Rebecca Steinberg, M.D., MPH
Brent Weinerman, DO
Albert Talone, DO
Kathleen Fragale, DPT
www.weinermanpainandwellness.com
https://www.facebook.com/drbrentweinerman
100 South Broad Street, Suite 1800B
Philadelphia, PA 19110
P:215-988-9503
F: 215-988-9533
M-F:9-630PM
By The Pa. AFL-CIO
– For the past several years, union members have been fighting hard against anti-union legislation that seeks to silence public workers in Pennsylvania. The so-called ‘Paycheck Protection’ bill follows the same strategy that Governor Walker used against teachers, nurses, and first responders in Wisconsin, and which ultimately led to Wisconsin becoming a Right to Work state.
Rep. Daryl Metcalfe has always been of the most anti-worker lawmakers in Pennsylvania, and a prime sponsor of the corporate Right to Work agenda. It should be no surprise that he is the one who has called the Paycheck Protection bills up for a vote.
It is critical that these bills do not make it to the Governor’s desk. Right now our best shot is to stop this legislation in the State House, but your lawmakers need to hear from you NOW!
To E-mail your State Representatives TODAY and Tell them to vote NO on Paycheck Protection, Go To: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/take-action-stop-paycheck-protection-now
In spite of the rhetoric from the right wing politicians and conservative business groups – payroll deductions are not forced; they are negotiated between the employer and the union and must be approved by both sides. Unions are being singled out for political purposes, as evidence by the fact that the legislation being proposed would not prevent public employees from choosing to have other payroll deductions for items such as insurance, charitable giving, etc. – even though many of these groups also lobby the State Government.
Help stop this transparent attack on workers once and for all, tell your State Representative to vote NO on Paycheck Protection now!
Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6720
Progress Physical Therapy (11 Locations)
www.progresspt.com
8015 Frankford Ave.
Philadelphia PA 19136
P:215-338-8900
3400 Lancaster Ave.
Suite 4
Philadelphia PA 19104
P:215-662-0397
It was ugly.
Accusations of violence and intimidation flew, along with some punches, as pickets halted construction for five months.
Observers said the brothers were mounting a direct challenge to union control over Center City construction.
These days, something like peace has broken out on the brothers’ current development, the highly visible Atlantic Building project at Broad and Spruce Streets.
Michael and Matthew Pestronk, whose business is known as Post Bros., say they will use all-union labor to turn the 21-story building into condominiums, apartments, and retail.
“Unlike a rental apartment, where you have flexibility when you rent, when you sell condominiums, the promise of when you can deliver is very important,” said Michael Pestronk, the CEO.
“As we saw on Goldtex, when the unions are upset with you, they do a lot to obstruct the schedule and delay things,” he said.
In this project, “the promised delivery date is really critical,” he said. “We can’t have any risk of delays with the type of issues we had last time.”
Peace negotiations took place over lunch at Spasso Italian Grill on the Delaware River, with Pestronk breaking bread with Electricians union leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty.
The lunch took place in November, shortly after Dougherty assumed leadership of the Building Trades Council.
The lunch, Dougherty said, was one of his first priorities.
“We both made mistakes in the past and we learned from them,” Dougherty said. “You have a minor indiscretion that leads to a lot of issues.
“We’re excited about the new partnership,” he said. “We want to bring the job in on time, under budget, safe, and make the Post Bros. a lot of money.”
Pestronk and Dougherty said the unions did not offer or pay any contract discounts to get the work.
Joining Dougherty and Pestronk at Spasso’s were Fred Cosenza, a Building Trades Council official, and Pierce J. Keating, chief executive of Daniel J. Keating Co., the general contractor on the site.
“Both the union trades and Pestronks want to put [Goldtex] behind them,” Keating said.
“I think that there is a personal interest on the part of John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty to [make] this a successful project,” Keating said. “And economically, it’s very important for the Pestronks to get the project done on time.
“This is an ideal project so everyone can show their true colors,” he said.
Pestronk said he and his brother decided to hire a general contractor, specifically Keating, instead of acting as their own contractor, as they did at Goldtex. Keating, he said, is a union contractor used to handling multiple trades on a building site.
Keating and Dougherty plan to sign a project labor agreement at the Atlantic. The contractor and unions will agree to resolve disputes without stopping work.
The Philadelphia Area Labor Management Committee, led by Tony Wigglesworth, will administer the agreement.
During the Goldtex battle, the Pestronks released a video that appeared to show Cosenza punching a security guard. At the time, Cosenza said the guard was the aggressor.
Cosenza “was the frontline bad guy,” Pestronk said Monday. But at that November lunch, “both of us said that neither of us cared to go through that again.”
Source – http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/business&id=367276791
By The Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO
The Republican leadership in Harrisburg is again trying to foist the so-called “paycheck protection” bill on Pennsylvania’s workers. This bill would make it illegal for public sector employers in Pennsylvania to deduct union members’ dues from their paychecks. According to these right-wingers, union members don’t need their paychecks “protected” from deductions for health insurance, or life insurance, or 401Ks, or United Way contributions, or transit passes. Just from the organizations they belong to, whose leaders they elect. Unions. Contact your State House member and urge him or her to vote NO on SB 501 — the dishonest, deceptive, anti-union “paycheck protection” bill.
Are the cracks starting to show in the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
Ford Motor Company announced this week that they would “close operations” in Japan and Indonesia. Their reason: the failure of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal to address currency manipulation that hampers their ability to do business in our “partners'” markets. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told the press, “The ink isn’t even dry and we are already seeing proof that this massive agreement will sell out American workers and roll back the remarkable recovery of our auto industry.” Contact your Senators and tell them you oppose trade deals like the TPP that hurt American workers.
Workers standing up and organizing despite anti-union attacks
It’s easy to get dejected reading news stories about the Friedrichs case, or anti-union bills in state legislatures across the country. But it’s important to recognize that workers are fighting back and winning, and building our labor movement as well. Mother Jones magazine recently profiled 5 industries where workers are organizing unions and building power. They call them “unlikely industries” because they don’t fit people’s traditional impression of the kinds of jobs where workers organize unions. But the truth is, any industry where working people want dignity, respect, democracy, and some power over their own situation, is an industry where workers will want to organize a union, sooner or later. Philadelphia is the site of a recent victory in one of the industries they describe, higher education, as the adjunct professors at Temple University voted a few months ago to join the Temple Association of University Professionals (and the Philadelphia University adjuncts are in the process of building their union campaign right now, too!).
US Department of Labor takes steps to empower temporary workers
“Temp work” has become more and more a fact of life for American workers. Many large employers contract with “temporary staffing agencies” to provide workers — often these workers aren’t short-term temps, but a permanent part of the contracting company’s workforce. But if something goes wrong, the contracting company can say, “Hey, they’re not our employees, we’re not responsible.” The US Department of Labor has begun to issue new rules that will crack down on companies who don’t want to be held accountable for how they treat their temp or contract workers. As this Washington Post report explains, the DOL is advancing a “joint employer” approach that will allow workers to hold both the staffing agency and the contracting company accountable for obeying laws that protect workers. Sometimes that means winning overtime pay for workers who work at a single company for 2, separate “temp staffing agencies”. Sometimes it means blowing the whistle on OSHA violations. In either case, it means more power and protection for workers.
Source – http://www.pa.aflcio.org/philaflcio/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=3CEAD2B8-8530-4889-B1E8-145B77BE9752
