By Jared Shelly

– Commuters expressed a collective sigh of relief Monday morning, as SEPTA’s Regional Rail trains were running on schedule.

A weekend strike by 400 workers was short-lived after President Barack Obama forced the creation of a presidential emergency board to mediate the contract dispute between SEPTA and its engineers and electricians unions. Obama called for “a swift and smooth resolution” and his actions mean that the unions will not be able to strike until the PEB expires in another 240 days.

But does that just mean the unions will strike in February? The two sides have 30 days to submit a report to Obama’s board their plans for resolving the dispute. Then the mediation will continue.

SEPTA spokesperson Jerri Williams still used some strong rhetoric in a statement released Monday morning. After detailing how it has offered the unions increased pay ($3 per hour to IBEW and $2.60 per hour to BLET), Williams said union leadership “made it abundantly clear that they wanted to go on strike.” That was after SEPTA asked the union for a two-week extension.

But Terry Gallagher, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, touted the president’s intervention, saying it was “what we were waiting for.”

Does that mean both sides will negotiate in good faith? We’ll have to wait and see.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/morning_roundup/2014/06/septas-trains-rolling-againbut-labor-dispute-far.html

We would like to wish all the fathers of the labor movement, who work hard and dedicate your lives everyday to standing up for what you believe in so that your children and future generations will have a better life, a Very Happy Father’s Day!

We would also like to remember our forefathers and those who are no longer with us who made it possible for us to enjoy the privileges we share and to continue the fight in their honor!

You are an inspiration to us all!

In Solidarity!

PhillyLabor.com

By Emma Jacobs

– All thirteen SEPTA Regional Rail lines have stopped operating due to a labor stoppage.

The 220 members of the Brotherhood of Local Engineers and Trainmen and the 210 members of Electrical Workers Local 744 walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

All city and suburban buses, trollies, subway service and the Norristown High Speed Line will continue to operate.

Saturday marked the expiration of a cooling off period mandated by the federal Railway Labor Act.

According to a statement released by SEPTA spokesperson, Jerri Williams, SEPTA offered to extend the cooling off period for a period of two weeks under existing rates of pay and working conditions. Representatives of the BLET and the IBEW rejected the offer.

The two unions have been working without a contract for several years while exhausting mediation requirements.

SEPTA plans to impose wage increases that were a part of its latest contract offer, of 11.6 percent for electrical workers and 8.5 percent for engineers, saying it seeks terms consistent with its other labor agreements.

The union had asked for pay increases to be retroactive and other changes to SEPTA’s proffered contract.

It has been a long time since the last regional rail shutdown, which took place in 1983 and lasted 108 days.

In this case, Pennsylvania Tom Corbett could still request the appointment of a Presidential Emergency Board, which would delay a work stoppage for 240 days.

60,000 commuters rely on SEPTA’s regional rail lines.

Out of what SEPTA spokeswoman called an “abundance of caution,” SEPTA began unrolling contingency plans this week in case of a strike, including plans to add additional trains and buses on operational lines and expanding parking outside stations around the city’s periphery.

Williams cautioned that rush hour service is already at capacity. “Therefore, we encourage passengers to flex their work schedules by coming to work earlier or later than their normal shifts.”

PennDOT spokesman Gene Blaum said that PennDOT will adjust work crew schedules on major throughways to allow for longer commute times.

– SEPTA’s Service Interruption Plan is now available online, including parking and operational services: http://www.septa.org/service/service-interruption/rail.html
– Alternate service planner by station: http://www.septa.org/stations/rail/stations.shtml

Source: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/69231-no-deal-septa-regional-rail-workers-announce-strike?linktype=hp_impact

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– HARRISBURG, PA: Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder announced the endorsement of Tom Wolf for Governor in the General Election that will be held on Tuesday November 4, 2014.

Tom Wolf received a unanimous endorsement from the members of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Executive Council which represents over 800,000 union workers, the largest labor organization in Pennsylvania. The Council met in Harrisburg today.

In announcing the endorsement, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bloomingdale utilized a theme of the Wolf campaign of a fresh start for Pennsylvania’s working families. “Tom Wolf will provide a new direction for Pennsylvania one in which working men and women are part of the solution instead of being viewed as the cause of the problems. Tom Wolf believes as we do that the best is yet to come and by bringing people and institutions together we can recapture and regrow the good jobs and decent wages that provide economic opportunities for all workers,” Mr. Bloomingdale said.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Snyder added “Pennsylvania’s workers are fed up with the current administration, which has focused on everything except what matters most to them. Tom Wolf is raising the issues that workers care about – the need to restore funding for education and infrastructure investments as the keys to creating jobs and expanding the middle class. Mr. Wolf understands that you grow an economy from the ground up and not from the top down. We will work just as hard in supporting and electing Tom Wolf Governor, as we are doing to defend good jobs, defend decent pensions, and defend our rights to a strong voice in the workplace and in politics,” Mr. Snyder added.

Tom Wolf expressed his appreciation for the overwhelming support and said he is looking forward to working with the working families of Pennsylvania in restoring and strengthening our schools and our economy.

“Over the last four years, our economy has struggled, our schools have suffered from misguided cuts, and Pennsylvania has fallen to the bottom in job creation. If we are going to strengthen Pennsylvania’s economy, we need to rebuild our middle class by making sure our policies place them on level playing field. At my company, I paid my workers a living wage, gave them great benefits, and even shared 20 to 30 percent of my profits with them. I will bring this same level of fairness to governing, and I will restore Tom Corbett’s drastic cuts to education and give our Commonwealth a fresh start,” Tom Wolf said.

President Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Snyder also announced the endorsement of Democratic State Senator Mike Stack for Lieutenant Governor. Mr. Stack has a very strong record of supporting workers as a member of the State Senate and is also a member of the Philadelphia chapter of SAG-AFTRA.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO endorsements require a two-thirds majority of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Executive Council, comprised of representatives of labor unions and organizations affiliated with the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO. The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO will be making endorsements in races for Pennsylvania’s congressional seats, the State Senate and the State House of Representatives on July 9, 2014.

Source: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=4184

By Phil Gregory

– Hundreds of public employee union members rallied outside the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton to protest Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to cut the state’s contribution to the pension system.

The language in a law enacted in 2011 requires the payments to be made, said Hetty Rosenstein, New Jersey director of the Communications Workers of America.

“No responsible leader actually recommends reneging on a debt as if he is stiffing a buddy on a sports bet,” she said to clamorous cheers.

Last month, Christie called for cutting $2.5 billion in planned state pension contributions for public workers between now and June 2015 because of flagging tax revenues.

But costs of the scheduled payments could be covered by reinstating a tax surcharge on millionaires and getting rid of tax subsidies for corporations, said Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association.

“Just those two things would be more than enough to make both of the pension payments that he’s threatening to withhold,” Steinhauer said.

Analilia Mejia, executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, said the governor is breaking the law by not making a full payment into the pension system.

A judge has scheduled a hearing later this month on a lawsuit filed by 14 unions that challenges the pension-payment reductions.

Source: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/69167-hundreds-rally-againt-christie-plan-to-cut-nj-payments-to-pension-system?linktype=hp_topstory