WBCA Podcasts

Boston Neighborhood Network News

Boston's Annual Labor Day Breakfast & Local 26 Hotel Workers Union on strike, 2024 State Primary Elections, Change The Referendum & March For Our Lives & Patricia & Manuel Oliver advocating for gun control, Mother Caroline Academy clap-in, College move-in week, upcoming Boston Food Festivals.

Duration:: 20m
Broadcast on:: 06 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(upbeat music) - Good evening, Boston. Welcome to BNN News. I'm Natalie Candler. Thanks for tuning in. Every year, the City of Boston honors Labor Day with a breakfast celebration, but this year, the event looked quite different. On Monday, in a powerful show of solidarity, Boston's annual Labor Day breakfast moved from inside the Hilton Boston Park Plaza to the open air on Columbus Avenue, ensuring the attendees avoided crossing the picket lines, established by the local 26 Hotel Workers Union, which has been on strike since Sunday. - So this is just an incredible show of what we get to see as labor leaders, as unions, our workers in the streets all the time, the courage that it takes to step out, put your families on the line, walk off the job, and to do this, smiling, laughing, that's celebrating our power. It is quite an incredible feat to see here on Labor Day, and that's what it's all about. Our power as a labor movement, our power as workers and the working class here today on display in the streets. - These Boston Hotel Workers are looking to make their voices heard, and there was no better place to make their cause known. - We're on strike because one job should be enough. We're on strike because our members, they need to be respected and work, and they need to be respected, particularly after they sacrifice so much after COVID. And frankly, if you ask anyone who's on the picket line today is the economy working for them, they'll say that it's not working for them. And they'll say the reason it's not working for them is because the hotel industry has nickel and dime them in these negotiations. They've cut ours, they've cut jobs, and that's why everyone is out here today to make them pay. I feel disgusted in how the hotels are treating us. We, for having to work two, three, four, five different positions to be able to make ends meet, it's not the way we're supposed to live. We're supposed to be able to live a life where I can see my two daughters. I shouldn't have to get messages from my kids saying, "Oh, are we gonna see you this week, Dad?" Because I have to work four, five different positions just to be able to make ends meet and provide for them. - At the end of the day, one job should be enough for someone to, you know, have family time and work-to-life balance. Unfortunately, it is so hard, and this is why a contract is so important to all of us because it would give us job security, it would give us good benefits, and it would make us be able to afford the increase in living and the cost of groceries. - City and state leaders took to the stage to pledge their commitment to supporting Boston's union workers. - Because a union means dignity on the job. A union means having a say in what your working conditions look like. A union means having the freedom and the right to shape your own future. That is what this strike is about. It's about Daniela and the thousands of workers just like her who are standing here today and who are on the picket line. About all of us, our families and the dignity that Boston deserves. It's about fighting for what we know, our workers are worth, and making Boston a home for everyone. - Massachusetts is strong when our unions are strong. (audience cheering) Strong unions mean higher wages, better benefits, and true freedom for our workers. Unions build America's middle class and unions will rebuild America's middle class. - The hotels, they brag that they provide top of the line service for their customers, but they provide bottom of the barrel benefits and wages while they're workers. We're going on strike to make sure that we provide those benefits for everyone. First class workers deserve first class healthcare and wages, and we're gonna make sure that that happens. - Day in and day out, you show up. You clock in the jobs that are essential, but far too often rendered invisible. You prepare and serve food. You crease bed sheets and fold tabs. You haul luggage. You spend long hours on your feet. You are the backbone of our communities and our community. You, in our economy, you keep this city running. You do that. (audience cheering) - The event served as a reminder of the power of collective action and the importance of standing in solidarity with workers fighting for fair treatment. (audience cheering) - Hello, we need everybody together. - This week was the state primary elections and BNN was there for special coverage. BNN's Katie Coffey has the story. - Tuesday was primary day in Boston and BNN headed out to the polls. We went over to Rosalindale, where we caught up with Mayor Michelle Wu and her family as she showed her children the importance of using their civic duty. This primary is shedding light on some of the lesser known but equally important state offices. Many Bostonians took to the polls early by voting via mail. However, we were still able to catch up with some of the in-person voters as they expressed their feelings about voting rights and policy issues in 2024. - Voting is critical, absolutely essential, more important than ever. The stakes are really high in terms of the future of our country, the future of democracy, the future of freedom in this country for women and for everyone else. And voting is our number one tool to exercise what we believe. - I'm concerned that there's been the same people in certain positions for like 20 years and nobody else has a chance. And I feel like there are some issues that I'm fairly progressive and I feel like there's some issues that are very, very important to me. Things like who are the justices, what happens in the courtroom, the fairness of what happens in the courtroom, who's watching that. - I think it's important to vote more so now than before is because democracy and people's rights are at stake. Nobody should determine what's good for you and your body but you. And I think the world needs more empathy. People need