By The PA. AFL-CIO

– Please call or email your member of Congress to Vote No on the Entire Trade Package which includes Fast Track and TAA

We thank you for helping defeat the trade package on Friday June 12 however U.S. House Speaker Boehner has called for a re-vote which will likely happen this afternoon or tomorrow. We won an important victory on Friday and now it is time for us to finish the job. We need you to contact your representatives again and tell them to Vote No on Fast Track and on the inadequate Trade Adjustment Assistance, (TAA).

Use this toll free number, 1-855-712-8441, to call your Representative or CLICK HERE to send an email message to your member of Congress.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6010

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder issued the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives Fails to Advance the package of bad trade bills

Harrisburg, PA – Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder called today’s vote on the trade package a pivotal day in slowing down Fast Track and bad trade deals.

“We thank the members of Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation who had the integrity to stand with working families and voted against the bad trade package and we are very disappointed with those members who voted to send our jobs out of the country,” President Bloomingdale said.

“The fact that we were able to slow it down is a testament to a monumental grassroots effort waged by union members, who refuse to be fooled that these free trade policies are somehow good for America. We must continue calling our members of Congress to defeat bad trade policies and support fair trade that protects jobs, raises the wages and the living standards of workers and communities here in Pennsylvania and across the nation,” Secretary-Treasurer Snyder said.

“This fight is not over, it’s just beginning, and we encourage our members and our allies to continue telling their elected officials to vote no on bad trade deals,” Bloomingdale said.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6008

By The Pa. AFL-CIO

– The Pennsylvania Apprentice Coordinators Association, in conjunction with the Building Trades Unions held the 4th Annual Apprenticeship Awareness Day in the Main Rotunda at the State Capitol Building on June 9. The Building Trades Unions, represented by the nearly 1,000 workers present, provided around 250 million dollars for the five-year training programs. This year alone, there are over 10,000 apprentices in Pennsylvania, as well as 14 new programs. State Senator Christina Tartaglione referred to the apprentices as “the heartbeat of the commonwealth.”

Many were present in the Capitol, including Frank Sirianni, the President of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council, Kathy Manderino, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry, State Senator Andrew Dinniman, Robert O’Brien, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor and Industry, State Representative Gene DiGirolamo, Rick Bloomingdale, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President, Frank Snyder, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer, and multiple others. Natalie Holzer, shown in the picture, shared her job-hunting preceding college, and how gaining an apprenticeship at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades helped to turn her life around. The speakers provided their support as well as stressing the importance of the apprenticeship programs. The Pennsylvania union apprentice members are known for being some of the most highly paid, highly productive, cost-effective, and safest workers.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6005

By The PA. AFL-CIO

PA. AFL-CIO President Bloomingdale was asked during his testimony on Senate Bill 1 before the State House Government Committee, that if S.B. 1 isn’t the solution to the pension debt what is the solution? Without hesitation he replied, “pay your bills”, which is what we are all expected to do when we borrow on our credit cards.

Workers never missed a payment to fund their defined benefit pensions, but the Legislature paid less than they were supposed to according to the Arnold Foundation and Pew Center. Instead of making the proper payments into the pension funds, the state spent the money on other priorities. The money was borrowed from the pension funds and catch-up payments must now be made.

Workers fulfilled their obligations and never missed a payment to ensure they would have a decent retirement. And when they were asked to make additional sacrifices to protect their defined benefit pensions, they did so by agreeing to pay more into their pension for less benefits under the changes agreed by all stakeholders in Act 120 of 2010.

Now it is time for our legislators to “Pay the Bill” and stop trying to sidestep the issue or make the problem worse by destroying the good pensions of hundreds of thousands of current and future school and state workers, which is what Senate Bill 1 will do.

That was the strong and unanimous message delivered by the delegation of union leaders including: AFSCME Council 13 Executive Director David Fillman; PSEA President Mike Crossey; and Pennsylvania FOP Recording Secretary Joseph Regan who also presented testimony to the panel on June 4.

Be ready to Take Action on Pensions, the State Budget, Modernization of Wine and Spirits, Paycheck Deception and Prevailing Wage as legislators work on the budget in the next few weeks.

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– President Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Snyder hosted a very interesting and educational forum on Pensions which was live – streamed by Pennsylvania Cable Network, and is being broadcast statewide on PCN’s cable stations. Check PCN’s daily schedule on their web site for repeat broadcasts.

The Forum was held at the AFSCME Conference Center in Harrisburg on the evening of the Harrisburg Region Central Labor Council which gave the delegates the opportunity to attend the Forum at the conclusion of their meeting. President Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Snyder express their gratitude to CLC President Dave Gash in his efforts and cooperation in making the forum a success.

Members of the panel did an outstanding job in dispelling the myths and the misinformation about the so-called pension crisis. Joyce Culpepper, an AFSCME retiree who worked for the Commonwealth for 40 years, provided a convincing account of the importance of having a good pension. Without a good defined benefits pension she would have kept working, because retirement would not be affordable for her and thousands upon thousands of other state and school employees, she said.

President Bloomingdale noted that 401 (k) – type pensions that are now predominating the landscape, were never meant to replace employer provided defined benefit pensions. It’s is the primary reason why older workers cannot afford to retire and are still working at McDonalds and Burger King, he observed.

Secretary-Treasurer Snyder added that closing off the defined benefit pensions to younger workers is nothing more than a scheme of Wall Street to siphon off the retirement savings of workers. It will end up destroying good pensions and costing the taxpayers of Pennsylvania even more – an additional $42 billion over 30 years.

Steve Nickol, a retirement consultant for PSEA, estimated the retirement earnings for a worker, who, just like Ms. Culpepper, had worked for 40 years for the Commonwealth, to be a little more than $10,000 per year under the 401 (k) plan proposed in Senate Bill 1. That is more than two-thirds less than the $33,000 per year Ms. Culpepper receives.

Where did the money go, Aronson asked the audience, neither to the taxpayers nor to the workers? It went in the pockets of Wall Street risk takers gambling away your retirement savings. Aronson believes the proposal to make current employees pay more or have their pension benefits reduced is unconstitutional.

The real crisis is too many workers do not have good pensions and cannot afford to retire. Our elected officials shouldn’t be sidestepping their responsibility and making the problem much worse than it is. They should be finding ways to make it easier for workers to have good pensions, retirement security, good jobs, and decent wages, Bloomingdale said.