Healey scores union points, hails app drivers union as Waymo idles in neutral

Surrounded by labor leaders on the State House steps, Gov. Maura Healey cheered the state’s certification of the ride-hailing drivers union, the first of its kind in the U.S. The move affects nearly 70,000 drivers.

“I know how hard you worked for this, and yes, we were with you every step of the way,” she said Tuesday.

The comment was a callback to when Healey was the attorney general, and she filed a lawsuit in 2020 arguing that Uber and Lyft drivers were employees who fall under state law. Healey’s successor, Andrea Campbell, later landed a settlement with the companies for a minimum pay standard and benefits, while a 2024 ballot question allowed them to unionize.

But whether Healey, now the governor, will remain in lockstep on an emerging issue with the unions is unclear. A few rows behind her, a union member held up a sign: “Waymo Keep Out,” it said, adding “Human Drivers Only.”

Autonomous vehicles – and artificial intelligence – appear to be the next front in the battle between unions and business. Healey, who is up for reelection this year, has been noncommittal to unions about where she stands on the topic as companies like Waymo push for state regulation so they can expand into Massachusetts. Waymo has been test-driving its cars in Boston, but with a driver inside.

Some of labor’s love lost for Healey was recently splashed across the Boston Globe’s website, in a piece headlined, “Unions helped propel Maura Healey to the governor’s office. They’re not so enthusiastic about her reelection.” The article included a litany of grievances, from a Labor Advisory Council that hadn’t met for months to the administration’s embrace of AI in state agencies.

Healey recently tempered some of her pro-AI talk. Her economic development chief, Eric Paley, a first-round investor in Uber, is typically eager to talk about the topic. “This is an area of personal passion,” he told a business group earlier this year.

Asked about the anti-Waymo sign behind her at the union rally, Healey remained somewhat noncommittal. “In terms of AVs, I mean that’s something that we're looking at, it's something that involves real issues of public safety, weather, and a whole host of things,” she told reporters.

As the rally on the front steps of the State House broke up, Chrissy Lynch, the head of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said the labor group has an endorsement process for the governor’s race, but she seemed to tip her hand on which candidate she sees them landing on. “The fact that she's standing here celebrating the biggest private sector organizing win since the [1940s] is a testament to the type of governor she is,” Lynch said of Healey. “We're not going to agree on every single thing, but she does prioritize centering working-class people.”

My State House News Service colleague Sam Drysdale has more on ride-hailing workers using their newly gained bargaining power by urging state regulators to pump the brakes on proposed regulations as the app drivers union looks to negotiate the first contract with Uber and Lyft. Read it here.

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9:45 | Attorney General Andrea Campbell joins the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce's Government Affairs forum series. She'll sit down with President and CEO Jim Rooney for a discussion on her priorities and issues. | Boston Marriott Long Wharf, 396 State St., Boston

10:30 | The Senate Committee on Climate Change and Global Warming holds a virtual hearing. The event is described as "The Value of the Mass Save Program." | More Info

10:30 | Mayor Michelle Wu hosts her Back Bay coffee hour and attends the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated Copley Square Park. | Copley Square Park, 560 Boylston Street, Back Bay

12:00 | Gov. Maura Healey tours the Logan Airport remote terminal in Framingham with U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, Senate President Karen Spilka, Mayor Charlie Sisitsky and other elected officials. | 19 Flutie Pass, Framingham

12:00 | Mayor Michelle Wu appears on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio.” | Live on wgbh.org

1:00 | Advocacy group Abundant Housing Massachusetts and others rally to call on lawmakers to pass "Yes In My Backyard" legislation (H 1572, S 2836) and other "pro-housing" bills. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll plans to attend, along with Sen. Brendan Crighton and Rep. Andy Vargas will join, as will Marblehead resident David Modica, who recently went viral for calling out town officials who approved a plan that’s compliant with the MBTA Communities Law but which he said wouldn’t likely lead to any new housing. | State House steps, Boston

1:00 | Sen. Dylan Fernandes, Reps. Kip Diggs and Steven Xiarhos, Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority Administrator John Kennedy and others hold a press conference to call for expanded commuter rail service to Bourne and Cape Cod generally. | Buzzards Bay Park, Gazebo, 90 Main St., Bourne

2:15 | Gov. Maura Healey tours the Holyoke Veterans Home with Veteran Services Secretary Eric Goralnick as part of Military Awareness Month and National Skilled Nurses Month. | 110 Cherry St., Holyoke

Former Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins made it official on Tuesday, saying on social media that she was making a run for her old job. “Just turned in my nomination papers,” she said in a video that showed her walking through Beacon Hill. “One thousand six hundred and six certified signatures from Boston, Chelsea, Winthrop and Revere. Today, it starts. We’re going to bring Suffolk County DA’s office back to the community.” She left the DA’s office to take a federal prosecutorial post in 2022, but resigned in disgrace in 2023. Rollins, in a podcast with former Celtics captain Dana Barros, had indicated last month that while she had pulled papers, she was still considering a run as incumbent Kevin Hayden pulled in another challenger, Linda Champion.

The head of Boston’s assessing department is leaving after seven years in the key role, and 20 years overall inside the department. Commissioner Nick Ariniello said in a Friday email to department colleagues that he was stepping back “for a bit of rest and rejuvenation while I contemplate what comes next.” He noted that he has worked for three mayors and four city chief financial officers. Hinlan Wong will step in as interim commissioner in July, and city officials plan a search for someone to fill the role permanently, he added.  Arieniello’s departure comes after years in the spotlight, as he worked with Mayor Michelle Wu and CFO Ashley Groffenberger to pitch a property tax shift that was blocked by state senators. The city has also been fighting a suit pushed by the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation accusing Boston of retaliatory taxes among property owners who appeal their assessments.

ENERGY CHEAT SHEET: Nuclear power and Mass Save are some of energy policies to watch as Beacon Hill wrangles competing proposals from Gov. Maura Healey and House lawmakers, and a Senate bill expected soon. – WBUR

WORLD CUP LATEST: Gov. Maura Healey said World Cup watch parties should get their license approvals this week as FIFA slowly moves to grant public viewing permissions. "Communities should be assured that those licenses are forthcoming, so they should get out there, get after it, plan those watch parties," Healey told reporters. – State House News Service

WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS: Belchertown was among the municipalities that paid for weight-loss drugs for its employees. But last year the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust, managing its health care and on the edge of insolvency, sent them a $911,000 invoice. – Wall Street Journal

HARVARD PICKET LINE: Mayor Michelle Wu withdrew as Harvard Law School’s Class Day speaker after she was unable to reach a compromise with striking members of the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers. “The Mayor is a strong ally of the labor movement and believes in respecting picket lines, but wishes that the union had taken one of the many alternatives available,” a Wu spokesperson said. – Harvard Crimson

QUINCY IN COURT: A judge ruled that Quincy’s city clerk made a mistake in rejecting signatures for a ballot petition on Mayor Tom Koch’s big raise, but the next steps for the petition are unclear. – Patriot Ledger

IN MEMORIAM: Henry Thomas III, who led Springfield’s Urban League and was the first person of color to chair the UMass Board of Trustees, has died. He was 77. – MassLive

ERRANT EMAIL: The Office of Campaign and Political Finance dinged Brookline Public Schools, saying the superintendent violated campaign finance laws by using staff time and the district email system to send a message with a note of support for a tax override. – Brookline.News

CRUMBLING CONCRETE: As work on a 260-home condo complex in Dracut begins, some Massachusetts homeowners are again pressing the state to help them with expensive repairs of crumbling concrete foundations. – WCVB-TV

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