Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Well, Nicole, I'm not touching that line, but thank you
Speaker 2: very much for the introduction. My name is Dan Ray,
Speaker 2: the host of Night's Side, heard every Monday through Friday
Speaker 2: night from eight until midnight right here on WBZ Boston
Speaker 2: ten thirty or on an AM dial. If you're listening
Speaker 2: anywhere in the eastern half of the US and are
Speaker 2: spinning the dial on your radio at home or map
Speaker 2: praps out in your car and you've heard this strange
Speaker 2: sounding voice, it is i WBZ Dan Ray of WBZ
Speaker 2: in Boston, So lock us in in your car dial.
Speaker 2: Of course, you also can pull down the iHeart app
Speaker 2: and you could put us in as your number one
Speaker 2: pre set on that as well. It's all We make
Speaker 2: it all so easy for you to follow us, and
Speaker 2: remind you that Rob Brooks is back in the control
Speaker 2: room at Broadcast Central. He's all set to get us
Speaker 2: going through the night. We're going to talk about a
Speaker 2: local issue at nine o'clock. Boston is gonna would like
Speaker 2: the charge be food app delivery companies the grand total
Speaker 2: of fifteen cents for every delivery they make. Boy I'll
Speaker 2: tell you these politicians they have an unyielding appetite to
Speaker 2: get their hands in your pockets in what I will
Speaker 2: talk about that that is for sure. And then we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about who's going to lead the Democrats
Speaker 2: out of the wilderness tonight at ten o'clock. There seems
Speaker 2: to be a political shift amongst young people actually, which
Speaker 2: might surprise some of you, and I think that Bernie
Speaker 2: Sanders and AOC might soon. They say nature apports a vacuum,
Speaker 2: and I think there's a vacuum of leadership in the
Speaker 2: Democratic Party right now, and we'll talk about who might
Speaker 2: actually fulfill that very important position to say, to actually
Speaker 2: state the ideals and the standards of the Democratic Party.
Speaker 2: But first here in this hour, we are going to
Speaker 2: talk with four very interesting guests. One of my most
Speaker 2: interesting guests in a long time is someone who I've
Speaker 2: known for many years, and he's kind of popped back
Speaker 2: off on my radar. I'm not going to go old
Speaker 2: school with you and talk about how we knew each other,
Speaker 2: but Mark Epstein. Epstein Mark is a author, went to
Speaker 2: high school here and a college at Worcester State, and
Speaker 2: after some period of time relocated and became an educator
Speaker 2: in South Carolina, but also never lost his passion for sports,
Speaker 2: particularly baseball and basketball. He played basketball at Worcester State
Speaker 2: back in the day, and he has written a book
Speaker 2: entitled Cape Dreams, A Season with the Brewster white Caps,
Speaker 2: which is one of the franchises, one of the teams
Speaker 2: down in the Cape Cod League. Mark, I really mean this.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Nightsott, how are you hey.
Speaker 3: I'm doing great.
Speaker 2: Dan.
Speaker 3: It's great to hear your voice again. That was a
Speaker 3: fun round reunion we had earlier, certainly was, so I want.
Speaker 2: To jump into it. This book actually is going to
Speaker 2: hit the bookstands tomorrow, and anyone who's a baseball fan
Speaker 2: or anyone who is from New England's certainly knows about
Speaker 2: the Cape Cod League. But you spent last summer literally
Speaker 2: living with the Brewster Whitecaps and traveled with them on
Speaker 2: the bus and got to know all the players and
Speaker 2: how this Cape Cod team came together. So in the
Speaker 2: few minutes that we have, let's talk about why people
Speaker 2: should pick up this book if they're from New England
Speaker 2: or if they're a baseball fan of any sort, because
Speaker 2: I'm sure it's a great read. I have not had
Speaker 2: a chance to read it yet, but I'm sure I will.
Speaker 3: It really is, you know, Peter Gammis wrote the forwards,
Speaker 3: and I would say the biggest reason is that not
Speaker 3: only is there something real special that endeared me to
Speaker 3: the town of Brewster, Massachusetts, the organization, the volunteers, the players,
Speaker 3: the president Luke Dillon, the manager Jamie Sabschek, the maker
Speaker 3: dom Inshodge of host family, James Sullivan. But it's such
Speaker 3: a quaint town and it's so Cape Cod they don't
Speaker 3: even have a red light. But you know what the
Speaker 3: most proud of, the most proud of the Brewster white Caps.
Speaker 3: And what we did is we got into the lives
Speaker 3: of the players. I was real fortunate that I worked
Speaker 3: closely with the mandager, Jamie Shevshik, one of the great
Speaker 3: baseball minds in America today, maybe one of the most
Speaker 3: successful collegiate coaches of any sports, actively managing at Keystone
Speaker 3: College where he's won nineteen straight conference championships in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 3: and he spends the summer managing the Brewster white Caps,
Speaker 3: and they have a tremendous tradition. But we were able
Speaker 3: to get into the lives of the players. It were
Speaker 3: no restrictions. He wasn't. He was very secure in himself
Speaker 3: and allowing me full privileged to live dine e travel.
