By The PA. AFL-CIO

– After ten months trying to reach a fair contract, nearly 40,000 men and women who work at Verizon went on strike on April 13 to protect good jobs and to ensure quality service. These past six weeks have been difficult, but the strike will continue, and our Brothers and Sisters from the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) should know that the entire Labor Movement is standing alongside them in this fight; and it’s important for all of us to realize that these striking workers are standing up for all workers right now.

As most of you know, despite record profits, Verizon has continued their efforts to close US call centers and offshore jobs to the Philippines, Mexico, and elsewhere; all while refusing to follow through on commitments they’ve made to build out their broadband service. The company has been refusing to negotiate a first contract with Verizon Wireless retail workers who formed a union in 2014, and they are pushing to expand the outsourcing of work to low-wage non-union contractors. Two weeks into the strike, Verizon cancelled health coverage for the striking workers and their dependents – roughly 100,000 people were impacted.

Everyone – from business and from Labor – is watching this strike right now. The workers are standing strong, but they don’t need to stand alone.

Visit StandUpToVerizon.com now to find resources and information on how you and your union can help. Find local picket lines to join, learn more about the issues that forced this strike, and support the men and women who are out there fighting every day for the rights of all workers.

Finally, the Verizon Striking Families Solidarity Fund is accepting donations to help those who are being severely impacted by this strike. You can make a secure online donation BY Going to: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/contribute-to-the-cwa-ibew-solidarity-fund

Or, you can mail a contribution, payable and mailed to:

“Verizon Striking Families Solidarity Fund”
c/o Communications Workers of America
501 3rd Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001-2797

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6891

By The AFL-CIO

– On the anniversary of the last time the federal minimum wage was increased to $7.25 (http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/23/news/economy/minimum_wage/), it’s timely to go over some basic facts on the minimum wage.

Here are 10 important figures to remember when we talk about the minimum wage:

$18.42

How much the federal minimum wage would be if it had kept pace with productivity (i.e., how much we can produce, on average, for an hour’s worth of work) over the past 48 years. It would grow to more than $19 per hour by 2017. Instead, it’s $7.25. Learn more at: http://www.epi.org/publication/safety-net-savings-from-raising-minimum-wage/

$15,080

The annual income for a full-time employee working the entire year at the federal minimum wage.

0

The number of states where a minimum wage working person can afford a one-bedroom apartment working a 40-hour week—without paying more than 30% of their income. Learn more at: http://nlihc.org/oor

3

The number of times Congress passed legislation to increase the minimum wage in the past 30 years. Learn more at: https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/coverage.htm

30

As of Jan. 1, 2016, the number of states (including the District of Columbia) that will have raised their minimum wage above the federal level of $7.25. Source: http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx

18

The number of states (including the District of Columbia) that annually increase their state minimum wage to keep up with the rising cost of living, or that have scheduled automatic cost-of-living adjustments to begin after achieving a meaningful minimum wage. Source: http://www.epi.org/minimum-wage-tracker/

75

The percentage of Americans who support gradually raising the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to at least $12.50 per hour by 2020, according to a January 2015 poll (http://www.nelp.org/content/uploads/2015/03/Minimum-Wage-Poll-Memo-Jan-2015.pdf). The same poll finds that 63% of Americans support an increase to $15 per hour by 2020.

62.6 in 100 vs. 4.2 in 100

The chance that an adult minimum wage worker is a woman (http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2015/home.htm) vs. the chance that a Fortune 500 CEO is a woman.

55 to 69

The range of the percentage of voters who supported minimum wage increases across five states (Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota) where the issue was on the ballot in November 2014. Source: http://www.cnn.com/election/2014/results/race/ballot/

$2.13

The federal minimum wage for tipped employees (https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/q-a.htm), such as waiters and waitresses, nail salon workers or parking attendants.

Source – http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/10-Facts-on-the-Minimum-Wage

By Dave Heller

– Philadelphia has joined Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., as cities where consumers can avail themselves of a pro-labor business guide. Labor 411 has started publishing a Philadelphia edition online, which will appear in print in time for the Democratic National Convention here at the end of July.

