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Category Archives: Direct Services
About Our Services
The Boston Workers Alliance provides free services to the public in need of employment and CORI assistance. BWA’s three service programs include the BWA Worker Center, CORI Clinic and the Boston Staffing Alliance. BWA services are available to BWA Base Members and Active Members:
BWA’s Worker Center is open from 10-2pm Mon-Thurs to the general public. BWA’s Worker Center provides resources and referrals for your job search needs. Services include resume and cover letter help, vocational training referrals, wage and hour claim referrals, and online job search assistance. BWA’s has public computers available for those who need a comfortable office environment to search for work. (learn more)
BWA’s CORI Clinic is Boston’s central resource for CORI issues. Visit the CORI Clinic to order a copy of your criminal record and to have your CORI reviewed by a community professional. BWA’s CORI Clinic is a judgment free service to help you understand your rights and navigate the process for sealing eligible cases. (learn more)
Boston Staffing Alliance is BWA’s non-profit alternative temp agency. The BSA is a CORI friendly temp agency that focuses on temporary, temp-to-perm and direct placements for socially responsible employers. Learn more.
Boston Staffing Alliance featured in Herald
Hub nonprofit dedicated to its job-seeking clients
By Paul Restuccia | Monday, October 25, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo
Photo by Patrick Whittemore
The Boston Staffing Alliance is a different kind of employment agency - a place that takes the time to really know its workers and make sure they’re ready before placing them on job assignments.
The Dorchester nonprofit agency, which opened in July, isn’t the kind of place where you just drop off your resume and wait for a call back.
Director Varda Halidy envisioned the agency as one that not only makes Boston companies more diverse but brings people to the work force with a variety of backgrounds, experience and skill sets who are in some cases rebuilding their lives.
The agency’s tagline “Community Staffing for the Socially Responsible” reflects its commitment to helping the underemployed. And unlike other staffing agencies, it does not charge a conversion fee if a company decides to hire one of its temporary workers.
Boston Staffing Alliance Grand Opening
Boston Staffing Alliance
Grand Opening: July 26
bsa-grand-opening.pdf
The Boston Staffing Alliance has a new date and time for its Ribbon Cutting ceremony. Thanks to you all for your support of this community agency.
Hope to see you there!
Date: Monday July 26th, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM
Where: Grove Hall
411 Blue Hill Avenue
Dorchester, MA 02121
Light refreshments and music.
The Boston Staffing Alliance (BSA) is a community based not for profit staffing agency that was launched by the Boston Workers’ Alliance. BSA works to stabilize our communities one job at a time. Through temp to permanent placements, our workers will gain confidence and build a brighter future for our families and community.
BSA works with socially responsible companies that are looking to diversify their organizations and are working towards the empowerment and the betterment of our community. Not only is BSA is a great way for employers to meet their diversity needs but also give back to society as a whole through social purpose.
PS. Help make the BSA successful! If you, your employer or your organization can offer job openings or need temporary labor, please contact Varda Halidy, BSA Manager at [email protected] today!
Varda T. Halidy
Director of Staffing Agency
Boston Staffing Alliance
Phone: 617-606-3581
Fax: 617-606-3582
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BWA in Memphis, TN - Green Jobs Conference
Commemorating 40 years since Dr. King’s assassination, BWA members attended the Dream Reborn Conference in Memphis, Tennessee. Hosted by Green For All, BWA members joined activists and organizers from across the country to build strategies to leverage new jobs for people of color in the burgeoning green economy.
Photo Above: 9 BWA members and Dream for All’s Van Jones and Majora Carter
CORI Friendly Businesses
D.B. Tree Service, Quincy Mass (Groundspeople)
UPS South Boston, MA (package handlers and drivers)
Snap Chef South Boston, MA (Cooks)
Boston Baking Quincy, MA
Labor Ready Quincy, MA (manual labor)
Adecco Staffing, Norwood MA (employment agency)
Meineke Car Center N.E. Region (Sales resp and technicians)
Micro Tech Staffing
All-Star Hospitality Staffing
Home Depot
Mass. Rehabilitation
Roofers Union
Moving Ahead Program, St. Francis House
Dancing Deer Bakery
Quirk Automotive Group
Frugal Furniture
Frugal Bookstore
City Fresh Foods
Boston Medical Center
Coming Home Directory - Ex Offender Resources
Ex-Offender Resources is a project of the Prisoner Re-entry Working Group. You can click on the site below to check out the resource. There are suggestions for food, employment training, fuel, housing, transportation, medical, faith, etc.
About Worker Cooperatives
The BWA is interested in helping our members begin new Worker Owned Cooperatives as a better style of business that gives power to the workers and keeps wealth in our community. Below is a brief definition of a “Worker Coop” abridged from the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives website:
Worker cooperatives are business that are owned and controlled by their members, the people who work in them. The two central characteristics of worker coopratives are: (1) workers invest in and own the business and (2) decision-making is democratic, generally adhering to the principle of one worker-one vote.
Researchers and practitioners conservatively estimate that there are over 300 democratic workplaces in the United States, employing over 3,500 people and generating over $400 million in annual revenues.
The vast majority of worker cooperatives in the United States are small businesses, with a few notable larger enterprises. Many are concentrated in the retail and service sectors. There are also well-established worker cooperatives in manufacturing and the skilled trades. Traditionally there has been a strong cooperative presence in natural foods grocery stores and bakeries. In the past ten years, we have seen the growth of worker cooperatives in the technology sector and home health care.
In a worker cooperative, workers own their jobs, and thus have not only a direct stake in the local environment but the power to decide to do business in a way that is sustainable for us all. The worker cooperative movement is increasingly recognized as part of the larger movement for sustainability. Worker cooperatives tend to create long-term stable jobs, sustainable business practices, and linkages among different parts of the social economy.
In addition to providing meaningful jobs and asset-building opportunities for workers of all income levels, worker cooperatives can play an important role in building movements for economic justice and social change: as institutions where real democracy is practiced on a day to day basis, they are a model for the empowerment we will need to create the change we envision.
What Can an Employer Ask?
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 15l B, Section 4; 804 CMR 3.01
It is illegal for an employer to ask certain questions about a job applicant’s or employee’s criminal record.
Employers may not ask about, maintain a record of, or base any employment decision on the following information if they have requested it:
* Arrests or prosecution that did not lead to a conviction;
* A first conviction for drunkenness, simple assault, speeding, minor traffic violations, affray, or disturbance of the peace;
* Misdemeanors where the date of conviction or the end of any period of incarceration was more than five years ago, provided that there have been no subsequent convictions within those five years;
* Any record of a court appearance which has been sealed under state law;
* Anything pertaining to juvenile record, including delinquency and child in need of services complaints, unless the juvenile was tried as an adult in Superior Court. An employer may not take action against an applicant or employee for answering an unlawful question untruthfully.
An employer may ask:
* Have you ever been convicted of a felony?
* Within the last five years have you been convicted of, or released from incarceration for a misdemeanor which was not a first offense for drunkenness, simple assault, speeding, a minor traffic violation, an affray, or disturbing the peace?
It is also illegal for an employer to request from an applicant or employee a copy of a probation or arrest record / or to ask an applicant or employee to sign a release permitting access to such information.