Speaker 3: I was almost a teammate. I felt I had gone
Speaker 3: back to college and I enjoyed every second of it.
Speaker 2: The guys, well, now these are the best, all of these,
Speaker 2: these Cape Cort League teams, they're the best college players
Speaker 2: in the country. It is the premier college baseball league.
Speaker 2: It's primarily for either freshmen or sophomores. Uh and and
Speaker 2: some of these, I mean, we could we could list
Speaker 2: the players that have graduated from the Cape Cod League and.
Speaker 3: Gone on our judges on the cover of the book.
Speaker 2: And judge is one that comes to mind. CC Sabathia,
Speaker 2: who's about to be aducted uh next summer into a
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame, great pitcher with the Indians, and little
Speaker 2: bit and on the back, yes, so and and a
Speaker 2: lot of great Red Sox players have spent time down there.
Speaker 2: So you had probably two or three players on that
Speaker 2: team that you spent the summer with. That two or
Speaker 2: three four five years from now, you're going to look
Speaker 2: up at major league rosters and say, I remember.
Speaker 3: That guy, and I'll give you their name.
Speaker 2: White Caps. Yeah, absolutely, I'll give me the name. Sure.
Speaker 3: One of them has become one of my best friends.
Speaker 3: Andrew Fisher, a star run, he's all He's got to
Speaker 3: go into Tennessee that ranked number one in the country.
Speaker 3: They're twenty two and two. Another one who's could be
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty six. The first player taken in the
Speaker 3: MLB draft, Dan Covey reminds me a little bit of
Speaker 3: maybe a compacted size without the reigns of an a Rod.
Speaker 3: Incredible talent. And we got a guy named Nick Doulasil
Speaker 3: who exploded on the cake this summer, and he's not
Speaker 3: right now. By the one hundred scouts that followed the
Speaker 3: team this summer, they have him in the top ten
Speaker 3: to fifteen players tape getting drafted this year in the
Speaker 3: first round. And it goes on and on.
Speaker 2: It.
Speaker 3: Every team in the league can rattle up names of
Speaker 3: players that have gone on to start him after they
Speaker 3: left the Cape. And you know, Peter Gammons does a
Speaker 3: great job of saying it best, and he's so eloquent anyway,
Speaker 3: but he.
Speaker 2: Says, probably I think I read that there's about two
Speaker 2: hundred alumni. If I'm not mistaken, maybe it's more from
Speaker 2: the Cape League who have played and in many cases,
Speaker 2: excelled in Major League baseball.
Speaker 3: There are three hundred and fifty on Major league rosters
Speaker 3: last season alone. There are almost two thousands through the
Speaker 3: history of the league that goes back to nineteen twenty three.
Speaker 2: Wow. Well, and there's only about by the way, when
Speaker 2: you think about it, it's only about twenty two thousand
Speaker 2: people players who have ever on the major league uniform.
Speaker 2: So that means about ten percent of everybody who's played
Speaker 2: in the major leagues spent some time with one of
Speaker 2: the Cape Cod League teams. What what?
Speaker 3: And last year? Yeah, you're right, you're right. So I'm
Speaker 3: the scent of the rosters last year were Cape alumni.
Speaker 3: It's incredible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's only going to get more, So let me
Speaker 2: do that.
Speaker 3: And you know what they kept, Dan, you know, you
Speaker 3: know what's so special about it? You know, and not
Speaker 3: just Brewster. All the teams are highlighted throughout the story,
Speaker 3: but yeah, emphasis is on the Brewster White Caps for sure,
Speaker 3: But you know what's those special? They kept the same
Speaker 3: old school values that our country was founded by that
Speaker 3: made the national pastime the real national pass line. There's
Speaker 3: no entitlement. The guys don't get paid. It's one of
Speaker 3: the last amateur athletic organizations left in America. The guys
Speaker 3: pay their own way. They're housed in with host families.
Speaker 3: The Ball of Tears work twelve months a year, like
Speaker 3: the James Sullivans of the world, and it's just something
Speaker 3: that when you stop attending, there's something that pulls you
Speaker 3: in and it tapped as you for the rest of
Speaker 3: your life.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, what A lot of people don't realize, Mark,
Speaker 2: and you of course know it better than Mars. But
Speaker 2: I got to tell you one quick story. All these
Speaker 2: players have a summer job which.
Speaker 3: They used to they are doing that. Yeah, three five
Speaker 3: years ago that you eliminated that front of it.
Speaker 2: Well, the reason the reason I know that is I
Speaker 2: heard Buck Showalter tell a story once that he played
Speaker 2: in the Cape League one summer. This would have been
Speaker 2: back sometime in the nineteen eighties, and he had a
Speaker 2: job I think it was Sho Walter that told the
Speaker 2: story with some sort of a painting company, and one
Speaker 2: of the jobs that summer, besides playing baseball office he
Speaker 2: during the day they were painting fences, including fences at
Speaker 2: the Kennedy Compound down in Hyena. So and look, let
Speaker 2: me do this, Mark, I'm running out of time here.
Speaker 2: So the most important part of the interview. You certainly
Speaker 2: have the passion and the enthusiasm I'm sure is going.
