By The Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO

– The Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO’s 26th annual Tri-State Labor Day Parade and Family Celebration will take place on Monday, September 2nd, 2013. Participants will gather at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 union hall (1301 S. Columbus Blvd at Washington) starting at 8:30, with a rally to follow and the parade up to Penn’s Landing kicking off at 10:00 AM.

The Family Celebration at Penn’s Landing will start at 11:00 AM, featuring food, make-and-take crafts, live music, games, kids activities, and more!

Contact your local union for information about attending.

Source: http://www.pa.aflcio.org/philaflcio/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=ccd16257-08f4-44df-ae22-e5d3a4e65a49

PhillyLabor.com announces Business to Labor networking program; bringing business and professional services providers together with organized labor

Unionized workers and the unions who represent them are a target market for the providers of a wide range of goods and services. Those providers now have a new access point in a program announced by PhillyLabor.com

Joe Dougherty of PhillyLabor.com has announced the PhillyLabor.com Business to Labor Networking Program which is designed to help bridge the gap between business and labor by offering proven pro-union and union friendly businesses and professionals the unprecedented opportunity to network with area labor leaders.

“PhillyLabor.com believes in promoting good relations between service providers and unions looking for a wide range of solutions,” said Dougherty. “Our exclusive union leader meet and greet networking event program is a fantastic vehicle for dedicated union and union friendly business and professional leaders to introduce their services and products to labor leaders.”

PhillyLabor.com will be arranging a series of invitation only meet and greet events over the next few months to facilitate easier access and communications between service providers and labor unions.

“We want to make sure that unions needing specific services have the ability to meet face-to-face with providers in a setting that is not the normal high pressure sales environment,” said Dougherty. “At PhillyLabor.com, based on our experience working with unions, we know that the important decisions union leaders have to make for their members, especially in the areas of benefits and services, are best conducted in a low pressure environment and we are looking to provide that opportunity.”

To learn more about the PhillyLabor.com Business to Labor Networking Program and for more information on the other programs and services offered to union members through www.PhillyLabor.com please contact Joe Dougherty at: joedoc@phillylabor.com

In an effort to help alleviate the financial hardship workers face when injured on the job, the Injured Workers’ Advocacy Program (IWAP) is introducing the ground-breaking financial Gap Assistance Benefit for injured workers.

“Part of our mission,” noted Joe Dougherty, who founded IWAP with his brother Brian Dougherty, “is to advocate on behalf of working men, women and families and to make a positive difference in their lives in the case of a work-related injury.”

IWAP (www.iwapusa.org) is a comprehensive, non-profit, 501c3 program created for the purpose of improving all phases of the injured worker’s experience. The Gap Assistance Benefit is a grant program that offers injured workers financial assistance between the time when they are injured on the job and time when they receive their workers compensation benefits determination of coverage decision.

“This is a new way for us to provide much needed services to workers. IWAP, and the Gap Assistance Program specifically, allow us to address problems that have often been overlooked when it comes to caring for injured workers,” explained Dougherty. “The charitable benefit helps to lessen the initial financial strain a worker faces when he or she is injured on the job. As previously injured workers, my brother and I understand what that kind of stress feels like. We created IWAP and the Gap Assistance Program because we didn’t want other injured workers to suffer the same hardships that we did.”

IWAP also offers educational services, grants and scholarships for the purpose of career retraining to injured workers who are unable to return to work, or unable to return to the line of work in which they were previously employed. In addition, IWAP provides injured workers with professional consultations to help advise them on their rights and responsibilities when they get inured.

IWAP and the Gap Assistance Program are currently available to workers in the Southeastern Pennsylvania/Greater Philadelphia region with plans for future expansion into other areas of the country.

To learn more IWAP and the Gap Assistance Benefit, including how to pre-register and qualify for the program, go to: www.iwapusa.org.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has two votes on the School Reform Commission—votes he hasn’t been using to defend Philadelphia’s public schools. He and Gov. Tom Corbett have failed Philadelphia students and families and now they are holding schools hostage for $130 million in concessions from teachers.

As it stands, these massive education cuts will result in huge losses for teachers and students, including:

– 13% percent pay cut and longer hours for teachers
– One nurse for every 2500 students
– Most guidance counselors will be laid off
– No more teacher preparation periods
– Later school start dates
– All while partial or full union strikes loom

Now, organizers on the ground are saying that, with large layoffs and school closures hitting the city’s schools, public pressure is beginning to make him nervous. We need to pile on.

Tell Nutter to not let Corbett make Philly the next Detroit. Defend families, teachers, and public schools.
To Mayor Nutter:

Please, don’t let our schools fall. Philadelphia is a world class city that we deserve to be proud of. We’re a city that could be educating the best and greatest minds of tomorrow. Gov. Tom Corbett has failed Philadelphia students and families, but you don’t have to. Stand up to Corbett and defend our families, teachers, and public schools.

TO SIGN THE PETITION: GO TO: http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=542