By Joe Shaheeli

– Philadelphia’s second casino is moving along and its passage through the City’s legal requirements is expected to be speedily approved as voters, burdened by a heavy tax load, are looking for the relief it will bring. The revenue it will generate in taxes for the city and the Commonwealth will help ward off any calls for additional taxes for the support of the City’s public schools.

Surveys have long indicated Philadelphia will benefit from the addition of a second casino, a long-overdue event.

The Xfinity Live! Casino will be located in the sports complex. Its opening will provide over 1,000 jobs, millions in estimated revenue, and will end, happily for taxpayers, the monopoly long enjoyed by SugarHouse casino located in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia.

Cordish Cos., which operates several other casinos, is expected to put a big dent in the many unemployed minority workers in this city, providing hands-on training to the more than 1,000 it will employ.

That will be one of the focuses of Cordish Cos. according to COO Zed Smith.

“As Chief Operating Officer of The Cordish Cos., and an African American,” he stated, “I am very proud of our corporate leadership record in the area of diversity and inclusion, both nationally and in Philadelphia.”

He noted, “In fact, our company’s Xfinity Live! Minority-participation program has been identified as a model program by the City’s Economic Opportunity Agency. Our companies have been recognized by the DC/Maryland Minority Business Association as the ‘Most Inclusive Company’ in that region.”

The Cordish Cos., he added, “have developed a model diversity and equal-opportunity plan to maximize the participation by minority, veterans, local businesses and residents in the development and operations our planned world-class hotel, casino and entertainment project.”

Smith said he is working with 2nd Dist. Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, City Council and the area’s African American leaders to create an open door for minority employees.

Charges of racial discrimination have been hurled periodically at Cordish casinos. But they have been dismissed by the courts to date. They are periodically resurrected by those who don’t wish to see a second casino come into existence. Its record of minority hiring at other casinos it operates readily refutes such discriminatory charges.

In reference to discriminatory charges leveled by the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Action Network, Johnson said, “I take these concerns very seriously, and will ensure that we fully examine them during the process. I was encouraged recently by the report of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia & Vicinity that looked closely at the Cordish Cos. and found no basis for claims of racial insensitivity. This casino presents Philadelphia with a great economic development opportunity, but we must ensure that the operation will be fair and equitable.”

Source – http://www.phillyrecord.com/2015/09/xfinity-live-casino-will-ease-philly-taxes-bring-jobs/

By Kevin McCorry

– The Philadelphia School District’s push to outsource substitute teaching services has thus far been a major disappointment.

The Cherry Hill based Source4Teachers promised to fill 90 percent of absences, but it’s rate through the first week of school hasn’t come close.

Finding enough subs has been a problem in the district for years, where the fill-rate averaged about 60 percent. It was that number that pushed district leaders to ink a $34 million contract in June with Source4Teachers.

That group promised to lift the fill-rate to more than 75 percent on day one of classes and 90 percent by January.

But, after a week of classes with the private firm in charge, district officials say they are “concerned.

The fill-rate has plummeted to just 11 percent — alarming principals across the district.

“I’m hopeful that the percentage increases dramatically next week, because it’s been a challenge this week,” said Tim McKenna, principal of Central High School, a magnet school that typically has been able to cover 100 percent of its absences.

On Friday, the school had seven absences and zero subs to cover, which means other teachers had to scramble.

So was outsourcing a bad idea?

“That’s basically above my pay-grade. I know that they’ve partnered with this company because they have a great track record in other districts,” said McKenna. “I’m trying to remain optimistic, and hopefully they come through like they’ve promised.”

Source4Teachers says it needs 5,000 subs on standby to cover Philadelphia classrooms when absences peak at 1,000 per day.

Despite a major marketing push, the firm only has 300 signed up, and — confounding them — even many of those haven’t been jumping to fill openings.

By January, if the outside firm doesn’t reach a 90 percent fill-rate, it will face financial penalties.

Will Source4Teachers make it?

“I’m not in a position to speculate on that,” said company spokesman Owen Murphy. “My hopes and intentions are certainly that we’ll make that number.”

An additional 600 applicants are in the process of joining Source4Teachers, according to Murphy.

The firm manages substitutes in more than 200 districts across the country, with Philadelphia as its largest contract.

Pay scale

Some teachers attribute Source4Teachers’ early struggles to the year-to-year differences in substitute pay.

For subs with little experience, Source4Teachers is currently offering better pay than the district had.

Where the district offered a $75 per diem to certified teachers and $48 for uncertified teachers, Source4Teachers pays $90 to $110 for those with certification, and between $75 and $90 for substitutes lacking certification.

For those with 22 days or more experience, the old deal was better. The district had been offering $127 for uncertified subs and $160 for credentialed subs.

Source4Teachers pays those same teachers between $100 and $140.

Retired teachers have particularly less incentive to join the privatized system. After earning $243 daily under the old scale, they’d, too, max out at $140 with Source4Teachers.