Speaker 3: I want everyone to read this story and fall in
Speaker 3: love with the Cape League because one show hook you.
Speaker 2: Okay, So what we gotta do here real quickly. Now
Speaker 2: we're running out of time. What we got to do
Speaker 2: here is we got to tell them how they can
Speaker 2: get It's going to be a whole lot of Barnes
Speaker 2: and Nobles bookstores tomorrow also going.
Speaker 3: To be able to order it.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, yeah you can. You can take the plane
Speaker 2: if you want to fly. We only got thirty seconds left, Mark,
Speaker 2: so go for it.
Speaker 3: The Barnes and Nobles will be able to order it
Speaker 3: for ingroospot tomorrow. It goes online for retail. Tale Online
Speaker 3: retail sales April fifth, and my website is Mockpass find
Speaker 3: your books dot com. You can order from me. You
Speaker 3: can go into a bookstore on the tape or through
Speaker 3: the northeast Barnes and Nobles and your bumblestock ay them
Speaker 3: soon and there's a big event at Polar Parking on
Speaker 3: It's the Polar Part Great Writers series and doctor Charles
Speaker 3: Steinberg and Ted galluped on the host it and it's
Speaker 3: going to be a celebration at Cape cod Baseball with
Speaker 3: Paul Mitchell and Ronnie Tarry's coming there before.
Speaker 2: I gotta I gotta call time out. I gotta call
Speaker 2: time out because we're now be we are now intruding
Speaker 2: into the time of the next guest. Mark, I gave
Speaker 2: you a lot of time because you're an old friend
Speaker 2: and we both love baseball. Thanks so much, best of
Speaker 2: luck with the book, and we'll hopefully see you down
Speaker 2: in the Cape this summer of the ball game.
Speaker 3: Okay, Cape Dreams, thank you.
Speaker 2: Thanks, have a great one. All Right, we get back.
Speaker 2: We're going to I love people who are enthusiastic and
Speaker 2: uh and particularly about baseball, and that is a great
Speaker 2: description of Mark. We are going to be talking about
Speaker 2: a pay gap for women in New Hampshire, which will
Speaker 2: be talking with Jessica Williams, policy analyst for the New
Speaker 2: Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. Coming right back on the other
Speaker 2: side of this breakout nights Side.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Line from The Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside studios on wb Z, the news radio.
Speaker 2: Well today is on March twenty fourth, but tomorrow's March
Speaker 2: twenty fifth, as you could probably figure out without me
Speaker 2: telling you, But tomorrow is also the what's called National
Speaker 2: Women's Equal Payday, and New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute has
Speaker 2: done a study which Jessica Williams, who is a policy
Speaker 2: analyst for that group, is going to talk about. I
Speaker 2: guess's the women's pay gap in New Hampshire is larger
Speaker 2: than national average. Jessica Williams, Welcome to Nightside. How are you.
Speaker 4: Yes, I'm doing wonderful this evening. How are you doing tonight?
Speaker 2: So what do we attribute I'm doing great? What do
Speaker 2: we attribute this distinction? I'm assuming that there is a
Speaker 2: pay gap. Obviously you folks have identified it. There has
Speaker 2: to be some reasons for it. What is it? The
Speaker 2: types of jobs that women are employed in? What are
Speaker 2: the factors that caused this disparity?
Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely so, I will not generally the wage gap
Speaker 4: for New Hampshire and women in New Hampshire is wider
Speaker 4: than it is for women nationally.
Speaker 5: So, based on data that we have.
Speaker 4: For twenty twenty three GRANTITEDE State women working full time
Speaker 4: earned median incomes at about seventy six percent of what
Speaker 4: men earned at about seventy six thousand dollars for men
Speaker 4: compared to about fifty seven thousand dollars for women annually.
Speaker 4: Of course, when we compare data by occupational group in
Speaker 4: New Hampshire, the wage gaps were the widest among those
Speaker 4: in the legal sector, the entertainment and media sector, as
Speaker 4: well as among management occupations. So, I know you asked
Speaker 4: about kind of the why of this wage gap. So one,
Speaker 4: considering the wage gap, it's important to note that woman
Speaker 4: experience lower labor force participation rates. So according to New
Speaker 4: Hampshire specific data for twenty twenty four, about ninety one
Speaker 4: percent of male workers aged twenty five to fifty four
Speaker 4: were engaged in the state's labor force, compared to only
Speaker 4: about eighty three percent female workers of the same ages.
Speaker 2: Jessica, yeah, yeah, the numbers are numbers are interesting, and
Speaker 2: on radio sometimes it's tough to absorb those numbers. But
Speaker 2: so why amongst young people when you the age group
Speaker 2: you were talking about, there is the youngest sort of
Speaker 2: group of workers, the age group that you were talking about.
Speaker 2: In that group, I think you said twenty five to
Speaker 2: thirty four. So why such a disparity between the number
Speaker 2: of people not only working. Yeah, it was, as you said,
Speaker 2: New Hampshi labor force participation, but in turn then a
Speaker 2: wage app what's the cause of that?
Speaker 4: Yes, so those are the labor forces among workers aged
Speaker 4: twenty five to fifty four in the state's labor force.
