Massachusetts Permit Collective Bargaining for Committee for Public Counsel Services Employees Initiative (2026)
| Massachusetts Permit Collective Bargaining for Committee for Public Counsel Services Employees Initiative | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic Collective bargaining |
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| Status Certified to the legislature |
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| Type Indirect initiated state statute |
Origin |
The Massachusetts Permit Collective Bargaining for Committee for Public Counsel Services Employees Initiative may be on the ballot in Massachusetts as an indirect initiated state statute on November 3, 2026.
Overview
What would the ballot initiative do?
- See also: Text of measure
The ballot initiative would permit employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) to participate in collective bargaining practices. It would also require CPCS to request funding from the governor for agreements within 30 days after entering into a collective bargaining contract.[1]
What is collective bargaining?
Collective bargaining is the process by which employees negotiate through unions or other chosen representatives with their employer.[2] The contracts decided through collective bargaining, called collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), set the contractual terms and conditions of their employment. Topics considered in such agreements can include hours, salary, benefits, leave policy, and other working conditions. Often, employees pay a fee to be represented and included in the CBA; this fee, called union dues, are what employees pay to be a member of the union.[3]
Text of measure
Full text
The full text of the ballot measure can be found here.
Support
Supporters
Unions
Arguments
Opposition
Opponents
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Arguments
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Background
Public sector collective bargaining in Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, state law allows collective bargaining for public employees.[4] There are two categories of public sector employees that are permitted to collectively bargain in Massachusetts, and each category has different policies regarding receiving funding from the government for their collective bargaining agreement.
The first category encompasses employees who report to the board of higher education and the board of trustees at the University of Massachusetts, the chief justice for administration and management, county sheriffs, the Personal Care Attendant quality home care workforce council, the alcoholic beverage control commission, and the state lottery commission. For those employees, their employer must submit funding requests for their collective bargaining agreements to the office of the governor. The governor then has 45 days to approve the request or deny and return the request for revision.
The second category encompasses all other employees who are permitted to collectively bargain in Massachusetts. For those employees, their employer must submit funding requests to a legislative body for approval. Depending on the employer, the legislative body could be a city or county council or the General Court of Massachusetts. The legislative body then has the ability to approve the request or deny and return the request for revision.
The initiative would add employees from the Committee for Public Counsel Services to the first category of employees who are permitted to collectively bargain.
Past petitions for the right to collectively bargain for CPCS employees
As of 2026, CPCS employees are not explicitly included or excluded in either of the two categories of employees permitted to collectively bargain.[4][5] In 2015, the SEIU Local 888 and CPCS employees filed a petition with the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (CERB), claiming that CPCS employees had the right to collectively bargain according to state law.[6] However, the CERB stated that because the CPCS was not explicitly included in state laws surrounding collective bargaining, the CERB did not have jurisdiction to grant CPCS employees the right to collectively bargain. Instead, they said that, "the decision to grant or deny certain public employees collective bargaining rights rests with the Legislature."[6]
In 2017, state Sen. Jason Lewis (D-5th Middlesex) introduced Senate Bill 1426 (S. 1426) to the state legislature.[7] The text of the bill was similar to the text of the 2026 initiative and would have permitted CPCS employees to collectively bargain. The bill was referred to the Committee on Public Service but was never voted on by the state Senate or House. In 2021, SEIU Local 888 and Massachusetts Defenders Union endorsed similar bills in the state legislature.[8] These bills were also introduced to the state Senate by Lewis, but were never voted on by the state Senate or House.[9][10]
Public sector collective bargaining restrictions in other states
A total of nine states have some form of restrictions on collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) between an employer and a public sector labor union.[11] CBAs are contracts that determine employment terms and conditions. Two states, North Carolina and South Carolina, have banned collective bargaining agreements for all public sector employees.[12]
Path to the ballot
Process in Massachusetts
An indirect initiated state statute is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that amends state statute. There are nine (9) states that allow citizens to initiate indirect state statutes.
