HEALTH CARE

Nurses, Tufts Medical Center officials return to bargaining table

Officials from Tufts Medical Center and the union that represents its nurses returned to the bargaining table Thursday for the first time since tensions over negotiating a new contract culminated in a historic labor strike in mid-July. Contract talks had been on hold since the one-day walkout of 1,200 union nurses, who were subsequently locked out of their jobs for four days. It was the first strike by nurses at a Boston hospital in more than 30 years. The two sides met through a federal mediator, after a cooling-off period of more than six weeks. Union and hospital officials both described the all-day meeting as productive and said they look forward to talking again on Sept. 11. Jennifer Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said the two sides had an “open and civil dialogue . . . although, by the end of the day, no tentative agreements were reached.’’ “We want to reach resolution on a contract that is fair for both nurses and the Medical Center,’’ Tufts spokeswoman Rhonda Mann said in a statement. “This has been a challenging and difficult time for our nurses and our entire community. Reaching resolution is the right thing for all.’’ The nurses and management remain at odds over three key issues: wages, retirement benefits, and staffing levels. The strike put those issues in the spotlight as hundreds of nurses picketed outside the Boston hospital, joined at times by members of other labor unions, as well as by some Democratic politicians. Tufts nurses have been working under a contract that expired last summer but was extended to May. It’s unclear whether both sides will now reach a quick agreement, or whether negotiations could drag on and again devolve into bitterness. — PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY

TRANSPORTATION

Massport to study charging drivers who pick up or drop off passengers at Logan

The Massachusetts Port Authority has agreed to study imposing a fee on drivers who pick up or drop off passengers at Logan International Airport, part of deal with environmentalists seeking to curb congestion and air pollution amid a surge in airline traffic. Each day, more than 20,000 cars enter Logan to leave friends or relatives at a terminal or meet their arriving flights, according to Massport. The Conservation Law Foundation, a Boston environmental group, says these trips could be reduced by charging people for driving to Logan. Massport, which runs the airport, agreed to study the fee as part of a broad truce with the environmental group. CLF, meanwhile, agreed not to oppose the agency’s $250 million plan to add 5,000 parking spaces at Logan if Massport examined other measures to reduce auto emissions at the airport. The review is expected to be completed by July 2019. Logan has added more than 15,000 annual flights since 2015. The new parking spaces, the agency argues, may actually result in fewer cars; pick-ups and drop-offs can involve up to four trips in and out of the airport, two for a departing flight and two for a returning arrival, while people driving and parking their own cars come in and out once. Such fees are not unusual elsewhere in the world, especially in the United Kingdom, where more than a dozen airports have implemented tolls over the last decade. — ADAM VACCARO

RIDE HAILING

Uber to refund tolls to drivers

Uber Technologies revolutionized the transportation industry with its powerful and sophisticated software, but apparently couldn’t figure out how to properly collect and pay road tolls for some of its drivers.The ride-hailing service is refunding 336 Massachusetts drivers more than $210,000 for failing to, in a timely manner, process electronic tolls it collected and remitted on their behalf. A settlement announced by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey requires an Uber subsidiary, Xchange Leasing, to pay the drivers, on average around $625. The issue was related to drivers who lease their vehicles through Xchange Leasing, especially those who do not have E-ZPass transponders. Under the state’s electronic tolling system, drivers without an E-ZPass are charged based on their license plate numbers. But because Uber owns the leased vehicles, it paid the tolls and took the fee out of drivers’ paychecks — including the late fees the company had incurred, Healey said. Uber acknowledged Xchange and a contractor “fell behind on processing citations and tolls,’’ resulting in tolls not being remitted on time and drivers being assessed late fees. Those drivers were also not told of the late fees, Healey’s office said. — ADAM VACCARO

EMPLOYMENT

Plimoth Plantation workers could do something very modern: picket

This year’s Thanksgiving feast at Plimoth Plantation might come with a side of picketing. The Plymouth “living history’’ museum’s recently unionized historical interpreters, craft center artisans, and maintenance workers are demanding that management address “dangerously low’’ staffing levels, as well as concerns about workplace safety, job insecurity, and low wages. For seven months, both sides have been negotiating the terms of the union’s first contract but remain so far apart on so many issues, union officials said, that members have begun discussing the possibility of picketing or other actions. “It’s been very frustrating,’’ said Susan DeMaria, regional organizer for United Auto Workers Local 2320, which organized the workers and formed the local chapter of the Society of Allied Museum Professionals. “We are hoping [Plimoth Plantation officials] bargain in good faith, but basically their tactic is stalling.’’ Plantation spokeswoman Kate Sheehan said museum officials are “bargaining in good faith and we will do that at the bargaining table.’’ Sheehan said management especially disagrees with the union’s claims about health and safety conditions. “Employee and guest safety are and have always been the museum’s priority,’’ she said. The union represents about 50 of the museum’s 180 full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees. By a narrow margin of three votes, interpreters, artisans, and maintenance workers voted in November to unionize, said Kate Moore, who is chair of the Society of Allied Museum Professionals chapter and has worked at the museum for 22 years. Plimoth Plantation includes a replica 17th-century English village and a Wampanoag Native American campsite. It’s open from March through November. — KATHELEEN CONTI

TRANSPORTATION

Peter Pan and Greyhound part ways

Is New England headed for a bus fare fight? Greyhound Lines, the nation’s largest bus carrier, and Peter Pan Bus Lines have long worked together, sharing bus operations and revenue for several major routes between cities in the Northeast. But the partnership came undone Monday, when Peter Pan abruptly said it would no longer share routes with Greyhound as of Sept. 27. As they gird for head-to-head competition in an industry that has seen several low-price upstarts launched in the past 10 years, they’re each pledging low prices, with Springfield-based Peter Pan guaranteeing the lowest-priced tickets. Greyhound and Peter Pan, it should be noted, have gone at it before. Their partnership had its roots in an infamous 1990s price war. Peter Pan had recently expanded to a new terminal in Washington, D.C., and in an effort to get people aboard, it offered $10 trips between the nation’s capital and New York City. Greyhound wasn’t having any of it and quickly trimmed its prices for the route to $7. Soon, both companies were selling tickets for as low as $5. Rather than undercut each other into oblivion, the companies eventually decided to join together. They won government approval to pool services in the Northeast, giving passengers the flexibility to board either company’s buses and to purchase tickets from the same locations at terminals. Among the routes the carriers had split was Boston-New York and New York-Washington. Prices on both lines can vary, based on date and time, but range between $17 and $36 for one-way travel between Boston and New York next week. After nearly 20 years, that will end next month. — ADAM VACCARO