– Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder congratulate the winners of the primary elections and to all of those candidates who campaigned on issues important to the working families of Pennsylvania.

“Regardless of the party affiliation we congratulate all of the candidates, who raised the issues that are most important to the working families of Pennsylvania – the need to restore funding for school districts and infrastructure investments as the keys to creating good jobs and expanding our middle class,” President Bloomingdale said. “We congratulate Tom Wolf and State Senator Mike Stack for their success in leading as well as all of the candidates for U.S. Congress and State Legislature who have taken strong positions in support of working families,” Bloomingdale said.

President Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Snyder are very pleased with the success rates of COPE endorsed candidates in Congressional and State Legislative contests. “Our COPE endorsed candidates won in 35 of 39 races for a success rate of 90%,” noted Secretary-Treasurer Snyder.

“The results speak for themselves,” Bloomingdale said. “Our members helped these candidates secure their nominations as well as wage competitive challenges against candidates that attack good jobs, decent wages and benefits, and our rights. We are proud of the great work our volunteers did in many important primary contests,” Bloomingdale said.

“We have a solid base of volunteers and resources to build a very effective grassroots education and mobilization program to reach the work sites and households of workers in every region of Pennsylvania. Today we begin expanding the mobilization and education program needed to take back our State for the working men and women of Pennsylvania,” Snyder said. “This election will be won or lost on voter turnout. We’ve learned the consequences when working families don’t vote. It’s time to stop playing defense and go on the offense and that will only happen if we all vote in November,” Snyder added.

Source: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=4121

Below are the results of races involving local candidates supported by statewide and Philadelphia area labor unions:

US House

CD 1 – Robert A. Brady (D) – Uncontested
CD 2 – Chaka Fattah (D) Uncontested
CD 13- Brendan Boyle 40.56% of the vote over – Marjorie Margolies

PA State Senate

SD 2 – Christine M. Tartaglione (D) 9609 (50.73%) Defeated Danny Savage-
5,542, 29.26% Thomas Sanchez – 3,790 – 20.01%
SD 4 – Leanna Washington (D) 13,440 33.68% – Lost to Art Haywood – 15,874 – 39.78%

PA House

Pennsylvania State House of Representatives:

HD 170 – Brendan Boyle – Uncontested

HD 172 – Kevin J. Boyle (D) W- over Jeffrey Voice with over 91% of the vote

HD 173 – Dennis Kilderry (D) lost To Mike Driscoll who had 62.87%

HD 179 – James W. Clay Jr. (D) lost to Jason Dawson 50.96% to 49.04% (Undecided 80 votes)

HD 180 – Angel L. Cruz (D) – Won over Quetcy Lozada with over 67% of the vote

HD 181 – W. Curtis Thomas (D) Won with over 61% of the vote

HD 188 – James R. Roebuck (D) Won over Algernong Allen with over 69%

HD 198 – Rosita C. Youngblood (D) Won over John Connelly with over 76% of the vote

HD 200 – Cherelle L. Parker (D) Won Uncontested

HD 201 – Stephen Kinsey (D) Won over Lamont Thomas with 54% of the vote

HD 202 – Mark B. Cohen (D) Won over Jared Soloman – 51.49% to 48.51% (By 128 Votes)

Philadelphia City Council – Special Election
At-large – Ed Neilson (D) – Neilson defeated Republican attorney Matthew Wolfe and Nikki Allen Poe of the Libertarian Party

– Philadelphia International Airport is expanding and the airlines are making record profits. Yet nearly 2,000 Philadelphia airport workers live in deep poverty, making as little as $7.25/hour. One out of five subcontracted airport workers reported going hungry last year.

On May 20, I will cast my vote for airport workers who are fighting to improve jobs and get the economy moving again.

For Our Economy: When Philadelphia workers earn a living wage, they spend more money at small businesses and boost our local economy.

For Fairness: Airport workers deserve the city’s minimum wage of $10.88/ hour.

For Our Schools: Higher wages mean higher tax revenues, and that means more public education money that could be used to hire back teachers or support school programs.

Vote “YES” on ballot question #1 on May 20 for good jobs in Philadelphia!

Source – http://action.fightforphilly.org/page/s/voteyesonmay20

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– As this primary season comes to a close, we would like to remind all of our brothers and sisters of the importance of voting in every election. It is our right as American Citizens, and it is one of the many ways that we are able to influence the policies by which we are governed.

As you are making final decisions on who you believe would best represent your values, keep in mind the candidates that will support policies that help working people, and will fight against legislation put up by those who seek to weaken workers’ rights. There are constant attacks made against working people on all levels of government, and we need allies in our elected offices to combat those attacks and advocate for the middle class.

PhillyLabor.com Commentary: VOTE On Tuesday May 20th Like Your Union Livelihood Depends On It Because, Now More Than Ever, IT DOES!

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– In the past month, workers like you sent thousands of letters to state representatives, opposing Gov. Corbett’s latest attack on public workers’ pensions.

But Corbett’s ally, Rep. Mike Tobash, isn’t listening. He’s pushing hard to pass a bill that attacks the retirement security of our brothers and sisters, even though they have never missed making a single payment into their pension funds.  His proposal disproportionately cuts pension benefits for women and younger employees.

What’s at stake?  Rep. Tobash’s plan lets Gov. Corbett do what he’s wanted to do from the beginning – put the state’s payments to PSERS and SERS on a credit card. This would undermine the retirement of workers, create more pension debt, and increase pension costs for taxpayers.

His bill would force all new employees into an inferior pension plan, with benefits 40 percent lower than most current employees. Making matters worse, current school employees who return after a break in service for extended family leave or other circumstances could be forced into this new, inferior plan.

It’s about priorities.  The Corbett / Tobash proposal will only repeat past mistakes.  They want to put our retirement security on a credit card, and they don’t even want to make the minimum payments.  The workers who will be hurt by this plan, just like you, have faithfully paid into their retirement plans every month, and they deserve better!

Gov. Corbett and his friends like Rep. Tobash aren’t looking for fair solutions. They want to balance the budget at the expense of workers’ pensions.  We need to draw a line in the sand now.
It’s time for all of us to speak out and say we’ve had enough.

To E-Mail Your Legislators Now, Go To: http://act.aflcio.org/c/236/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8463

Source: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=4024