– Petition by Charles Norman Philadelphia –

The SRC has made many bad decisions over the years that have put the School District of Philadelphia into an awful position. Next year if the budget stands as is there will be no; Nurses, Secretaries, Counselors, and many more important things needed to run a school. Also next year there will be no sports. Losing sports will be a huge blow to many children. There are many talented children who benefit from their school’s sports teams. Deleting the sports will delete any chances of students being able to get sports scholarships. We can not let the SRC keep digging the Philadelphia School District’s grave. It’s time for City Council, and Mayor Nutter to get rid of the SRC. Let the City Of Philadelphia’s Citizens elect officials to run the School District. We need someone who will take charge! WE NEED COUNSELORS! WE NEED SECRETARIES! WE NEED SPORTS! WE NEED NURSES! WE NEED A GREAT EDUCATION!

To Sign The Petition, Go To: http://www.change.org/petitions/philadelphia-city-council-and-mayor-nutter-we-want-them-to-eliminate-the-philadelphia-school-reform-commission?utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

PhillyLabor.com – With all the talk about “Right To Work” legislation being right around the corner in Pennsylvania, the time has come to get everyone within the PA labor movement involved and organized to fight against such anti-union actions that may potentially devastate unions as we know them throughout all of Pennsylvania including, yes, Philadelphia. However, every time I read something about “Right To Work,” it rarely explains the entire story and in order to get people motivated for the fight, including young union workers, many who have no idea that they are standing on the tracks and the train is coming, people have to understand what the hell “Right To Work” legislation is and what it does and WHY WE NEED TO SAY NO TO “RIGHT TO WORK” FOR LESS LEGISLATION IN PA.

WHAT DOES “RIGHT TO WORK” Mean?

Right to Work (For Less!) – PA. AFL-CIO (www.paaflcio.org)

We oppose any and all legislation that will weaken unions and the process of collective bargaining.
What is a Right to Work (for less) Law?

Despite its misleading name, this type of law does not guarantee anyone a job and it does not protect against unfair firing. By undermining unions, so-called “right to work” laws actually weaken the best job security protections workers have—the union contract.

A state “right to work” law stops employers and employees from negotiating a type of agreement—known as a union security clause—that requires all workers who receive the benefits of a collective bargaining agreement to pay their share of the costs of representing them. These laws say unions must represent every eligible employee, whether or not he or she pays dues. In other words, “right to work” laws allow workers to pay nothing and still get all the benefits of union membership.

These laws aren’t fair to dues-paying members. If a worker who is represented by a union and doesn’t pay dues is fired illegally, the union must use its time and money to defend him or her, even if that requires going through a costly, time-consuming legal process. Because the union represents everyone, everyone benefits, so everyone should share in the costs of providing these services. Amazingly, nonmembers who are represented by a union even can sue the union if they think it has not represented them well enough.

And “right to work” laws offer no new protection for workers who choose not to join unions. Under federal law, no one can be forced to join a union or to pay dues not directly related to the cost of representing them.

Download contains specific information about how Right To Work (for less) effects Wages, Poverty, Safety and Health, Unemployment, Health Care, Pensions, and Education.

Go To – http://www.paaflcio.org/?page_id=164

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The Truth About ‘Right to Work’ for Less – PA. AFL-CIO (www.paaflcio.org)

Compare Pennsylvania with states that have “right to work” for less laws. You’ll see why we’re better off without one.

Anti-worker and business-backed groups are pushing to pass a so-called “right to work” law here in Pennsylvania. Supporters claim these laws create economic prosperity, but many different measures show Pennsylvania’s working families are better off than working families in states with “right to work” for less laws.
Wages and Incomes

Median weekly wages in 20 of the 22 states with these laws are lower than the $740 median weekly wage in Pennsylvania. Median weekly wages in Pennsylvania in 2009 were $60 per week more than the average for states with “right to work” for less laws, and nearly $150 a week more than the earnings in “right to work” for less states like Arkansas ($596) and Mississippi ($595).

Average annual pay in 20 of the 22 states with these laws is lower than the average annual pay in Pennsylvania. In 2009, the average annual pay in states with “right to work” for less laws was $39,169, $5,660 less than the average annual pay in Pennsylvania of $44,829.

And average annual pay in the “right to work” for less states of South Dakota and Mississippi is $10,000 less than pay here in Pennsylvania.

Our income is greater here in Pennsylvania, too. Median income in our state is 14 percent higher than the average median income for states with “right to work” for less laws, and is higher than the median income in 15 of the 22 “right to work” for less states.

