By Kevin McCorry

– More than 100 Philadelphia School District high school students cut classes Thursday morning to protest a lack of resources in their classrooms.

Students first took to the streets outside of their respective schools – mainly the city’s elite magnet options – in an attempt to convince classmates to join them.

From there, a mass of students chanting and carrying signs gathered at City Hall and then marched north on Broad Street toward district headquarters.

By noon, the sidewalk in front of 440 N. Broad St. was packed with high-schoolers who say that city residents need to be more up in arms about cuts made to classrooms in recent years.

“They’re just being complacent about it. Just because nothing has changed, doesn’t mean that things are getting better,” said Creative and Performing Arts senior Cy Wolfe, one of the event’s organizers,

Wolfe says Harrisburg isn’t the only entity to blame for the city’s school funding woes.

“A lot of the situation is happening in Harrisburg, but the fight is still occurring here in Philadelphia,” he said. “The SRC and Superintendent [William] Hite are still trying to close schools and meanwhile spending money to open new ones and charter schools as well. So there is something that could be done here in Philadelphia.”

Wolfe referred to Hite’s recent proposal to close, open and convert schools that he says will ultimately lead to better outcomes for 5,000 of the city’s neediest children. The plan, though, will cost up to $15 million that could be directed into the district’s existing options.

Science Leadership Academy junior Arianna Haven took the district to task for outsourcing substitute teaching services – a move that’s, so far, been a major disappointment.

“We have classes without our teachers because they are absent, and so other teachers lose their prep periods because they have to cover our classes, which is not fair to the teachers, and not fair to the students because then our teachers are not as prepared as they should be,” said Haven.

Source 4 Teachers, the private substitute provider, promised a 90 percent fill rate for teacher absences. In the first week of school, the rate sat at 11 percent. Now, it’s ticked up to 22 percent.

The students ended the protest shortly after noon to get back to school by 1 p.m. and be counted as present for a half day.

A district spokesman said leaders agree with the students’ central premise: that additional funding and better schools are needed.

Thursday’s protest marked the anniversary of a student protest last year to decry the School Reform Commission’s vote to unilaterally cancel the district’s contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

Source – http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/87022-protesting-classroom-cuts-100-students-march-to-philly-district-headquarters?linktype=hp_impact

By Katie Colaneri

– File this one under: Huh? That didn’t already happen?

Gov. Tom Wolf formally endorsed Democratic nominee Jim Kenney for mayor of Philadelphia Thursday afternoon, just as the state budget impasse hit the 100-day mark.

The event took place at Spring Garden Academy. The Christian pre-K and elementary school is just around the corner from the headquarters of Local 98 (the city’s powerful electricians union that helped fund one of two super PACs backing Kenney’s primary campaign), which was the second stop on the governor’s visit.

But first, Wolf and Kenney visited a classroom, where kids wearing yellow scrubs and blue rubber gloves played doctor and performed emergency surgery on dolls. Per photographer Bastiaan Slabbers, Kenney asked one child with a stethoscope, “Can you check if I have a heart?”

In another classroom, Wolf said he looks forward to working with Kenney “to make sure we do for Philadelphia and the rest of the state all that we need to do to make sure that all children in every ZIP code and every community … get a good education.”

“So congratulations to you in advance,” he said, shaking Kenney’s hand and wishing him “good luck.”

They were joined by City Council President Darrell Clarke who didn’t want to act as if Kenney would need any luck.

“I’d say you’re the mayor,” Clarke said, to which Kenney replied, “Just call me Jim.”

Clarke has been visiting Wolf in Harrisburg often these last several months as the constipated budget debate drags on.

“I can tell you that the team, Gov. Wolf, Mayor Kenney, and the City Council of Philadelphia, we’re going to move the agenda,” he said.

Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives Wednesday soundly defeated Wolf’s latest tax proposal. House Republicans have refused to raise sales or income taxes as the governor’s proposing. Instead, they want to find new revenue streams through expanding gambling or privatizing liquor sales.

Meanwhile, without a state budget, leaders of the already cash-strapped Philadelphia School District are getting even more antsy about cash flow.

As he headed down the street toward Local 98 HQ, I pulled Kenney aside to ask, if he were mayor now, would he be putting more pressure on Wolf?

“I’m not going to be telling any other elected official what he or she should be doing,” he said. “I would tell the governor, ‘Thanks for making an effort because you’re the only one who’s been making an effort on providing school funding from that office since Ed Rendell.'”

Kenney later added that he would never “browbeat or try to shame a public official into doing anything,” and would keep those conversations private.

Well, at least he didn’t give us the “there’s no superman from Harrisburg” line again from the primary.

If Republican candidate Melissa Murray Bailey was disappointed not to get the Democratic governor’s endorsement, she didn’t say as much in a press release.

But at 3:45 p.m. on the dot (the time the endorsement event was set to begin), Philadelphia’s Republican City Committee shot out a release condemning Wolf and Kenney’s support for various tax increases — or, as executive director Joseph DeFelice put it, “their love for taking our hard-earned dollars and spending on what they think we need.”

Source – http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/87039-wolf-endorses-kenney-for-mayor?linktype=hp_impact

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder commended those members of the State House of Representatives who voted to move Pennsylvania forward today and expressed their disappointment with those legislators who voted to continue the failed budget policies of the previous administration.

