50 Years Ago
- City Solicitor Thomas M. Growhoski has sent a letter to the labor department in Springfield disputing a field investigator’s report that female coaching salaries in the school system should be upgraded under equal pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The basis of the disagreement, Growhoski said, is that the investigator for the labor department did not take into consideration the time and skill involved in coaching various sports before making her determination.
- A unique law firm has opened in downtown Northampton. The Women’s Law Center provides free legal help to women facing sex discrimination. Staffed by women, it is the brainchild of Atty. Janet Rifkin, who moved here from New York last year to teach in the legal studies program at the University of Massachusetts, Ellen Gavin, one of her students, and Lynne Girton, a paralegal aide with experience in legal services.
25 Years Ago
- About a dozen members of the International Brotherhood of Electric Works Local 2324 held up signs and hailed passers-by Monday between swigs of cold sodas as the sun beat down on their picket line at 61 Masonic St. – a “central office” switching station for Verizon Communications Inc. Union members said their main concern is job security in a rapidly changing telecommunications industry.
- Expected state funding for two Northampton elementary instructional assistants and a portion of a first-grade teacher’s salary has been eliminated weeks before the start of school – the victim of a veto by Gov. Paul Cellucci. Superintendent Bruce E. Willard said Monday he does not yet know whether money to cover the $45,250 in lost desegregation funds from the state can be found elsewhere in the school budget
10 Years Ago
- Legislation advancing through Congress would withhold some federal money from so-called “sanctuary cities” – including Northampton – for not fully complying with federal immigration policies. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act” on July 23.
- The recently retired director of food services for the Northampton Public School is suing her former employer, alleging it violated the Equal Pay Act by paying her less than her male co-worker and her male replacement. Carol DiMauro, 62, of Feeding Hills, filed suit Thursday in Hampshire Superior Court.