Our jobs are less likely to pay poverty wages. On average, 28.3 percent of jobs in states with “right to work” laws are in occupations that pay poverty wages, compared with 22.1 percent of jobs here in Pennsylvania.

Poverty

Poverty is higher in states with these laws. All residents and children in states with “right to work” for less laws have a 31.0 percent and 39.7 percent greater chance of being poor, respectively, than we do in Pennsylvania. In 2009, the Pennsylvania overall and child poverty rates were 11.1 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively, compared with a 14.5 percent overall poverty rate and 20.3 percent child poverty rate for states with these laws.

The difference becomes even more evident when you look at the poverty rates for states with “right to work” for less laws like Arizona (overall poverty rate of 25.8 percent and child poverty rate of 38 percent) and Mississippi (overall poverty rate of 28.9 percent and child poverty rate of 39.8 percent).

Safety and Health

Workplaces in “right to work” states are much more dangerous. Residents of states with these laws also are 34.8 percent more likely to be killed on the job than Pennsylvania residents. The fatal occupational injury rate in Pennsylvania in 2008 was 4.0 (per every 100,000 workers), compared with an average of 5.4 in states with “right to work” for less laws.
When workers do get hurt on the job in states with these laws, the average maximum weekly benefit is $158, 21.2 percent less than in Pennsylvania.

Unemployment

Maximum weekly unemployment benefits are also higher in Pennsylvania than in “right to work” for less states. Unemployed Pennsylvania workers receive a weekly maximum benefit of $572, compared with an average maximum benefit of only $363 per week in states with these laws.

Health Care

We’re also more likely to have health insurance than people in states with these laws. Residents of states with “right to work” for less laws were 46.3 percent more likely to be uninsured in 2009 than we are here in Pennsylvania. In 2009, 11.4 percent of Pennsylvanians were uninsured, compared with an average of 16.7 percent in “right to work” states. The difference is even more dramatic when you look at states like Florida (22.4 percent uninsured), Georgia (20.5 percent uninsured), Nevada (20.8 percent uninsured) and Texas (26.1 percent uninsured), all of which have “right to work” for less laws.

Children in states with these laws are 52.4 percent more likely to be uninsured than children here in Pennsylvania. In states with these laws, 10.4 percent of children are uninsured, compared with 6.8 percent in Pennsylvania.

We’re also 12.4 percent more likely to have job- based health insurance than residents of states with “right to work” for less laws. In Pennsylvania, 67.6 percent of residents younger than 65 have job- based health insurance, compared with 60.1 percent in states with these laws.

Pennsylvania employers also are much more likely to offer health insurance to their workers than employers in states with these laws. Here in Pennsylvania, 63.0 percent of all employers offer health insurance to their workers, compared with 50.3 percent of employers in states with “right to work” for less laws. The difference is even more dramatic for small firms employing less than 50 workers; 49.4 percent of small employers in Pennsylvania offer their employees health insurance, compared with an average of 34.6 percent of small employers in states with “right to work” for less laws.

Pensions

We’re more likely to have pensions, too. Only 43 percent of private-sector workers have employer- provided pension coverage in “right to work” for less states, compared with 50.8 percent here in Pennsylvania.

Education

Students here also are more likely to be at grade level in math and reading. In Pennsylvania, 38.3 percent of 8th grade students were proficient in math in 2007 (compared with 29.6 percent of students in states with “right to work” for less laws), and 36.4 percent were proficient in reading (compared with 28.1 percent).

States with these laws spend less to educate their children than we do here in Pennsylvania—$9,005 per student for the 2008–2009 school year, compared with $12,032 here in Pennsylvania

Go To: http://wp.paaflcio.org/?page_id=572

Additional FACTS: (phillyLabor.com)

IN SHORT – Right to Work gives employers the ability to divide the work force. And in the end, “Divided We Fall”

– Right-to-work provisions (either by law or by constitutional provision) exist in twenty-four U.S. states

– Right now there are currently close to a dozen pieces of Right To Work Legislation in Harrisburg just waiting to be pushed by right wing Pa. Legislators

– If you want to see what life will be like if “Right To Work” legislation passes in our state, no need to speculate, simply research the other areas around the country where “Right To Work” has been enacted and see why many call it “Right To Work for Less”

WHAT CAN WE DO TO STOP RIGHT TO WORK LEGISLATION IN PA?

TAKE ACTION NOW! – GET INVOLVED AND SUPPORT YOUR UNION’S POLITICAL AND LEGISLATIVE AGENDAS AGAINST “RIGHT TO WORK” LEGISLATION – TAKE ACTION NOW LIKE YOUR UNION LIVELIHOOD DEPENDS ON IT, BECAUSE IT DOES!

