UNITE HERE, whose Local 634 members work as noontime aides and cafeteria workers in the Philadelphia School District, launched a fast this morning at 11:00 AM to protest the “doomsday budget” passed on May 30th by the School Reform Commission.

The budget calls for the School District to lay off 3,783 employees, including 1,200 school safety staff who are members of UNITE HERE 634. Even Superintendent of Schools William Hite called the layoffs “nothing less than catastrophic for our schools and our students.”

The Fast for School Safety will take place at Broad and Walnut Streets, in front of the Hyatt at the Bellevue where Governor Corbett maintains his Philadelphia office. Those participating in the fast, including school parents and UNITE-HERE 634 members, will fast without food or juice until the Commonwealth and the City act to prioritize school safety.

They gathered today at 5:00pm at Broad and Walnut to stand in solidarity with Philadelphia’s students, School District employees, and our brothers and sisters who are fasting for school safety.

Go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/1388010151411811/

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

You are an inspiration to us all and we hope you have a great day!

– PA. AFL-CIO –

This administration in Harrisburg is pulling out all the stops right now. They are hoping that by attacking workers on several fronts that they can divide and conquer. They are cynically attempting to link unrelated pieces of legislation so as to create new rifts within the Labor Movement – by doing things like tying transportation funding to privatization of the Wine & Spirits Stores. Now more than ever we need to stand together as a united Labor Movement, and face all of these attacks head on.

Now is the time for all of us to get involved, as many of you have been for a long time. Please Take Action! on the legislative battles highlighted below – and then forward this email to your co-workers, family members, friends, and neighbors. Invite them to become active like you, and take a stand in defending working families in Pennsylvania!

Take Action: House Passes Reckless State Budget On Party Line Vote

On Wednesday, June 13, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a budget plan that fails to provide solutions that work for the challenges facing our state. The vote (108-92) was split down party lines, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed.

This budget lacks sufficient funding for our schools, which will force districts to cut more staff and programs, and to raise property taxes. This budget fails to take advantage of Federal funding for Medicaid expansion, which would inject $3 billion in economic activity into our State and support 35,000 good new jobs. This budget includes more giveaways for business on top of the hundreds of millions in cuts that the Governor has already delivered, and it does so on the backs of working Pennsylvanians. E-mail your legislators and tell them that Pennsylvania deserves better! READ MORE: Go To: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=2070

Take Action: Senate To Vote On Wine & Spirits Privatization

Republicans in the Senate are currently working on a privatization bill that will probably be considered sometime within the next week. Governor Corbett is pressing the Senate to send him a liquor privatization bill as part of his administration’s right wing agenda. Liquor privatization would result in a loss of thousands of jobs and a large cut in revenue for the state. READ MORE AND E-MAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS, Go To: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=2065

Take Action: Tell Your Legislators ‘No’ To 401(k)-Type Plans

On June 11th, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi was on PCN TV, and he revealed the next step in advancing the Governor’s destructive pension ‘reform’ package.

According to Senator Pileggi, next week the Senate Finance Committee will be moving a bill from committee that would end pensions for newly hired public employees. This bill would be a DISASTER for Pennsylvania workers, and for Pennsylvania taxpayers.

On that same day, an actuarial study of a proposed switch to 401(k)-type plans for new hires was released by Buck Consultants, who were commissioned by PSERS to study the question.

The bottom line is that this plan will:

Add $7.2 Billion in additional benefit costs for new hires to be on a 401(k)-type plan
Add $30.7 Billion in additional costs to the current pension system by closing it off to new hires
Those extra costs are in addition to the obvious consequences of such a reckless scheme: jeopardizing the retirement security of future workers and destabilizing the pension fund that current employees and retirees rely upon. READ MORE: Go To: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=2077

Union Building Trades Apprentices Hold Lobby Day At State Capitol

Hundreds of PA Building and Construction Trades union apprentices, coordinators and instructors representing twenty different building trades crafts from every area of Pennsylvania filled the State Capitol Rotunda in an impressive display of the strength and the value of union-run apprenticeship programs to Pennsylvania’s building and construction industry.

During a press conference held by the President of the PA Building and Construction Trades Council, Frank Sirianni noted that over 130,000 union building and construction trades members comprise over 33 percent of the industry workforce and that over 8,100 active union building trades apprentices are being educated for tomorrow’s work force in Pennsylvania. That is over 80 percent of all apprentices in the construction industry in Pennsylvania.
READ MORE: Go To: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=2053

Protect Our retirement Security: Pension Event Monday In Harrisburg

Join your union brothers and sisters for an important discussion about 401Ks and how we can prevent Governor Corbett from destroying our retirement security.

Frontline recently aired a documentary, The Retirement Gamble, that provides compelling information about why 401Ks are not an effective retirement plan. Governor Corbett is pushing legislation that would move school and state employees from defined benefit pensions to a 401K-type program. The documentary will be followed by a brief panel of experts to answer questions and help navigate through this important subject.
READ MORE: Go To: http://www.paaflcio.org/?ai1ec_event=protect-our-retirement-security&instance_id=4802

SAVE THE DATES: Community Services Institute. July 17-20, 2013. Crowne Plaza-Pittsburgh South, Pittsburgh, PA. COPE Institute. August 23-25, 2013. Linden Hall, Dawson, PA. And let’s start dreaming about golf. COPE Golf, that is. Join us at our Annual COPE Golf Outing. September 19, 2013 at Club Madison, Yukon, PA.

