By Jared Shelly

– SEPTA’s largest union puts its labor situation succinctly: “The day of reckoning is fast approaching.”

That was the opening line of a letter to the workers that control the city’s buses and subways. It’s alerting them of a strike authorization vote on Sunday. If a strike passes, the union could walk off the job at any time, halting a majority of the public transportation in the city. (Regional rail trains would continue to run, since its union recently signed a new contract.)

The TWU Local 234 union has been negotiating with SEPTA on and off for months. It’s been without a contract since the spring. At the moment, the main sticking point is pensions, said President Willie Brown in an interview earlier this month. He says that union workers realize significantly less monthly income from pensions than SEPTA management workers.

“With us, it’s not a question of if we strike it’s a question of when we strike,” Brown told me in early October.

As time passes, that threat seems to look more and more like it could become a reality. The letter to union members said the following:

“SEPTA’s latest proposal would freeze our pension benefits at current levels for five years, require all TWU members to contribute 10 percent of the premium for health insurance, which is approximately $2636/year for family coverage, and force us to eat substantially higher co-payments for office visits, hospital services and prescription benefits,” the letter states.

It goes on to say: “We have to fight to secure wage increases that will enable us to maintain a decent standard of living… We have to squash the naysayers, put aside petty differences, join together on the picket lines and in the streets and be determined to fight for what is rightfully ours.”

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/morning_roundup/2014/10/septa-union-to-hold-strike-authorization-vote.html

(PODCAST) 10/22 – Today In PhillyLabor Radio Podcast Featuring Frank Snyder, Secretary – Treasurer of the PA. AFL-CIO, Jim Farally, Pres. Phila. AFL-CIO Retirees Council and Bret Elam, Thrive Financial

FEATURED TOPICS – PA. AFL-CIO Get Out The Vote Campaign and Retirees Benefits and Resources Discussion

To Listen to the Podcast, Go To: http://wwdbam.com/2014/10/22/jk102214_mono/

By Holly Otterbein

– The website factcheck.org has issued a blistering report on two campaign ads by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett.

The TV advertisements say Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Wolf wants to raise income taxes on the middle class.

In fact, Wolf is proposing to cut income taxes for the middle class and poor, while making wealthy Pennsylvanians pay more. He has said he considers a middle-class salary to fall somewhere between $70,000 and $90,000 annually.

“The people who would benefit from Wolf’s plan are people who are in the middle-income area,” said Eugene Kiely, director of factcheck.org. “So for Corbett to say that Wolf is promising to raise middle-class taxes is inaccurate because those are the very people who would benefit from Wolf’s plan.”

Chris Pack, a spokesman for Corbett’s campaign, said the article by factcheck.org is “biased” and “wildly inaccurate,” and that Wolf has failed to release important details about his tax plan. Recent polls show Corbett is trailing Wolf by double digits.

Source: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/politics/item/74078-corbett-ads-targeting-wolf-dont-pass-factcheckorg-

Chairman Bill Green
School Reform Commission
School District of Philadelphia
440 N. Broad St, Suite 101
Philadelphia, PA 19130

Dear Chairman Green,

We are the leaders of Philadelphia’s labor unions, representing an incredible diversity of the region’s workers. We stand unified in our commitment to Philadelphia’s public school system, which is part of the bedrock of our community and our economy. We are dedicated to the principle that justice and social progress are impossible without a seat at the table for working people.

On Monday October 6th, you held a hastily organized and barely publicized meeting at which you voted unanimously to cancel your collective bargaining agreement with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Imposing terms unilaterally on over 12,000 teachers, counsellors, librarians, nurses, and assistants in your school system constitutes a direct attack on those who teach and care for our children. It also constitutes your abandonment of any pretense of bargaining in good faith with the PFT. In fact, it represents the effective destruction of collective bargaining.

The problems in our School District will be solved only with adequate, stable funding from Harrisburg and productive collaboration between District leaders and your staff. Collective bargaining is essential to that kind of collaboration. By abandoning the negotiating table, you’ve turned your back on the input of thousands of dedicated, experienced professionals.

Philadelphia’s children deserve well-staffed, well-funded schools with a full complement of professional staff who are treated with respect by their employer. Working people deserve a voice in the decisions that affect our work, our schools, and our communities. We oppose your canceling your contract with PFT in the strongest possible terms, and will continue to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers as they fight to reverse your decision.