All of us at IBEW Local 98 send our deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in yesterday’s tragic building collapse in Philadelphia. We also ask that you keep in your thoughts and prayers the dozens of others who were seriously injured, so that they may recover quickly and completely.

Yesterday’s horrific building collapse, though tragic, was preventable. Although the finger of blame should point directly at the slumlord owner, the scab demolition contractor with a criminal record, and the middle-man “expediter” who never set foot on the job site yet somehow was able to pull the permit, much of the blame also should be directed at the Nutter administration for their lax oversight and dereliction of duty as it pertains to the construction industry in the city. FOR THE RECORD THE CONTRACTOR, THE EXPEDITER, AND THE CITY AGENCY OFFICIAL WHO SHIRKED HIS OR HER RESPONSIBILITY SHOULD ALL BE CHARGED AS CO-CONSPIRATORS IN THE DEATHS OF SIX PEOPLE.

The shame of all this is that I have personally handed Mayor Nutter countless documents and reams of evidence that show how these carpetbagger developers and contractors routinely cheat the system, ignore licensing requirements, rob the city of taxes and other revenue, and make our city unsafe. And Nutter’s response? NOTHING. He and his people simply don’t care. Licenses and Inspections hands out permits like people hand-out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween. There’s no oversight and no follow-through. And now, six more innocent people are dead.

The only ones who deserve credit for their actions yesterday are the on-site volunteers and our great firefighters, paramedics and first responders for their incredible work yesterday. I find it bitterly ironic that Nutter went out of his way to praise the firefighters and paramedics for their heroic efforts, yet continues to deny them the arbitration award they won nearly five years ago. After watching Nutter’s shameless press conference today, I’m more convinced than ever that he’s a fraud.

It’s also interesting to note that a huge deal has been made out of the proposed take-over of Traffic Court. Instead of worrying about a state take-over of Traffic Court, maybe we should be talking about a state take-over of Licenses and Inspections. I don’t recall the last time someone died because of a decision made at Traffic Court.

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY AT 22ND AND MARKET WAS A SAD METAPHOR FOR THE COLLAPSE OF THE CITY’S OVERSIGHT OF THE ENTIRE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN PHILADELPHIA. This kind of reckless, scab construction work and development is happening all over the city. It’s become the Wild West and the bad guys are doing whatever the hell they want with no fear of consequences. Oh, by the way, has anyone seen the 15 to 20 workers on that job site who scurried like rats when the building came down? I’ll bet you anything they’re laying low, hiding from Immigration and Naturalization Services.

THE BOTTOM LINE: UNLESS AND UNTIL THIS ADMINISTRATION WAKES UP AND DOES SOMETHING TO STOP THESE THIEVES, MORE TRAGEDIES LIKE YESTERDAY’S WILL CONTINUE TO OCCUR.

-John J. Dougherty

6 Killed, At Least 13 Others Injured

The construction company contracted to do the demolition on the building that collapsed last Wednesday at 22nd and Market St. in center city Philadelphia, killing 3 and injuring 13 others, was non-union construction company Griffin Campbell Construction, located at 1605 Butler St. That North Philadelphia address is also the residence of Griffin T. Campbell, 49. Laborers on the demolition crew were also non-union workers.

Witnesses who saw the building prior to it’s collapse were reported to have been concerned enough about the building’s condition to express a desire to warn the people inside the Salvation Army Thrift Store, located adjacent to the collapsed building, but the building collapsed prior to being able to warn them.

Griffin Campbell Construction has city permits to demolish six other properties, including three other Market Street properties owned by STB Investments Corp., the owner of the collapsed building. The principal of STB is Richard Basciano.

It is unknown yet why the building’s owners chose to use a non-union company, whose owner has a criminal record, to do the demolition on the building but it is suspected that saving money was a possible motive. Just one question, what kind of savings is worth the lives of the 6 innocent people who were killed and the many more who were injured as a result of the collapse?

PhillyLabor.com

By Treston Davis-Faulkner

– On May 22, 2013, the unelected Chicago Public School Board (CPS), appointed by Mayor Emmanuel, decided to close nearly 50 public schools in Chicago, the largest public school mass closing in the history of the US.

The implications for the largely African American and Latino working class families in Chicago who are most directly impacted are deeply troubling to consider. Reportedly, more than 40,000 students (and their families) will lose at least three to six months of learning because of the Board’s actions. Many of these displaced students (and families) will now have to travel into new neighborhoods to continue their schooling. Some will be victims of bullying, physical assault and other forms of violence.

As CPS makes history with this decision, the future as well as the present of our nation’s public school system must be considered, as do the motivations and impact of this decision.