“I really couldn’t say whether the daily rate is the issue here,” said school district spokesman Fernando Gallard.

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan disagreed.

“These are professionals. When you look at rate of pay Source4Teachers are paying them, it’s barely above minimum wage for a professional,” said Jordan. “If they’re going to work for those wages, they can do that in a number of places that are a lot less challenging than working as a teacher.”

In the past, the district encouraged retirees who had taught in hard-to-staff-schools to substitute in them by offering a higher rate.

After a state audit, the district was ordered to curtail that practice. They first had to offer sub positions to certified teachers; then to uncertified, and only to retirees as a last resort — who collected per diems in addition to their pensions.

In the wake of the Great Recession, in an attempt to save money, the district stopped hiring retiree substitutes — a move union officials blame for the lower fill-rate in recent years.

Retirees are now free to substitute through Source4Teachers at the lower per diem.

Jordan said the union has not actively dissuaded any of its retired members from doing so.

“We haven’t done that, we certainly know that people need to eat and feed their families and pay their bills,” said Jordan. “We’re fighting the district’s outsourcing of substitute teacher positions. We’d rather fight the district than put the blame on members who had nothing to do with this.”

Jordan particularly faulted Source4Teachers for not better filling substitute positions related to maternity leave and long-term disability.

Prior to this year, those positions were filled early and subs were given the ability to set up classrooms and integrate with the staff, Jordan said.

“That did not happen this year,” he said. “A number of schools don’t have the people.”

In addition to the district’s vacancies due to absences, it still has 99 positions that have remained unfilled.

Philadelphia Public School Notebook contributing editor Dale Mezzacappa contributed to this story.

Source – http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/86101-phillys-bid-to-outsource-substitute-teachers-falters-through-first-week-of-classes

– Today, and every year on September 11th, as we remember and pray for the all of victims and the families who lost loved ones on 911, It is my privilege to share a personal tribute to an old classmate and teammate of mine from my time at Penn Charter H.S, Peter Ortale. Although, I only spent one year with Peter at P.C., we became pretty good buddies. We played freshman football together, we had some of the same classes together and, for a brief time, we were on the wrestling team together. Maybe we got along so well because we came from similar union backgrounds, as my father, Joe, and Peter’s uncle, Pete McDonough, were both union iron workers out of Iron Worker’s Local 401 (which is the union that I would eventually join) and ironically, they would also both serve together as union officials at 401 years later.

When I think back to the brief time we spent together in the days of our early youth, I still have several fond memories of Peter; I remember he was a good student in the classroom, a fierce competitor on the athletic fields and he was a really cool guy who was easy to hang out with. However, the 2 things that I remember most about Peter Ortale, were his smilish grin and his positive energy. He was always up beat. No matter the situation, he was a smiling face that you could depend on to brighten up even the worst of days.

Case in point, the Freshman year wrestling team. Pete and I had just finished playing football in the Fall and I personally had looked forward to having the winter season off before baseball tryouts in the Spring. Unfortunately, the wrestling coach at the time, Mr. Mellor, had other plans for me and Pete when he approached us in the hallway and recruited us to fill the voids on the freshman wrestling team at the 147 LB and the 139lb weight classes. Well, as much as I didn’t want to do it, Peter was pretty persistent in his efforts to convince me that, for some reason, it was a good thing. I remember telling him, Pete, there’s one thing your forgetting, the wrestling season starts in like one week and neither one of us has ever wrestled a day in our lives. Are you crazy? Well, Pete somehow persuaded me to give it a shot and I wish I could tell you that the rest is history and we both went on to have stellar high school, college then Olympic wrestling careers but this is not ESPN or the Biography Channel and this sports moment had a much different, albeit more humorous conclusion.

The next thing you know we were struggling at our first wrestling practices, which by the way, were so hard that they made football practices seem like a day at the beach. Finally, after a week of the practices from hell, it was the day of the big first match and we sat next to each other on the chairs watching, talking and waiting for our turn to wrestle. We were competing against the number one wrestling team in the public league, Simon Gratz, and from what I remember, it was a real tough match. We won some of the early matches and we lost some. Anyway, finally it came down to the last two matches, Pete’s and mine. Pete went first and he used his athletic ability to wrap up and pin his opponent in the middle of the second period just like that. It was awesome. I was thinking man, that doesn’t look too hard. I can do that! Well, as it was, the fate of my short lived wrestling career would take a vastly different turn than Peter’s as I went out on to the mat on that cold winter day and gave it the best 47 seconds of my life. Ultimately, I ended up in some kind of pretzel move that had me staring face to face with my lower extremities LOL! I remember when I got back to the bench, I was pretty dejected and Pete was the first to greet me with a pat on the back and encouragement saying that it was OK and that I almost had the guy or something like that!!! It was classic Peter Ortale, exactly the way I remember him. He didn’t want me to feel bad about myself.

