By The PA. AFL-CIO

– Reports began to surface last week that Governor Corbett was finally considering a plan to accept Medicaid expansion in Pennsylvania under the Affordable Care Act. This caused some widespread and ultimately premature optimism that Corbett was going to follow the lead of 40 State Senators and do the right thing for Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, the details reveal that Corbett’s proposal is designed to be a massive giveaway to private insurance companies, while weakening even our existing Medicaid program. This proposal is a kick in the gut to Pennsylvania’s uninsured and working poor.

E-Mail Governor Corbett at: http://act.aflcio.org/c/236/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7127 And Tell Him To Accept REAL Medicaid Expansion

First, Corbett proposes accepting new Federal dollars, not to expand the Medicaid program, but to subsidize the purchase of private insurance in the State. This would ensure that a portion of our tax dollars are needlessly diverted to the profits of insurance companies, and that fewer uninsured working Pennsylvanians would get the health coverage they need.

Second, Corbett wants the Federal Government to approve changes to Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program that will allow the State to charge premiums to working age adults who are enrolled in Medicaid, or who receive subsidized private insurance through new Federal dollars. That would include charging premiums to working-age adults who are already on Medicaid, including the disabled.

Third, Corbett wants to establish a work-search requirement for Medicaid recipients, and for those who would receive new subsidized coverage under this ‘expansion.’ This concept is completely tone-deaf and insulting, even by Corbett’s standards (the same Corbett who earlier this year said that unemployment is high because the unemployed are all on drugs). If Corbett cared to understand the issue, he would know that the overwhelming majority Pennsylvanians who would be eligible for Medicaid expansion, as well as many current Medicaid patients, are already employed in full-time jobs. The work-search requirement is just another thinly veiled attack on the beneficiaries of government programs, to suggest that they are lazy and do not contribute to society.

This is a fact that Corbett and his allies should know well, because it is through their concerted efforts to drive down wages and keep them low, that we have this situation where so many full time workers are forced to be dependent on public assistance to meet their basic medical care needs, and those of their children.

Governor Corbett cannot possibly believe that the Obama administration will authorize this ‘compromise’ deal, certainly not when Medicaid expansion, with no strings attached, passed our State Senate in the spring by a vote of 40-10.

If Corbett truly believed in creating jobs in Pennsylvania, growing our economy, and ensuring that hundreds of thousands of additional Pennsylvanians have health coverage, then he would have accepted Medicaid expansion a year ago, instead of waiting until now to propose a plan that is nothing but an insult to Pennsylvania’s workers, and a taxpayer-funded giveaway to corporations.

E-Mail Governor Corbett at: http://act.aflcio.org/c/236/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7127 And Tell Him To Accept REAL Medicaid Expansion

Source: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=2771

SEIU District 1201 is hosting a public forum on the crisis in the Philadelphia school system, tonight September 16th at 6:00 PM:

The Crisis in Philadelphia Public Schools: Real Stories from Students, Parents, and Teachers in Philadelphia

Monday, September 16th, 6:00 – 7:30 PM

SEIU District 1201 building, 455 N. 5th St (below Spring Garden), Philadelphia, 19123

Panelists:

Helen Gym, Parents United for Public Education
Kia Hinton, Parent of W.C. Longstreth students and Action United Education Chair
Jerry Jordan, President, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers
Mark Tyler, Pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church
Kiara Lynn Garcia, KCAPA High School Student

Moderator: Rosemarie Harris, Philadelphia Home and School Council

A Message From John J. Dougherty, Business Manager of IBEW #98

Philadelphia Firefighters and Paramedics Union Local 22 delivered more than 35,000 signed and notarized petitions to the members of Council in furtherance of their campaign to place a Charter Change question on the ballot that would require this and future mayors to win a 2/3 approval vote of City Council before challenging future arbitration awards for first responders.

It’s about bringing fairness and balance to the process, which currently is neither fair nor balanced.

IBEW Local 98 was proud to have provided a helping hand to Local 22 President Joe Schulle and his team during the petition drive.

With the continued support and leadership of City Councilmen Jim Kenney, Bobby Henon, Mark Squilla and many others, the Charter Change question will be on the May 2014 ballot and the public will vote it into law. It’s simply not fair that one man can defy the spirit and intent of the State’s Act 111 Arbitration Law and withhold a fair contract for more than four long years, especially when the first responders abide by the law by not striking and continuing to risk their lives to save ours.

Congratulations to Philly’s firefighters for finally getting economic justice from the Nutter administration. Now it’s time to ensure that our first responders never again have to wait four long years to get the contract they earned and deserve.

Support the Charter Change referendum!

Support our police officers, firefighters and paramedics!

The Below editorial was received from Vincent Esposito, a member of Carpenter’s Local #1856, who is also in the U.S. Army, who shared his point of view of an allegedly staggering situation that he states currently exists in the U.S. military.

“I am a member of Carpenters Local Union 1856, and I am currently in the Army. I wanted to share what I have noticed here. We are worked until exhaustion, yet our own soldiers, at the lower pay rates of e-4 to e-1 are regularly on food stamps if they have a small family. We are a country where our Military members that are already being paid by the government need MORE government help to stay above water.