Speaker 4: While this is true when we consider the total New
Speaker 4: Hampshire labor force size, women comprised about a half of
Speaker 4: New Hampshire based jobs. So this suggests that women may
Speaker 4: be both less likely to commute out of state for
Speaker 4: work and may also be more likely to hold multiple
Speaker 4: part time jobs, which tend to have lower pay and
Speaker 4: of course offer little to no benefits such as health
Speaker 4: insurance and retirement benefits.
Speaker 2: I'm just looking at something. I just want to make
Speaker 2: sure I'm following you here, because with numbers, it's the
Speaker 2: report that I'm looking at says women held forty nine
Speaker 2: point seven percent of private jobs based in New Hampshire
Speaker 2: according to the early twenty twenty four data. So that
Speaker 2: would suggest that women are holding about half of the
Speaker 2: private jobs based in New Hampshire. Or am I reading
Speaker 2: that wrong?
Speaker 4: Yes? Yes, that would be true. So based on that data,
Speaker 4: women held slightly less than half, as you noted about
Speaker 4: forty nine point seven.
Speaker 2: That's pretty close to Hampshire half. Okay, And so is
Speaker 2: it the type of jobs that the women in New
Speaker 2: Hampshire are holding the reason? Let me tell you the
Speaker 2: reason I'm asking this. Okay, You've had a series of
Speaker 2: women in New Hampshire in positions of real influence. Both
Speaker 2: your United States Senators are women. You've had members, there
Speaker 2: was a period of time when all four members in
Speaker 2: Congress were females. Women. There's a new Republican women governor.
Speaker 2: So women have done very well devisented to the highest
Speaker 2: positions in the political life of New Hampshire. Have they
Speaker 2: not done their job? The political leaders up there to
Speaker 2: look at this problem and try to address it as
Speaker 2: best they can.
Speaker 4: Yes. So with that, I think it's important to note
Speaker 4: the percent of women engaging in the labor force and
Speaker 4: what type of jobs they are working. So I can't
Speaker 4: offer you some data. Women are more likely to engage
Speaker 4: and paid care giving goals. This can include things like
Speaker 4: childcare workers as well as home health care workers. So,
Speaker 4: based on data that we have for twenty twenty four,
Speaker 4: women comprised close to ninety one percent of early care
Speaker 4: and education workers in New Hampshire's workforce in about eighty
Speaker 4: six percent of home health care workers across the state.
Speaker 4: We know that both of these occupations tend to offer
Speaker 4: wages far below the state's media and hourly wage and
Speaker 4: workers in these occupations.
Speaker 2: So that brings me back. That brings me back to
Speaker 2: the question that I asked before, And perhaps you didn't understand.
Speaker 2: What I was trying to say was that New Hampshire,
Speaker 2: above all, has had tremendous representation. Both United States senators
Speaker 2: currently are female, one member of Congress, and until recently,
Speaker 2: both members of the House of representatves are female. You've
Speaker 2: had women governors out there, both of whom ascended to
Speaker 2: the US Senate. Have these political leaders dropped the ball
Speaker 2: when it comes to trying to level the playing field
Speaker 2: for women? They are themselves women who, from a political
Speaker 2: point of view, are at the apex of power. You
Speaker 2: may not want to criticize political leaders, but I'm sort
Speaker 2: of giving you that opportunity to tell me why they
Speaker 2: have not been able to make a greater difference for
Speaker 2: women working in New Hampshire.
Speaker 4: Yes, Dan, and thank you so much for that question.
Speaker 4: I wish I could answer your question more directly. I
Speaker 4: can say, when we, of course consider potential policy initiatives
Speaker 4: that may help mitigate some of the harms in the
Speaker 4: higher paid gap at New Hampshire, it's important to consider
Speaker 4: why women may have some of these lower meeting incomes
Speaker 4: compared to men, and may be more likely to work
Speaker 4: some of these lower income jobs, as I noted. Of course,
Speaker 4: access to higher education you know, may help to lessen
Speaker 4: the gap in New Hampshire. As I mentioned, women are
Speaker 4: more likely to work in occupations offer lower wages and
Speaker 4: typically require lower levels of educational team.
Speaker 2: Well again, you represent tonight the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy
Speaker 2: Institute and that sounds to me like a great organization.
Speaker 2: And I hope that some of the women leaders political
Speaker 2: leaders in New Hampshire will take the time to read
Speaker 2: this report, which is entitled Spotlight on Granted State Women
Speaker 2: in the Labor Force for National Women's Equal Payday. Jessica,
Speaker 2: appreciate your time. I'm flat out of it though, and
Speaker 2: people can find that report just by going to NHFPI,
Speaker 2: which stands for New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Into Institute dot
Speaker 2: org and I hope they do read it. It's interesting
Speaker 2: statistics and it's available on the web. Thank you very
Speaker 2: much for your time tonight.
Speaker 4: Yes, thank you so much for having me on the show.
Speaker 6: Appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Have a great night. Good night. When we get back,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about lowering your energy rates and
Speaker 2: how you can do that, particularly here in Massachusetts. Back
Speaker 2: on Nightside right after.