The Chicago school closings appear to be a key element of a corporate agenda to transform US cities and further solidify economic inequality. A key aspect of this strategy is moving the poor out of the center of the city and into the periphery, where they will no longer have access to the public infrastructure they and their ancestors helped to fund and build, let alone be able to physically or politically threaten the global elites who will be working and playing in the redeveloped urban center. This neo-liberal process is already well under way in cities like New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, among many others. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, we witnessed this transformation occur at a break-neck pace with the entire city’s public school system being taken over by a charter school cartel as the corporate elite leveraged their clout with city officials to make it happen. The result is now many more low-income working class people live in suburbs than in cities. For the poor people who still remain in cities, the corporate elite’s strategy includes “stop and frisk” style policing, and the transformation of public schools into places of hyper-discipline where compliance and obedience are the preferred behaviors. These strategies are taken to the greatest extreme by some of the nation’s most celebrated charter schools.

Parents, students, community organizations, faith-based groups, teachers and workers’ rights groups are struggling against this corporate reform agenda. People demonstrated all over the US in opposition to this monumental decision in Chicago and to protect and expand quality public education. Jobs with Justice is actively strategizing and organizing to defend and expand quality public education as part of a robust common good we believe civilization requires. Below are some quick reports from different cities where JwJ helped organize or supported activity:

In Chicago: For a week, Chicago Jobs with Justice joined the Chicago Teachers Union and hundreds of our community allies in the Grassroots Education Movement and beyond and rallied, marched for three days, staged sit-ins at city hall and the state capital and organized speak outs to stop the largest number of school closings in US history. Had this coalition of progressive forces not fought, the number of closings may have been significantly higher as the Mayor indicated a desire to close nearly 100 schools. Check out this WBEZ story, the voice you hear yelling at the CPS meeting: “Children will die because CPS lies!” is Chicago JwJ Director Susan Hurley. Here is an inspiring video regarding Chicago’s struggle with youth helping to lead the way. Chicago JwJ has also organized to connect Walmart and other corporate elite’s involvement in promoting charter schools in cities across the US.

In San Francisco, on May 20, the Close the Gap coalition held a rally and street theater action at the City College of San Francisco Mission District Campus. The action was organized in response to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to close up to 54 schools. Management of City College of San Francisco is pushing similar austerity measures that will dramatically reduce educational programs and services and gut labor standards at one of the largest community colleges in the country that also primarily serves working class students of color. The rally concluded with a call-in action through which the fifty plus activists in attendance placed calls to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees President John Rizzo demanding an end to these attacks on educational opportunity. For more info, video and press coverage, go here.

In Cleveland on May 20, Cleveland Jobs with Justice joined partner organization Common Good Ohio for a protest rally in front of a charter school whose leadership was indicted on embezzlement and money laundering (stole almost $2 million and received public money). Parents and clergy spoke about charter school accountability, and the need for a people and community centered national education reform platform, all the while making connections between the struggles in Cleveland, Chicago, and many cities across the country.

In Philadelphia on May 17, allies organized a “Day of Action to Fund Public Education in Philadelphia.” Two months after the School Reform Commission voted to close 24 public schools in Philadelphia, a day of action to fund schools was organized by parents, students, teachers and community activists. On the day of a city council budget hearing, students at large, supported by the Philadelphia Student Union and Youth United for Change, called for a citywide student walk out at 12pm to fund public schools. Earlier that morning, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (joined by Action United parent activists) organized a citywide informational picket to raise awareness of the school’s district proposed cuts of guidance counselors, school nurses, librarians, and even drinking fountains. The Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS) mobilized parents & community activists to testify at the city council hearing. Philadelphia Jobs with Justice is a proud member of PCAPS. Thousands participated and students wore “Our City, Our Schools, Our Voice” t-shirts at the walk out. PCAPS activists talked about other cities like Chicago facing similar problems. For more coverage on the student walk out go here, and for pictures, go here.

In Boston on May 17-18, allies held a 2,000-person “Educate to Liberate: Creating the Schools We Deserve Conference” that included students, parents, educators and community activists to explore a collective vision for public education, develop skills and to plan creative alternatives to corporate education reform tactics like school closings. Recently, youth justice leaders across the city decided they wanted to start organizing to shed more light on the corporate education reform agenda in Massachusetts and to target the Boston Consulting Group that helped shape the school closings effort in Chicago. Students and education activists learned more about the similarities between Chicago, Boston, and other cities as they created visual arts projects to demonstrate the impacts of kicking students out of the classroom.

Go To: http://www.jwj.org/blog/jobs-justice-mobilizes-fight-public-school-closings-major-cities