While a direct initiative is placed on the ballot once supporters file the required number of valid signatures, an indirect initiative is first presented to the state legislature. Legislators have a certain number of days, depending on the state, to adopt the initiative into law. Should legislators take no action or reject the initiative, the initiative is put on the ballot for voters to decide.
In Massachusetts, the number of signatures required for an indirect initiated state statute is equal to 3% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. Massachusetts also has a distribution requirement that requires no more than 25% of the certified signatures on any petition can come from a single county.
The state Legislature has until the first Wednesday of May in the election year to pass the statute. If the legislature does not pass the proposed statute, proponents must collect a second round of signatures equal to 0.5% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. The Legislature also has the power to place an alternative measure alongside the proposed statute via a simple majority vote of the state legislature.
A simple majority vote is required for voter approval. However, the number of affirmative votes cast for the measure must be greater than 30% of the votes cast in the election.
The requirements to get an initiated state statute certified for the 2026 ballot:
- Signatures (first round): 74,574
- Signatures (second round): 12,429
- Deadline (first round): The deadline to submit the first round of signatures to the secretary of state was December 3, 2025.
- Deadline (second round): The deadline to submit the second round of signatures is July 8, 2026.
Stages of the ballot initiative
The following is the timeline of the initiative:[13]
- August 7, 2025: The Massachusetts Attorney General announced that the initiative had been filed.
- September 3, 2025: The Massachusetts Attorney General announced that the initiative had been cleared and that supporters could begin gathering signatures for the initiative.
- November 19, 2025: Supporters of the initiative announced that they submitted more than 110,000 signatures in support of the measure.[14]
- December 30, 2025: The state Elections Division announced that it had certified 86,153 valid signatures in support of the initiative. As such, it was certified to go before the state legislature in the 2026 legislative session.[15]
- February 5, 2026: The initiative was introduced to the Massachusetts General Court as House Bill 5009 (H. 5009).[16]
External links
See also
View other measures certified for the 2026 ballot across the U.S. and in Massachusetts.
Explore Massachusetts's ballot measure history, including citizen-initiated ballot measures.
Understand how measures are placed on the ballot and the rules that apply.
Footnotes
- ↑ Mass.gov, "Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Labor Relations Policies for Committee for Public Counsel Services Employees," accessed September 4, 2025
- ↑ AFL-CIO, "Collective Bargaining," accessed June 27, 2025
- ↑ Investopedia, "Collective Bargaining," accessed June 27, 2025
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Section 7: Collective bargaining agreements; term; appropriation requests; provisions; legal conflicts, priority of agreement; review of agreement by retirement board," accessed January 13, 2026
- ↑ General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Chapter 150A: Labor Relations," accessed January 13, 2026
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, "Labor-CPCS," accessed January 13, 2026
- ↑ General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "S. 1426 Overview," accessed January 13, 2026
- ↑ Action Network, "Essential Public Defense: The Right To A Union!" accessed January 13, 2026
- ↑ General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "S. 1745 Overview," accessed January 13, 2026
- ↑ General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "H. 2739 Overview," accessed January 13, 2026
- ↑ New Mexico Government, "Public Sector Collective Bargaining by State," accessed January 13, 2026
- ↑ The New York Times, "Utah Bans Collective Bargaining for Public Workers," accessed January 13, 2026
- ↑ Mass.gov, "Ballot Initiatives Submitted for the 2026 Biennial Statewide Election (proposed laws) and 2028 Biennial Statewide Election (proposed constitutional amendments)," accessed August 7, 2025
- ↑ CommonWeath Beacon, "Cutting taxes, recriminalizing recreational pot, scrutinizing Beacon Hill: record number of ballot questions in the mix for 2026," accessed November 19, 2025
- ↑ Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "State Elections Division Certifies New Batch of Ballot Questions," accessed January 5, 2025
- ↑ General Court of Massachusetts, "An Act relative to labor relations policies for committee for public counsel services employees," accessed March 16, 2026