Speaker 1: This Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone. This is a Monday night. It is
Speaker 2: March twenty fourth. We are officially in spring. Baseball starts
Speaker 2: for real this Thursday for the Red Sox down in Texas.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what is something for real for
Speaker 2: us every day of the week, winter, spring, summer, and fall,
Speaker 2: and that is our electric bills, are heating bills, all
Speaker 2: of those public utility costs that everyone has to experience
Speaker 2: and pay off and through the nose here in New
Speaker 2: England with us is Abbi Foster. Abby's the vice president
Speaker 2: of Policy and Advocacy for REAL, the Retail Advancement Energy League.
Speaker 2: Abby Foster has been a guest in this program before. Abby.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Nightside.
Speaker 3: How are you, thanks, Dan? Doing well well?
Speaker 2: Thanks? Very much for coming back. I am a huge
Speaker 2: advocate for energy rates availability, and we have in Massachusetts
Speaker 2: this website that I'm sure you're familiar with, which allows
Speaker 2: us as consumers to compare our energy rates with that
Speaker 2: energy rate that might be offered by other companies here
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts. Explain it and why people should be going
Speaker 2: to this. I think it's mass Energy rates dot org
Speaker 2: if I'm not mistaken, or dot com. I'm gonna look
Speaker 2: it up in them while you talk. But it's a
Speaker 2: very important people should have it earmarked on their computer.
Speaker 2: Explain to everyone why it's important.
Speaker 7: They certainly should so. Back in the late nineties, Massachuset's
Speaker 7: decided that they wanted to have competition in their electric market,
Speaker 7: and so they broke up the electric utility monopoly and
Speaker 7: made it so that customers could choose who their energy
Speaker 7: supplier was, and so that all sorts of companies and
Speaker 7: private investors could invest in the state and build generation
Speaker 7: and not just one company. And so because of that,
Speaker 7: customers and Massachusetts residential, commercial, industrial business customers the same.
Speaker 7: They can all go and shop on the state managed
Speaker 7: website energy SWITCHMA dot gov and look at the prices,
Speaker 7: compare the utility offer, look at municipal aggregation if that's offered,
Speaker 7: and then look at the offers from competitive electric suppliers.
Speaker 7: And if they want cost savings, they can shop based
Speaker 7: on cost. If they want one hundred percent renewable energy,
Speaker 7: they can look for that free electric vehicle charging, you
Speaker 7: name it. That's the benefit of the competitive market. There's
Speaker 7: a customer demand for something, the market responds and customers
Speaker 7: have options.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's great. There's another way to get to
Speaker 2: it as simply. Also just mass energy rates will get
Speaker 2: the get you there as well. And it's so simple.
Speaker 2: You just you select your your utility, whatever the utility is,
Speaker 2: if it's ever source or national grid or unitil UH.
Speaker 2: Then they're asked you to explain what are you residential
Speaker 2: or commercial or a large commercial most people are gonna
Speaker 2: be residential. And then you after that, I believe that
Speaker 2: you're asked to put in like your ZIP code and
Speaker 2: then it all, it all pops up for you. Now,
Speaker 2: this was UH. I believe was Governor Paul Salucci at
Speaker 2: the time in the legislature who worked to make this
Speaker 2: available to Massachusetts customers. I use it all the time.
Speaker 2: I use it all the time. I switched my energy
Speaker 2: provider as recently as last week. But believe it or not,
Speaker 2: the folks who are running Massachusetts these days, Governor Healey's
Speaker 2: office and the Attorney General's office, they're trying to take
Speaker 2: this wonderful consumer choice off the books. What's going on
Speaker 2: with that?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think there's a lot of misconceptions.
Speaker 7: Part of the other challenge is that Massachusetts consumer protections
Speaker 7: have not really kept pace as the market has evolved.
Speaker 7: So a lot of other states have improved market reforms
Speaker 7: and protections in place so that customers are more protected
Speaker 7: as they shop. So things like requiring newdas is to
Speaker 7: be sent to customers when it's time for renewal, for
Speaker 7: the price to be disclosed if there's changes to the contract.
Speaker 7: And then there's also not a really high bar in
Speaker 7: Massachusetts for entry for companies who are coming to offer
Speaker 7: supply offers. Things like requiring licensing fees, bonding.
Speaker 6: Requirements, and so those are things that we've.
Speaker 7: Actually all suggested and represented to. Taki Chan and Senator
Speaker 7: Patrick O'Connor have introduced legislation that would improve the market
Speaker 7: in response to legislators who are just trying to close
Speaker 7: it down rather than looking for ways to fix it.
Speaker 2: So my question is is assuming that there's a problem,
Speaker 2: and I don't really think there is a problem, but
Speaker 2: I just switched to a Consolation energy and I got
Speaker 2: in the mail today as matterford to have a file
Speaker 2: of opened up over here. They're going to notify me.
