Legislature Hears Petition to Give CPCS Employees Collective Bargaining Rights

BOSTON — March 16, 2026 — Massachusetts lawmakers heard testimony Monday on a ballot initiative that would extend collective bargaining rights to employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services for the first time. The Special Joint Committee on Initiative Petitions, co-chaired by Representative Michael Day and Senator Paul Feeney, heard from Department of Labor Relations Director Philip Roberts and Special Counsel Marjorie Wittner, who outlined three failed organizing attempts dating to 1978, each dismissed because CPCS did not meet the statutory definition of a public employer under Chapter 150E. SEIU Local 888 President Tom McKeever, whose union spent more than $825,000 on paid signature gatherers to place initiative petition H5009 on a potential 2026 ballot, confirmed the expenditure under questioning from Representative Day. CPCS trial attorney Tanvi Verma described a Boston office expanding from fewer than ten attorneys to a projected 40 amid the agency's court-ordered growth following last summer's bar advocate work stoppage, saying staff are "being asked to do more" without adequate support or recourse. No opponents registered to testify.