Sincerely,

AFGE Local 2006, President Beverly Wilmer
AFGE Local 2058, President David Fitzpatrick
AFSCME District Council 33, President Pete Matthews
AFSCME District Council 47, President Fred Wright
AFT Pennsylvania, President Ted Kirsch
American Maritime Officers, National Executive VP Robert J Keifer
American Postal Workers Union Local 89, President Nick Casselli
American Postal Workers Union Local 7048, President Vince Tarducci
Association of Catholic Teachers Local 1776, NACST President Rita Schwartz
Boilermakers Local Lodge 13, Business Manager John Clark Jr
Bricklayers Local 1, Business Manager Dennis Pagliotti
CWA Local 13000, President Jim Gardler
District 1199C NUHHCE AFSCME, President Henry Nicholas
Elevator Constructors Local 5, Business Manager Ed Loomis
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, President John McNesby
Gas Workers Union Local 686, President Keith Holmes
Heat & Frost Insulator & Allied Workers Local 14, Business Manager Steve Pettit
HPAE, President Ann Twomey
IAFF Local 22, President Joe Schulle
IAM Local 1776, Recording Secretary C.A. O’Brien
IATSE Local 8, Business Manager Michael Barnes
IBEW Local 98, Business Manager John J. Dougherty
Ironworkers Local 401, Business Representative Charles Roberts
IUPAT District Council 21, Business Manager Joseph Ashdale
Laborers’ District Council of Philadelphia and Vicinity, Government Affairs Representative Ken Washington
Laborers’ Local 332, Business Manager Sam Staten, Jr.
National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 157, President Randy Zebin
Operating Engineers Local 542, Business Manager Robert Heenan
PA Conference of Teamsters, Joint Council 53 and IBT Local 157, President William Hamilton
PASNAP, President Patricia Eakin
Pennsylvania Federation BMWED – Teamsters, General Chairman Jed Dodd
Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee, Director Michael Hersch
Philadelphia Joint Board Workers United, Manager Lynne Fox
Philadelphia Building Trades Council, Business Manager Patrick Gillespie
Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, President Patrick Eiding
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Local 3, President Jerry Jordan
PhilaPOSH, Director Barbara Rahke
Plumbers Local 690, Business Mgr./Financial Secretary Treasurer John Kane
SAG – AFTRA Philadelphia, Vice President Catherine Brown
Seafarers International Union, Business Manager Joe Baselice
SEIU 32BJ Mid-Atlantic, Director Daisy Cruz
SEIU 32BJ District 1201, President George Ricchezza
Sheet Metal Workers Local 19, President Gary Masino
Sprinkler Fitters Local 692, Business Manager Wayne Miller
Steamfitters Local 420, Business Manager Anthony Gallagher
Teamsters Local 107, Trustee Ed Shaw
Teamsters Local 830, Secretary-Treasurer Daniel Grace
TNG-CWA Local 38010, Executive Director Bill Ross
TWU Local 234, President Willie Brown
UAW Region 9, Area Director Terrence Dittes
UFCW Local 1776, President Wendell Young, IV
UNITE HERE Local 274, President Rosslyn Wuchinich
UNITE HERE Local 54, President Bob McDevitt
USW Local 10-1, President Jim Savage

Pat Eiding, President
Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO

Cc: Feather Houstoun, Member, SRC
Farah Jimenez, Member, SRC
Marjorie Neff, Member, SRC
Sylvia P Simms, Member, SRC
Governor Tom Corbett
Mayor Michael Nutter

Source: http://www.pa.aflcio.org/philaflcio/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=a790879c-0d9f-40a3-9d06-168d57223286

By Kevin McCorry

– In response to having its contract unilaterally terminated, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers filed several legal actions Friday.

The union has petitioned the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to prevent the district from implementing health care concessions until a legal ruling is made.

PFT president Jerry Jordan said the law is on the union’s side.

“We believe they don’t have the right to do that,” he said in a telephone interview. “Health care benefits are a subject of mandatory bargaining.”

The union filings come in response to the SRC asking the state Commonwealth Court to make a judgment on whether terminating the contract was legal. The district jointly filed the motion with state Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq.

The union believes the education secretary isn’t a party to the matter and, therefore, the case belongs in the city Court of Common Pleas, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations board or another labor arbitrator.

“The Pa. Department of Education should not be a part of this dispute,” said Jordan in the PFT’s official release. “Our position is that they were added as a plaintiff simply so the SRC could plead their case before the Commonwealth Court.”

The district intends to proceed as planned. Teachers are set to begin seeing reductions in take-home pay in December, but the district is using cash flow to pump $15 million into schools immediately. Another $30 million is planned for disbursement throughout the year.

SRC Chairman Bill Green defended the district’s decision to start spending the money before a ruling is made.

“We believe our position will be upheld, and we’re taking the risk that it will be upheld, because we need to get resources into schools to support the teachers in their classrooms,” Green told reporters after Thursday’s SRC meeting.

The union also filed several complaints with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.

“The PFT never wants to settle a contract this way, but the SRC is giving us no choice,” Jordan said in the release. “They abandoned negotiation in favor of litigation; we are responding forcefully that the courts are no place for this dispute. We’re hoping for a quick resolution that brings this matter where it belongs — back to the bargaining table.”

Source: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/74079-court-battle-brewing-between-philly-schools-teachers-union?linktype=hp_impact