Speaker 2: I signed up for nine months fixed rates of like
Speaker 2: twelve cents per kilo one hour for my electricity, and
Speaker 2: they have promised that they will send me a notice
Speaker 2: thirty days in advance of when the fixed rate expires
Speaker 2: and I can either continue with them or move to
Speaker 2: another company. Now, Constellation seems to me to be a
Speaker 2: pretty good on the level company. Do they have a
Speaker 2: good reputation that they will follow through and send me
Speaker 2: that thirty day notice. I'm going to make a note
Speaker 2: in my calendar to call them also to me before
Speaker 2: the before my fixed rates run out. But do they
Speaker 2: need to have a law pass to require these companies
Speaker 2: to contact us and say, hey, your rate's running out
Speaker 2: in a month from now. You got to either change
Speaker 2: it or we're going to put you in a program
Speaker 2: whether or not you like it or not.
Speaker 7: You know, they don't companies like Constellation and many other
Speaker 7: suppliers proactively go ahead and do things like that because
Speaker 7: it's best practice for consumers and they want to keep
Speaker 7: customers and keep them happy. Constanation has a great reputation.
Speaker 7: I've actually enrolled with them in the past as a
Speaker 7: Pennsylvania shopper in my own state. But you sound like
Speaker 7: a shopper who's informed. You look at your contract summary when.
Speaker 3: You get it.
Speaker 7: It's a really great tip what you just shared about
Speaker 7: setting a calendar notice when it's time for renewals so
Speaker 7: that you remember to go on and shop and look
Speaker 7: at your options. But unfortunately, not all.
Speaker 6: Customers do those things, and so we're kind of in.
Speaker 7: A place where those customers who either didn't review the
Speaker 7: terms and a file to complaint or a company who
Speaker 7: was a bad actor came into the state and because
Speaker 7: there aren't right proper thresholds in place, was able to
Speaker 7: take advantage of a customer. And so these are just
Speaker 7: basic consumer protections that a lot of the other states
Speaker 7: that allow for competition would the utility already have in place,
Speaker 7: and it would just bring Massachusus up to be on
Speaker 7: part with other states.
Speaker 2: So we think of ourselves as a very progressive state.
Speaker 2: You know that we're overwhelming a democratic state, democratic governor
Speaker 2: of eighty percent Democratic Democratic legislature both in the House
Speaker 2: and Senate. All they would have to do would be
Speaker 2: pass some legislation which would require these notifications. And what
Speaker 2: they're saying is they're going to take this valuable tool
Speaker 2: away from us, which means I assume that once you're
Speaker 2: an ever Source customer, or once you're a National Grid customer,
Speaker 2: you'll never be able to opt out for a different supplier.
Speaker 3: Is not done right?
Speaker 2: Bottom line?
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 7: So it would close down the market for residential customers.
Speaker 7: If your town has municipal aggregation, you could still shop
Speaker 7: with your municipal aggregation. I mean, this stall aggregation is
Speaker 7: a great option, but it's just one options.
Speaker 6: So you still want to being able to have a
Speaker 6: few different players.
Speaker 2: I'll be in Massachusetts, I tell you. I mean, there's
Speaker 2: a handful of towns who have this. The vast majority
Speaker 2: of towns we have three hundred and fifty one cities
Speaker 2: and towns they don't have it. Has have the major
Speaker 2: suppliers here in Massachusetts, ever Source, in National Grid and
Speaker 2: UNITIL have they weighed in on this. I mean, I
Speaker 2: hope they're not trying to see the energy rate option
Speaker 2: or website disappear, even though it might be in their
Speaker 2: own interest, if you get my drift.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I have not seen public comment.
Speaker 3: Really.
Speaker 7: The leaders on this has been the Attorney General's office,
Speaker 7: City of Boston and several other entities, But I have
Speaker 7: not seen a lot from the Utah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well that's Andrea Campbell, the Attorney General who wants
Speaker 2: to take this option away from people, and Boston Mayor
Speaker 2: Michelle Woop, two very progressive leaders so called, but are acting,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, in a very regressive way. They want
Speaker 2: to take us back to the nineteen nineties when choice
Speaker 2: was not available.
Speaker 7: Yeah. And actually there was an editorial place in the
Speaker 7: Commonwealth Beacon last year that was jointly filed by Mayor
Speaker 7: Wu and Andrea Campbell, the Attorney General, that said electricity
Speaker 7: pricing is just too complicated to lead to individual customers.
Speaker 7: They've testified before the committees in the Senate and the
Speaker 7: House and said that you'd have to be a lawyer
Speaker 7: or have a PhD to be able to figure out
Speaker 7: how to do this. But you're a first.
Speaker 6: Hand customer with your unforstnand experience.
Speaker 2: How insulting it couldn't be easier if you want to
Speaker 2: take the interest. And there may be some customers who
Speaker 2: don't take the interest because maybe I don't know, even
Speaker 2: if they're renting, they're paying for it in terms of
Speaker 2: the cost, they're going to be passed on by the landlords.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: It just to me, it's it's like it's like the
Speaker 2: opposite world. Here in Massachusetts, a so called progressive state
Speaker 2: basically is regressive, and they look down their noses and
Speaker 2: they think that we're all stupid and we're not stupid.
Speaker 2: We're not stupid, and they're going to learn that. They're
Speaker 2: gonna learn that lesson at some point. Abby. Maybe would
Speaker 2: you come back later on during the week. I think
Speaker 2: that my producer has talked to you about doing this
Speaker 2: and and talk to some of my listeners, so maybe
Speaker 2: they can share their experiences with you or ask questions
Speaker 2: of you. You know this what happened? I do?