Go To: http://www.paaflcio.org/

– By David Chang and Vince Lattanzio (NBC 10) –

The lead inspector of a Center City building that collapsed last week is dead after he committed suicide, according to multiple law enforcement sources close to the investigation who did not want to be named.

Law enforcement sources say the man shot himself once in the chest and was found dead inside his truck along the 100 block of Shawmont Avenue in Philadelphia around 9:30 p.m., less than a mile from his home. The man didn’t leave behind a note but did text his wife before pulling the trigger, according to sources.

The sources also tell NBC10 that the victim inspected the building on 2136 Market Street several times prior to last week’s accident. According to the sources, the victim said the site was safe after the city received a complaint about the project back in May.

NBC10.com is withholding his name until his family is notified.

Last Wednesday, the four-story outer wall of the building crumbled onto the Salvation Army Thrift Store next door. Six people were killed in the collapse — three employees and three patrons. The wall also buried 13 others throughout the store – including in the basement. They were eventually rescued by citizens and first responders.

Excavator operator Kane R. Robert, also known as Sean Benschop, stands charged in the collapse and now a grand jury is being convened to uncover whether other people should be held responsible.

The city was quick to change regulations for demolition contractors after the collapse.

Stay with NBC10.com for more details on this developing story.

Go To: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Man-Who-Inspected-Collapsed-Building-Commits-Suicide-211320781.html

Folks, union officials span the city limits daily encountering back alley construction projects run by shoddy non-union contractors who are often paying substandard wages to their non-union workers, who are lucky if they are getting benefits at all. Many of these jobs include workers who are forced to work 10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week without overtime pay or even lunch breaks in some cases. The stories of the terrible working conditions are unprecedented and in some cases boggle the imagination. In fact, I remember one story told to me by a former non-union worker who finally got his shot at getting in the union, who told me that his former non-union boss used to tell him often to be careful while he was working and don’t dare fall off the building because “if you do, you’re fired before you hit the ground.”

The crazy thing about a lot of these non-union jobs is that you would think that the owners of the project would do a back ground check on the contractors that exceeds choosing them based on the lowest bid to make sure the company and the workers they are hiring are reputable and of the highest quality skill level. You’d like to think that when you and/or your family members are driving down the road and you see the boom of a 100 ton crane flying high in the sky above the street that the individuals responsible for the situation have taken into consideration every possible side of the equation including public safety before they begin construction or demolition.

Now, there are certainly different scenarios and reasons why different people do different things regarding hiring a contractors and no 2 situations are the same but in most cases, the motive behind owners and project managers hiring non-union contractors is financially related. They think they can save money by hiring cheaper labor. They put the project up for bid and take the lowest bidder, they do the math and think they are saving money often not taking in consideration the difference in skill level or resources a union contractor can provide to a project that can actually help expedite the project thus making the job more efficiently run and often, in the long run, more economical for the owner of the project

Sometimes these non-union projects are spearheaded by people who, for some reason, just do not like unions and even more often they are run by people who just do not have financial resources to do it right and they try to cut corners to get the job done under the radar. They work at night or on weekends in order to go unnoticed in hopes of getting in and out before the public finds out what’s really going on and how they are exploiting their workers.

Whatever the case maybe, rarely in the history of Philadelphia, in such a high profile location, do you encounter a situation more blatantly wrong than that of which occurred at 22nd and Market Streets last Wednesday June 5, 2013 where a wealthy millionaire owner hired a non-union contractor with a criminal record, whose judgement was so poor that he had an operating engineer on the demo who allegedly tested positive for marijuana and prescription drugs and is now in police custody charged with manslaughter in the killing of the 6 innocent victims, whose only fault was trusting that the individuals responsible for the demolition of the building had taken the proper precautions in protecting the public safety and doing the job right. Unfortunately that was not the case.

Amongst the true tragedies here was the fact that the owner of the building being demolished was not some poor financially strapped, under funded schmuck who was cutting corners on the demo because he was cash poor and had no choice. This, building was owned by STB Investments Corp, whose principal, Richard Basciano, is reported to have an estimated wealth in the multi-millions, who had a vision to develop that section Market St. into something very upscale and had the capital to do it. In other words this guy had the money to do this right but for some reason (Could It Be GREED, SELFISHNESS, INCOMPETENCE, IGNORANCE OR ALL OF THE ABOVE????) DID IT BLATANTLY WRONG and as a result cost 6 innocent people there lives and badly injured many more.

FINAL QUESTIONS: Why would a wealthy owner with this kind of wealth choose to hire a cheap, under skilled, under qualified Non-union labor when he clearly had the resources to do it right? WAS MAKING MONEY REALLY WORTH ENDING THE LIVES OF 6 INNOCENT PEOPLE?