Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | April 18, 2022 | Worcester Business Journal 7 The company that's been delivering great dental plans for the last twenty years now offers total vision coverage. In partnership with VSP ® , a leader in vision care, Altus Vision offers you: Robust plans | Big savings | Easy access Altus Vision™ is underwritten by Altus Dental Insurance Company. Claims processing, claims service, and provider network administration for Altus Vision™ are provided under contract by Vision Service Plan Insurance Company ("VSP"). Request a quote and get a free pair of blue light glasses at plans.altusvision.com Eyes Teeth Union influence won't grow Five years from now, will a larger percentage of the Central Massachusetts workforce be unionized? The number of American workers who are part of a labor union was 10.3% in 2021, which is near the lowest rate since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics starting keeping track in 1983. The Massachusetts rate is higher at 13.6%, which is an increase from 12.8% in 2020. In late March, workers at a Starbucks in Worcester filed their intention to join a union, part of a nationwide campaign at numerous Starbucks. In early April, workers at an Amazon facility in New York became the first to form a union at the e-commerce giant. When polled online, just over half (51%) of WBJ readers said the percentage of the unionized workforce in Central Massachusetts will either stay the same or decrease over the next five years. F L AS H P O L L Worcester city employee earnings reveal top earners, pay gaps e City of Worcester on April 11 released its employee earnings for 2021, which showed full-time female employees make 29% less on average than their male counterparts, while employees of color make 10-18% less than white employees. e majority of the top earners are from the Worcester Police Department, and the top earner for gross pay in 2021 was police Lt. John Towns, who earned a total of $302,858 last year. City Manager Edward Augustus and Superintendent Maureen Binienda were the only two non-police individuals among the top 50 earners in 2021. Augustus was the second on the list with a gross pay of $283,594, about $3,800 more than he made in 2020. Binienda made $240,743 in 2021, ranking her at 17th on the list and making her the highest-paid female employee of the city. Of the top 100 earners last year, who all made more than $177,000, four were female and five were nonwhite. e average gross pay for full-time male employees was $82,588, and the average for female employees was $58,742, marking a difference of about $23,850. is means the average pay for a full- time female employee is 29% less than a full-time male employee. White full-time employees, on average, earned more than any other race. e average annual gross pay for a white employees was $70,123, about $8,400 higher than the salary for Black employees, who earned an average of $61,719 per year. Hispanic employees had the lowest average pay at $57,425. Asian employees made an average of $63,201. Holy Cross to name science complex after Fauci e College of the Holy Cross in Worcester will rename its Integrated Science Complex in honor of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped guide top federal officials through the COVID pandemic and serves as chief medical advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden. e newly named Anthony S. Fauci Integrated Science Complex will officially be dedicated to the physician on June 11. Fauci, who graduated from Holy Cross in 1962, was one of the lead members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force under then President Donald Trump in the early days of the pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci No, it will decrease. 32% Yes, it will rise slightly. 32% No, it will stay the same. 19% Yes, it will rise significantly. 17% W

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