to understand that everybody's life is different and we need to work together. This is America and America is about differences in working together. - The way that voting has been under attack in this country over the last eight years is really scary to me. We have the opportunity to, the only opportunity that we have to control our fate and make our lives better is at the ballot box. And there are people who wanna take that away and wanna limit that franchise. I think it's critically important that we do everything we can to push back against that. - In this election, a lot of attention is gonna be on the presidential race but in this primary, it's so important that everyone gets out there, makes their voices heard because these are the offices that really shape our day-to-day lives from how our court system runs to the work and the legislature. These are the places that really are tangible and matter in people's lives. (upbeat music) - Gun violence remains a devastating issue across the United States, touching the lives of countless families and communities. Now, two parents of a Parkland shooting victim are going around the country to spread their message with the help of change the referendum and march for our lives. - It's been six years and you've done nothing, not a thing to stop all the shootings that have continued to happen since. - Patricia and Manuel Oliver are traveling across the country in a converted school bus to share a new tool to advocate for gun control. The Shotline, which uses AI to recreate the voices of gun violence victims, allowing these voices to directly call members of Congress, urging them to take action. - I lost my son, Mackey. He was only 17 years. He was about to graduate from high school. He was prepared. He was visionary. His life ahead of him, where he was 17. He was taking off his human rights. His human right of living, of loving, of studying, of being around, of being an activist, because I'm sure that if he were able to make it that day on Valentine's Day in 2017, he would be the front light working to fight gun violence. So we have to care about the life, as you were saying, the precious life that we have. We have to appreciate it in our own. Why? How working hard to make this happen now, to pass this gun laws? - The thing is, I died that day in Parkland. My body was destroyed by a weapon of war. I'm back today because my parents used AI to recreate my voice to call you. Other victims like me will be calling too, again and again, to demand action. How many calls will it take for you to care? How many dead voices will you hear before you finally listen? Every day, your inaction creates more voices. If you fail to act now, we'll find someone who will. - The platform, part of a campaign by Change the Ref and March for Our Lives, aims to keep the stories of victims alive in the fight for legislative change. - Gun violence continues to play communities around Massachusetts and around the country. The more guns there are, the more likely it is that people are going to get harmed by guns. And so our work is to make sure that we're doing everything we can, strengthening policies, investing in community-based solutions and bringing folks together to say it's too much. This needs to stop. And at the coalition, we see every shooting as both a crisis and a call to action. - An inside city hall was the Museum of Incomplete, a display of memorabilia from victims of gun violence. These victims left incomplete ideas, ambitions, goals, and dreams behind. The museum collects incomplete artifacts in the form of songs, drawings, unattended events, text messages, and more. - We have to do something more because I mean, and I deserved more than what is, and that him losing his life to gun violence at the age of 17. I should have, we having grandchildren at this time, going to basketball games and watching him live out his life and his legacy and future as I am standing here today. So people deserve to out, to live their full potential. So we need more support on creating that by changing what's happening surrounding gun violence. - Since 1990, there has been over 400 school shootings, with the last one as recent as earlier this week, after four people were killed in a Georgia school. So the question begs to be asked, what can we do to stop the deaths and stop the violence? - What can we do to help end this epidemic? How can we actually think about how we are, in fact, proximate to it, understanding that over 50% of American adults know someone who has been victimized by gun violence in this country? What can we do, what more can we do? How can we persuade our politicians and our local Congress folks to do something about the fact that we are losing our loved ones by the hundreds daily? - Communities, lawmakers, and everyday citizens must come together to ensure that the precious lives lost are not forgotten, to make certain no more lives are cut short by senseless violence and for those affected and for future generations. The time to act is now. - To kick off the new school year, the community of Mother Caroline Academy gave students a warm welcome in. - A jubilant processional of cheering families, community leaders, faculty, and staff welcome returning students with outstretched arms to the all girls Mother Caroline Academy's clapping outside of the school in Dorchester. - It feels really good to know that somebody sees the effort that I'm making in school and that somebody is always there to support me so that they know what I'm going through when I start applying for new schools. - The well-wishers showered the students with applause for their ongoing academic accomplishments and for their hopes of achieving more of the future goals. - Since it's my third year here at Mother Caroline, I feel like I've already been welcomed since the first day I've been here and hearing unapplied from all the staff members that have supported me through these past three years makes me feel very warm inside and welcome. - Clap in is an expression of the school's mission. It sees the students as the most precious resource and are here to educate them and guide them through their development. Getting them ready to meet future challenges that they will experience in their lives. - When you're applauded, it just makes you feel good. It