Speaker 3: Okay, great, thank you very absolutely.
Speaker 2: Okay, So we will we'll talk about this again later
Speaker 2: on during the week. Give you a chance to ask
Speaker 2: questions about it. Anything that I can do to help
Speaker 2: you lower your utility cost in Massachusetts. I feel that's
Speaker 2: an obligation that I have, and this is part of
Speaker 2: the obligation. I feel so abby. Foster, thanks for joining
Speaker 2: us tonight. We will talk soon, Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 3: Thanks Dan, You're very welcome.
Speaker 2: When we get back. We have one more guest schedule.
Speaker 2: We'll try to get to that guest right after this
Speaker 2: break on Nightside, and then we will get into topics
Speaker 2: of the night where you can participate. And I got
Speaker 2: a very interesting story that Gayla Cawley broke in the
Speaker 2: Boston Herald, I think it was yesterday, which just lit
Speaker 2: my hair on fire. I'll explain coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now, back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm doing sometimes two or three things simultaneously.
Speaker 2: It's like juggling. I don't know what it's like. Actually,
Speaker 2: sometimes here on Nightside, we try to do a lot
Speaker 2: of things simultaneously. We have a big production staff with
Speaker 2: me here. Rob good luck. I'm sure you'll be able
Speaker 2: to find that for me, and I do appreciate you,
Speaker 2: that's for sure. This effort late, we have one more
Speaker 2: guest and we're got to get to the guest right now.
Speaker 2: Let's get right to the guest who is coming up here,
Speaker 2: and the guest is Meredith Elliott Powell. She's going to
Speaker 2: talk to us about something called catfishing, and we're not
Speaker 2: talking about looking fishing for catfish. Meredith, welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 5: How are you well, I'm good, Thank you?
Speaker 2: Okay. Well, the phrase catfishing, I've heard it used many times,
Speaker 2: but we're talking about a specific type of catfishing. And
Speaker 2: I guess it's the old concept of bait and switch
Speaker 2: and that's where the catfishing phrase comes from. And most workers,
Speaker 2: according to one article that I have in front of me,
Speaker 2: say that they have been catfished into taking a job.
Speaker 2: Seventy nine told Monster that their job didn't live up
Speaker 2: to the scripture provided by a recruiter or a hiring manager.
Speaker 2: Is that in their heads or is that in reality?
Speaker 2: Or probably doesn't make a difference.
Speaker 5: I don't know. I think I think it probably is
Speaker 5: maybe a little bit of both. But I think that,
Speaker 5: you know, I think it's so interesting today. I mean,
Speaker 5: with the pace of change happening at such a such
Speaker 5: a rapid a stings changing, I think often you're going
Speaker 5: to get hired for a job, and maybe what you
Speaker 5: need to be doing six months from now won't be
Speaker 5: exactly what you were hired to do. So well, I
Speaker 5: think there's some validity to it. I do think also
Speaker 5: businesses are needing to respond to the fact that so
Speaker 5: much in the marketplace is changing. They need workers who
Speaker 5: are willing to adapt and take on new responsibilities, new skills,
Speaker 5: and new roles.
Speaker 2: I would assume most new workers have been They have
Speaker 2: lived with computers since they were born. I got to
Speaker 2: tell you, when I first started in my career many
Speaker 2: many decades ago, computers you know, you heard about like
Speaker 2: an IBM, you know computer, but you knew that that
Speaker 2: was never going to impact you, and along terme, computers
Speaker 2: and those of us in media, we have to know
Speaker 2: how to work with computers. We're not the most skilled
Speaker 2: people in the world. I mean, why is it that
Speaker 2: young workers seem to be having a problem here. I
Speaker 2: would assume what this figure is unbelievable is well seventy percent.
Speaker 2: I feel that that eighty percent. What are they? What
Speaker 2: are the jobs? Can you explain it to me? It
Speaker 2: boggles my mind. I just don't understand it. I mean,
Speaker 2: I can understand some people take a job and they
Speaker 2: don't like it, and they leave, but eighty percent don't
Speaker 2: do enough due diligence on the job to figure out
Speaker 2: what they need to do well.
Speaker 5: I think it's I do think that do you think
Speaker 5: that number is I was a little astonished by it
Speaker 5: as well, But I think maybe our expectation are are
Speaker 5: too high. I think maybe you know, uh, with the
Speaker 5: younger with the younger generation, I hate to be the
Speaker 5: one calling them that. By the younger generation, is that
Speaker 5: you expect a job to you know, it's kind of
Speaker 5: like a honeymoon versus getting married. You get excited that
Speaker 5: you get the job, and then reality sets in and
Speaker 5: some days are great at a job and some days,
Speaker 5: you know, are are are less challenging, and if you
Speaker 5: want to get ahead, you're going to need to take
Speaker 5: on some duties that maybe maybe aren't what you need
Speaker 5: to be doing, or maybe you don't feel match the
Speaker 5: education you know level that that you came you know
Speaker 5: that you went into the workforce with. So I think
Speaker 5: it's a I really think that figure is high because
Speaker 5: I think it's a mismatch of expectations. I think you
Speaker 5: graduate from school and you believe that you're going to
Speaker 5: move into a really high level position and you get
Speaker 5: in there and and some other things are expected of you.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm going to sound like a really old
Speaker 2: fogy here, but I don't anymore because I am an
Speaker 2: old Okay. I imagine that the people who were blacksmith's
Speaker 2: and used to shoe horses, when the automobile came along
Speaker 2: around twenty ten, that probably kind of changed their world
Speaker 2: a lot. And I suspect that most of those people
Speaker 2: figured it out and developed new skills or different skills.
