BOSTON — Massachusetts voters will decide this November whether certain employees of the state agency that provides legal representation to people who cannot afford an attorney should have collective bargaining rights.
Question 2 on the statewide ballot focuses on employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, or CPCS.
CPCS oversees the delivery of legal services to eligible people facing criminal charges and certain other legal proceedings. Question 2 asks voters whether employees of the agency should be allowed to organize and collectively bargain with their employer.
What would Question 2 do?
A “yes” vote would allow CPCS employees to organize and collectively bargain over wages, benefits and working conditions.
Voting “yes,” however, would not automatically create a union or guarantee employees a pay raise. Employees would still need to organize, and any changes to their employment terms would depend on the collective bargaining process.
The proposal also addresses how any collective bargaining agreements would be funded.
CPCS would be required to request the necessary funding from the governor to cover the cost of a negotiated contract. That means the potential cost to taxpayers would depend on the terms of any agreement reached through collective bargaining.
The proposal applies to employees of the state’s public counsel agency and would not automatically extend the same collective bargaining rights to every private attorney who accepts court-appointed cases.
What does a “yes” or “no” vote mean?
A YES vote would allow eligible CPCS employees to organize and collectively bargain with their employer over issues including wages, benefits, and working conditions.
A NO vote would leave the existing law unchanged, meaning the proposed collective bargaining rights would not take effect.
Massachusetts voters will decide Question 2 on Nov. 3.
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