feels like everyone is rooting for you and cheering you on and that is really important as we start the school year. We want our scholars to know that we are cheering them on. They have the tools and they will be successful at school. - There's no greater joy for a parent to feel the community giving their child full support on their return to the first day of school. - My daughter being a third grader is very nervous. It's her first year here. So I think this gives her a sense of pride. It eases the tension for her a little bit. And it just makes me happy that there's a bunch of people that care enough to take the time out to do this for our incoming students. - Founded in 1993, this third through eighth grade school has empowered girls through an educational experience in a safe space that fosters social and emotional learning. Boston's female leaders understand the importance of being surrounded by a community that cheers you on. - Clapping of hands, it's a positive energy. And what better way to start out the school year? It's a first day, some of them may be experiencing anxiety. So we want them to get off to a good start. They deserve to be applauded. But first of all, being enrolled and being present and showing up today and they need the partners like Boston police and the teachers and the staff to be there, to be here and support them. - So knowing they are in an academically excellent environment with love all around them, these bright future leaders of tomorrow are ready to take on any challenges that may come their way in the new school year at Mother Carolina Academy. - This week, students are returning to the city for the fall semester, leaving a path of chaos in their tracks. An annual rite of passage that comes with college movements. - It's that time of the year again, Boston. The streets are sworn with U-Halls. The sidewalks are littered with garbage. And the over 325,000 university students are flooding back into the city to begin the new fall semester. - It's moving is very difficult, I'd say, because all of the leases kind of end and start on the same day. So August 31st to September 1st is pretty strenuous, especially in college, off-campus neighborhoods like this. 'Cause everyone's trying to move out and move in within the same 24-hour period. So it's definitely stressful. It's a little exciting 'cause it's the start of the year, but yeah, it definitely brings some stress. - I'm moving into a dead industry and that was kind of a pain because there has been a lot of cars coming in and out and being packed and a lot of furniture being thrown out on the street. So, but at the end of the day, it's really a progress in, it's really a work in progress at the end of the day because I get it that we're all students here, we're all trying to have our own little space. - Although Bostonians famously dread college move-in day, students were still met with a helping hand. - So move-in day for me was stressful, but I also ended up finding out that it was sort of a community building experience personally 'cause I moved by myself. So I was sort of walking up and down the street and I had a lot of people offer to help me, which I did not expect at all. I thought as like everyone is just kind of doing their own thing. So that was definitely really nice and something that I didn't expect in Mission Health. - Those with some experience say that the best strategy is to arrive early and come prepared. - This is America. This is part of the educational experience. And the wise ones, the ones who've gone through this several times, like I have, you know, you just get used to it. Maybe you're a little bit more prepared, maybe you get better boxes and maybe you have the furniture shipped directly to the apartment instead of to your house where you build ahead of time. And I should have just built it in the dorm. - We were here probably 9.15 this morning and there were plenty of parking spots and the street wasn't overly crowded yet. And so we were able to just pull right in and start unloading. And I have to say it's really gone a lot smoother than I was expecting it to. We didn't hit much traffic coming up from New York yesterday. We unpacked her and moved her out of one apartment and moved her in smoothly today. But I'm glad I didn't show up at noon because people seem like they're having a lot harder time than we did. - As students make their annual return to Boston at the end of the summer, expect a few more discarded mattresses and extra trash around town. It's all part of the college moving experience. And as one parent tells us. - We get here and I take care of what we have to take care of their bags, you know, she's just got a ton of stuff. But you know what you're in for, you're bad down, you get it done and it's not that bad. It's not that bad. - I hope you're hungry Boston because Food Festival season is back. Let's take a look at the upcoming events and what you can expect to be craving. Grab a Euro at the Greek Fest in Somerville from September 6th to 8th. And for Bostonians over 21, the Caribbean Rum and Food Festival will be the place to be on Saturday, September 14th at RCC. And on September 15th, the Boston Local Food Festival will combine countless cuisines and cultures found throughout Boston located at Rose Kennedy Greenway. For all the vegetarians, the Boston Veg Food Fest is Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th in Roxbury. And if you're craving a savory snack, be sure to check out the Dumpling Festival on Saturday, September 28th at Adams Park. BNN wants to remind all of our viewers to register to vote for this year's elections. To register to vote or check up your registered, go to vote.gov. That's V-O-T-E dot G-O-V. Thank you for tuning in Boston. That's our broadcast for tonight. As a reminder, you can stream or watch the news on demand@bnnmedia.org. Each episode will be re-broadcast at 9.30 p.m and 11 p.m. on Expitted Channel 9, the Sound Channel 15, and Fios Channel 2161. And be sure to check out our BNN HD XFINITY channel 1072. You can also hear us on the Radio Fridays at 7.30 and 9 p.m. and Monday through Thursday at 9 p.m. And now you can watch BNN News on the go with the cable cast app. For BNN News, I'm Natalie Kanler. I'll see you next Friday. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)