Perlera v. Vining Disposal Service, Inc.

The issue in these appeals is whether G. L. c. 149, § 27F, set out below at note 5, requires a private company, under contract with a municipality to provide refuse collection and disposal services, to pay wages at “prevailing rates” (as determined by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development3 [commissioner]) to the trash collectors who load and operate the compacting machinery at the backs of typical trash trucks. The cases arise out of contracts held by the defendant Vining Disposal Service, Inc. (Vining), to provide trash collection services to a number of municipalities,…