately wants to be able to track vehicles to prevent fraud and abuse. Of course, once placed, those GPS devices have been known to mysteriously break, or fall out of windows, I'm told....