“On behalf of over 800,000 members of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO I express my thanks and appreciation to those members of the State House of Representatives who voted today in support of the Governor’s compromise revenue package contained in the amendment by State Representative Joseph Markosek to House Bill 283. They stood up for a fair and responsible budget that will move our State forward, supporting Schools that Teach, Jobs that Pay, and Government that Works. It is unfortunate that the majority of members chose not to work on those principles by voting no. We urge the leaders of the legislature to get back to work in passing a budget that moves us forward not backward,” Bloomingdale said.

“Taken at face value this vote pertains to dollars and cents. At its core, however, today’s vote pertained to human values, namely investing in schools and our children, our caregivers and the families who depend upon them, and our communities. The leaders of the majority sided with continuing to give the oil and gas companies a free ride at our expense. Governor Wolf has compromised on every major part of his budget. It is time for the majority leadership in the State House and State Senate to wake up and do what is right for all Pennsylvanians not just the few. No more free rides.” Snyder said.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6402

By Diane Ravitch

– The U.S. will hear a case this fall that will determine the future of labor unions. Pro-business groups have fought the very idea of labor unions and collective bargaining for more than a century. Yet no institution in our society has done more to improve working conditions and to lift poor people into the middle class than labor unions.

Here is a straightforward explanation of the significance of this case by the BATS.

“If Friedrichs successfully overturns Abood and removes “agency shop” fees many surmise it will destroy labor unions in the country. Exposure of the real intent of the Friedrichs case is necessary because the political nature of this case is alarming; not just because of its ability to destroy labor unions but because of the nature of the deception.

“The Center for Individual Rights is the firm that is representing Friedrichs, the 9 other teachers and The Christian Educators Association International.

“The largest donor to CIR are the Koch Brothers ($40,000) .”

Here is the latest from politico:

“COMING THIS FALL TO A SCOTUS NEAR YOU: The fall term’s most consequential case for organized labor, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, will give the high court an opportunity to free public employees from their legal obligation to pay bargaining fees to a union. That obligation was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1977’s Abood v. Detroit Board of Education . If the court overruled Abood, it would impose a right-to-work regime on the country’s still-robust public sector unions. Freeing non-members from having to pay fees would create a free-rider problem wherein workers could benefit from union contracts without having to compensate the people who negotiated them on their behalf. If too many workers chose that route, unions like AFSCME and SEIU would have to scale back dramatically their bargaining and other activities. Even if the court didn’t go that far, it could still impose heavy financial burdens on public sector unions. The petitioners in the case asked the court, as an alternative to overruling Abood , to require non-members to opt in to paying fees for union political activity, replacing the opt-out regime under current law. Associate Justice Samuel Alito, in particular, appears to be itching to overrule Abood. More from Pro Labor & Employment’s Brian Mahoney: http://politico.pro/1VywJvx

“- Jacob Rukeyser, staff counsel for the California Teachers Association, said no matter what happens with the case, the assault on teachers unions will continue. The education reform movement wants to “deprofessionalize” the education profession, he said. “Regardless of how the Supreme Court rules, there will be continuing attacks on teachers unions, public sector unions and the labor movement as a whole,” he said. “Our opponents are very well-funded and unrelenting … we’re prepared for that. We expect this assault on working men and women will continue … The end result is just one of marginalizing and silencing the professional voice of our teachers.”

Source – http://dianeravitch.net/2015/10/05/will-the-supreme-court-cripple-unions/

By Jack Tomczuk, Philadelphia Inquirer

– Thousands of union janitors marched through Center City Wednesday, hoping to preserve their benefits and earn what they call fair wages.

The rally on Chestnut Street included brief speeches by mayoral candidate Jim Kenney, City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., and City Council President Darrell L. Clarke.

Members of SEIU 32BJ gathered outside a high-rise apartment building at 2116 Chestnut about 11:45 a.m. After exciting the crowd with chants and encouraging words, union leaders led a march to John F. Kennedy Plaza. The demonstrators shut down Market Street.

The union said in a news release that Greystar, the company that manages the building, was “illegally displacing union workers.” The Inquirer reported in August that Greystar let go of 13 union janitors in favor of nonunion workers.

“One company decides to change the paradigm,” Kenney said after speaking to the crowd. “I don’t think that’s fair.”

Greystar could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In Philadelphia, SEIU 32BJ membership numbers 2,800, with 1,400 more in the suburbs and 800 in Delaware. The union’s contract with Business Operators Labor Relations (BOLR) of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Philadelphia expires Oct. 15.

Bob Martin, president of BOLR, which represents managers, owners, and contractors who handle building maintenance – mostly in Center City – said he is looking to keep costs at the same levels.

“We are looking for containment in health and welfare costs, containment in pension costs and maintain fill-in worker flexibility,” Martin said.

Negotiations have begun, but “it’s early,” said William Hall, a shop steward involved in the process. The sides are to meet for a third session Thursday. Martin said the parties typically are able to reach an agreement before the contract expires.

Hall, who works as a janitor at Three Logan Square and has been a member of 32BJ for 20 years, said his job has helped his two sons.

“Without a union job, I would not be able to send them to college,” he said.

For others, the negotiations are more dire.

“I’m fighting for my job,” Robert Tucker said. “I’m fighting for my health care.”

Tucker, who has been in the union for 12 years, is a janitor in Center City. And he’s not that fond of the building owners and managers.

“They’re trying to get rid of the middle class,” he said. “We want a fair share of the American dream, because we deserve it.”

At JFK Plaza, Juanita Acree, a member of the union for 29 years, warned property owners not to cut the janitors’ wages, health care benefits or pension plans.

“I want them to know there’s an army rising,” she said.

Source – http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20151001_Janitors_march_through_Center_City_for_their_jobs__benefits.html