Publisher Cherri Senders and Patrick Eiding, president of the Philadelphia Council of the AFL-CIO, spoke with NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller about the launch.

Source – http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/94008-a-411-to-find-fair-labor-businesses-

From The American Postal Workers Union

– The National Labor Relations Board hearing on the APWU’s challenge to the dirty deal between Staples and the U.S. Postal Service resumed in Washington, DC, on May 18, with union President Mark Dimondstein testifying.

Coincidentally, Staples’ poor financial results for the first quarter of 2016 were announced on Wednesday as well. Same-store sales declined 3 percent and foot traffic and the average order size were both down 2 percent.

Just to make sure Staples executives know that the APWU is intent on blocking their attempt to take over postal retail operations, activists greeted them with a spirited protest when they arrived for work at the company’s headquarters near Boston in the morning
Stop Staples organizers distributed flyers outside stores in several other cities as well, informing shoppers about the deal between the USPS and the office-supply chain. Many customers honored the boycott and left, promising not to shop at Staples.

And just last week the Federal Trade Commission handed the company a devastating defeat when it rejected its proposed merger with Office Depot.

“We won’t stop fighting this attempt to privatize the Postal Service’s retail operations until Staples gets out of the mail business,” Dimondstein said.

By Jared Brey

– The Philadelphia School District has a modest fund balance this year, meaning for the first time in recent memory it spent less money than it budgeted.

But that’s the result of “bad savings,” Councilwoman Helen Gym said during City Council’s hearings on the District’s budget Tuesday. It’s not that the district just managed its money well; instead, it failed to spend budgeted money on basic services, Gym said. That includes a gap of $1.3 million budgeted but not spent on school nurses, $4 million on maintenance and repair, and $2 million on special education bus attendants. In all, the district saved $65 million through staff vacancies and deferred maintenance, Gym pointed out.

The district could take immediate action to start refilling those vacancies by staffing up its Office of Talent, Gym said. In response, Superintendent William Hite said the district is hoping to hire a “talent officer” to manage recruiting within the next week. But he said the district expects challenges in hiring teachers in science, math, languages, and special education. He asked Council members to consider hosting job fairs and recommending potential applicants to the district.

In his opening remarks, Hite acknowledged that although the district isn’t begging Council for an immediate influx of cash, it still doesn’t have what it needs to give students the education they deserve.

“Short-term stability should not be confused with adequacy or equity,” Hite said.

Gym also said that the district needs to end split-grade classrooms and provide an appropriate level of clean water access in schools. (She introduced a bill in Council last week to mandate a ratio of at least one water fountain per 100 students in the district.)
Along with School Reform Commission Chairwoman Marjorie Neff, Hite said that the district is hoping to convene all of its funders for a conversation on how to address the district’s structural deficit. Because of a projected increase in operating costs and the loss of some revenue, including a planned sunsetting of the cigarette tax, the district expects to be looking at a $600 million budget deficit at the end of its current five-year plan.

Council members wanted to know what they could to make arrangements for resolving the projected deficit. District officials made no specific requests, saying only that they want to have a conversation with Council, the administration and state officials about finding the right mix of funding for schools.

Councilman David Oh briefly discussed a proposal to expand pre-K classes, which the Kenney administration is hoping to pay for with a three-cent tax on sugary beverages. The administration wants to use the revenue from that tax — which, although the rate is not yet set in stone, is expected to decrease over time in any scenario — to help develop non-district providers of pre-K services. Would it make more sense to give some of the soda tax revenue to the district to expand pre-K instead, Oh asked?

Council President Darrell Clarke raised similar questions in an interview on 6 ABC’s Inside Story this past weekend. More on that to come. Council will continue discussion of the school district’s budget with public testimony starting Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.

Source – http://www.phillymag.com/citified/2016/05/17/school-district-budget-hearing/