Union’s provide the USA’s citizens with an honest day’s wages for an honest day’s work, and your members don’t need the government’s aid. It seems even our government cannot grasp what the unions have. They have what I call the “Walmart Complex” where the Federal government pays it’s soldiers so little that they must then turn to state funded welfare, which is funded by the federal government anyway. And the vicious cycle continues. Thank The USA For Our Unions, without them, good hard working men like my brother, myself, my grandfather and my father probably would not have had a fair chance in this world. Feel free to share.”

Vincent Esposito
U.S. Army, Carpenter’s Local #1856

PHILLYLBOR.COM EDITORIAL REPLY: How can a staggering situation like this exist where some American soldiers need to live in a welfare state in order to make ends meet for their families while they are “still” in the U.S. military? I can’t imagine asking people to be on call for the purpose of potentially sacrificing their lives for our freedom and them having to be on welfare to do it?

If this is true, it’s a disgrace of epic proportions that needs to be remedied immediately in order for all of us, as Americans, to be able to wake up every morning, in the wake of the freedom that we enjoy because of the heroics of generations of these young military heroes, and have the nerve to look at ourselves in the mirror while we are brushing our teeth.

As per the sentiment of Vincent’s letter, Thank God For Unions in America, where a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay is worth fighting for! Evidently, the dignity of protecting our freedom isn’t worth as much!

From The National AFL-CIO Convention

Resolution 52: Governor Corbett and Mayor Nutter’s Attack on Philadelphia Public Education and Public Service
Submitted by AFT, AFSCME and UNITE HERE

Those who work in Philadelphia public schools, represented by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and those who provide the city’s vital public services, represented by AFSCME District Councils 33 and 47, do so out of a sense of mission: they want to help kids, they want to care for those who are most vulnerable, and they want to ensure that the vital public services that keep our city moving are reliably provided to build a better Philadelphia for all.

But educators and public employees are under attack from forces intent on rolling back the promise of equal opportunity, basic fairness and responsive government.

Governor Corbett and his legislative partisans are leading the attack. While extending $2.4 billion in tax breaks to corporate special interests and political donors, including expanded favors for energy and telecommunications companies, Corbett eliminated assistance to 69,000 financially distressed Pennsylvanians suffering from illness, disability or domestic violence; cut environmental funding by 20 percent and slashed more than $1 billion from public education, including more than $304 million from Philadelphia’s schools.

Right now, Governor Corbett is holding hostage $45 million in federal assistance targeted for Philadelphia schools. Holding back the money is part of his plan to boost his sagging poll numbers by manufacturing a crisis in which schools are starved, children are denied the education they deserve and teachers are blamed for the disruption.

Instead of standing up to Corbett and demanding the federal funds Philadelphia schools were promised and desperately need, Mayor Michael Nutter has joined Corbett in scapegoating hardworking public employees and educators, while continuing tax breaks for large corporations.

And even though Philadelphia teachers have offered substantial contract concessions by forgoing pay increases and making changes to health care benefits, the mayor dismisses these concessions and continues his push to eliminate the ability of educators to speak up for public schools and fight for the things students need—like a safe and welcoming school to attend, with a rich curriculum and extracurricular activities, where teachers have the support they need in order to improve their instruction and students receive the services they need in order to be ready to learn.

When Mayor Nutter wanted the support of city workers, he said he would work to negotiate a fair contract for public employees and improve public services for all Philadelphians. AFSCME District Councils 33 and 47 have demonstrated flexibility in working with the city, but the mayor has not kept his word. Instead, Nutter has focused on advancing the Corbett agenda, attacking public employees, cutting services and granting tax breaks to big corporations.

City workers in Philadelphia have now gone five years without contracts or wage increases, have paid significant increases for their health care and suffered relentless attacks from Mayor Nutter’s administration. Under Mayor Nutter, the number of city workers living in poverty has doubled.

While both AFSCME DC 33 and DC 47 have attempted to negotiate a solution with the Nutter administration, he has gone to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to impose a contract that means cuts to vital services, wages reductions and less retirement security.

Mayor Nutter’s failed policies have cut vital services to the residents of our city. Because of his failures, library doors often remain locked and fewer people work in our recreation centers. It’s time for Nutter to change course, stop putting the Corbett agenda and the interests of large corporations ahead of the interests of the people of Philadelphia, and negotiate a fair contract for educators and municipal workers.

The labor movement stands with neighbors, parents, students and community leaders in condemning these attacks on the schools and the vital services on which our city relies. We are united in calling on Mayor Nutter to reverse course and stand up for a better Philadelphia for all by:

1. Demanding the immediate release of the $45 million in federal assistance targeted for Philadelphia.

2. Instructing the mayor’s representatives on the School Reform Commission to demand the funding necessary for our schools to educate students, and shelve further plans for school closings, budget cuts and giveaways to market-based reformers.

3. Working with parents, teachers, students and community leaders to put politics aside, fix the damage already inflicted, raise additional revenues by eliminating unnecessary tax breaks for wealthy corporations, collect taxes which are overdue, and do what’s right for Philadelphia children, families and public schools.

4. Immediately working with the City Council to identify and raise additional revenues in the form of fair-share assessments on wealthy tax-exempt Philadelphia institutions, such as the University of Pennsylvania.

5. Collaborating with teachers and city municipal employees to find fair solutions through good faith negotiations rather than using this manufactured fiscal crisis or the courts to attack collective bargaining and dismantle vital public services.