Speaker 2: And when I think about the eighteen year olds who
Speaker 2: were storming Normandy Beach in nineteen forty four, I just
Speaker 2: think to myself, I don't know how much you know moaning.
Speaker 2: And there's a word that goes with moaning, which I
Speaker 2: won't say in the radio they were doing. They knew
Speaker 2: they had a pretty nasty day coming up that day
Speaker 2: and they had to deal with and a lot of
Speaker 2: them were killed, obviously and mowed down. I look at
Speaker 2: the kids who are coming out today, and I know
Speaker 2: I'm going to sound like an old fogy, But does
Speaker 2: this generation of a problem? I mean, did they need
Speaker 2: comfort pillows and comfort animals at work?
Speaker 4: Is that?
Speaker 2: Are they missing something that they need Mommy to be there?
Speaker 2: With them and hold their hand. I'm really serious.
Speaker 5: When I say that now the only thing that they
Speaker 5: are missing are hard times. And you know you were right.
Speaker 5: Now as we're doing this interview, we're watching the employment
Speaker 5: picture change and it's going to be it's becoming harder
Speaker 5: to find a job. We're seeing more layoffs, We're seeing,
Speaker 5: you know, changes in the guaranteed government job. And as
Speaker 5: the times get hard, the younger generation will toughen up
Speaker 5: with them. When you are soft, you're soft because it's
Speaker 5: a luxury, because the opportunity is there, and once the
Speaker 5: shift comes in the marketplace, you'll see that change as well.
Speaker 2: Well. You're an optimist, and I absolutely hope you're right,
Speaker 2: because I think that our future depends on us, on
Speaker 2: the folks who are coming into the workforce. And I
Speaker 2: say this seriously realistically. You're a social security check. My
Speaker 2: so security check depends upon people coming in and performing effectively.
Speaker 2: I'm fascinated by the stories that I talked to every
Speaker 2: night of the week. You included and the fact that
Speaker 2: you're optimistic helps. It heartens heartens me for sure. I hope.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people, very few are lucky
Speaker 2: enough to get a job at twenty two or whatever.
Speaker 2: You know, the kids who are being successful today are
Speaker 2: not the college graduates. Maybe they were most successful in
Speaker 2: the long run the kids who are coming out of
Speaker 2: school with a trade at eighteen or nineteen and plumbers
Speaker 2: or electricians or apprentices or hvs C, HVAC people. Those guys,
Speaker 2: they're not carrying two hundred guys and gals are not
Speaker 2: carrying two hundred and three hundred thousand dollars of college loans,
Speaker 2: and they have businesses under their feet by time they're
Speaker 2: twenty five, bear the boss by time they're twenty five.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I think we've maybe oversold college, the
Speaker 2: idea that everyone has to go to college.
Speaker 5: Well, and I think that's a big trend that you're
Speaker 5: starting to see change right now as well. It was
Speaker 5: just a reason that I'm optimistic. I mean, when the
Speaker 5: when the marketplace shifts, people shift, people shift with it.
Speaker 5: And you know, I've seen quite a few people get
Speaker 5: you know, starting to get laid off from from companies.
Speaker 5: We've had a lot of layoffs with the government. Now,
Speaker 5: competition is going to happen for jobs. And when competition
Speaker 5: happens for jobs, people get tough and they're willing to
Speaker 5: take a job that maybe they weren't willing to take,
Speaker 5: you know, three years ago. So the market will definitely
Speaker 5: shift our community. Colleges are coming on gangbusters with starting
Speaker 5: to train kids for trade schools again, and a lot
Speaker 5: of kids, this next generation is opting out of college.
Speaker 5: How many colleges are in trouble around the country because
Speaker 5: the trade schools are starting to go back in. So
Speaker 5: I think I hate you.
Speaker 2: I hate you to issue, but I've gone I'm so
Speaker 2: interested in what we're talking about. I've gone over a
Speaker 2: little bit here, so I got to let you run.
Speaker 2: But I'd love to have you back at some point.
Speaker 3: And uh, I love it.
Speaker 2: We will look forward to it. Thank you, Meredith Elliott Powell.
Speaker 2: Turn uncertainty into opportunity. Thank you very much. Meredith. We'll
Speaker 2: talk again. Thank you. So here comes the nine o'clock News, Rob.
Speaker 2: I apologize for that. That was my fault, but that's
Speaker 2: a subject that is very important. Back right after the
Speaker 2: nine o'clock news all night.
Speaker 4: So