After my freshman year, I transferred to Roman Catholic HS and Peter stayed at Penn Charter and we saw each other only occasionally at H.S. sporting events and he was always the same great guy that gave you a warm hello and friendly smile. After high school, we kept in touch only via well wishes at the union hall through his uncle Pete McDonough, Hey Pete, Tell Peter I said, hi! Hey Joey, Peter Ortale said to say hello!

The last time I saw him, I ran into him randomly outside the Cottman Mall in Northeast Philadelphia and we talked about old times and mutual friends from Penn charter for about 15 minutes like time had never skipped a beat. As we said our good byes, I can still remember his warm and comforting smile that once again made you feel better for the experience.

Peter Ortale was 37 and working for Euro Brokers on the 84th floor of the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001. After the attack, he made three phone calls: to his wife, his mother and a friend in California before heading for the stairs. He did not reach the bottom.

Peter, you are missed by many and never forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, your family and all of those taken from us on that unthinkable September Day!

Rest In Peace Old Friend!

Sincerely,

Joe Dougherty
PhillyLabor.com

For a remembrance of Peter Ortale, go to – http://today.duke.edu/2011/09/ortale

By Erin E. Arvedlund

– Many veterans are still looking for work in this sluggish economic recovery. Which is why several veterans job fairs and seminars are coming up.

The Union League’s VETSmart career seminar day, set for Monday, Sept. 14, is a good place to prepare for future job fairs and interviews, says event chair Chris D’Ascenzo.

“We see veterans and their families as a unit and address that in our workshops, so that valuable career skills can be used by veterans and their families to be successful in civilian life,” he says.

Seminars include networking, interviewing skills, and entrepreneurship.

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, aboard the battleship New Jersey, job-seeking veterans can meet with recruiters at the free PhillyVeterans.com job fair.

“This event will go a long way to realize our goal of helping at least 2,000 Delaware Valley veterans find meaningful employment by 2018,” says Kevin O’Brien, managing partner at Veteran Recruiting, host of the gathering.

A third event, the Union League Veterans Job Fair, is set for Monday, Oct. 19. It’s free and open to veterans, their spouses, and family members. The Civil War-era Union League building is at Broad and Sansom Streets; the nearest public-transportation stops are Suburban Station and City Hall.

At this job fair, veterans and other participants will receive free digital photo portraits, which they can use for LinkedIn or online career websites.

At two of the events, Drexel University will be launching new software for veterans that will help convert their military-service duties into a civilian resume.

Drexel’s MySTEPs will be available at both VETSmart and the Union League Veterans Job Fair. (MySTEPs stands for My Skills Translator and Experience Portfolios).

“We will be unveiling the Drexel MySTEPs tool, and will have advisers there to do a demonstration and sit one-on-one with veterans,” says Susan Aldridge, president of Drexel University Online.

“It solves the ‘pain points’ that both HR managers and veterans have [in] assessing military careers and how those titles fit in the civilian workplace,” Aldridge says.

Users create free accounts, access their Joint Services Transcripts, and translate them into civilian resumes in less than a minute.

“Let’s say you have a military career in intelligence. Then Drexel MySTEPs will translate your service and match up your CV [curriculum vitae] with jobs that match your experience,” she says.

Security-services company AlliedBarton is beta-testing the software now, Aldridge adds.

Representatives from Drexel will be on hand at the Union League events to help veterans prep for interviews with up to 45 local vet-friendly employers and institutions with current job openings.

Teresa Wolfgang, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, understands the confusion veterans experience translating their military careers into civilian work. She had some explaining to do to her employer when she got back from active duty.

“I have two parallel careers: One is my day job, and one in the military. And when you’re mobilized, that can put your work on pause. When you return, a lot of employers don’t know how to take you back.”

After leading a battalion in Afghanistan, Wolfgang returned to work in 2011 and met with her boss to address what had happened in the year since she’d been activated.

“I loved my company, but when I met with my boss, he didn’t really understand what had happened,” she recalls.

Some of her friends have taken their military service off their resumes to avoid any stigma, she says. “I didn’t do that; I own it. But I did crunch my 25 years of military service down into one paragraph.”

She now works as executive director of a nonprofit, the Women’s Resource Center in Wayne, and is headed to Tajikistan this week with her reserve unit.

“I have it on my resume that I’m part of a reserve unit. And my employer knows that it’s part of my life.”

Wolfgang will be speaking at the Union League’s Oct. 19 job fair and says she especially wants to help veterans translate their military service into civilian skills.

As Ralph Galati, director of Veterans Services at St. Joseph’s University, notes, “There are many companies that hire in our area that are vet-friendly companies.

“They just have to find each other.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150907_Job_events_for_veterans_set_for_September_and_October.html#fY3zZPSQ3assLidx.99

Source – http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150907_Job_events_for_veterans_set_for_September_and_October.html

By Todd Bookman

– After less than two full weeks of operation, about 7,500 Pennsylvania residents have registered to vote using a new online system. Not all that bad considering it’s an odd-numbered year.

“This is a municipal election year, so our expectation was rather low,” said Marian Schneider, Deputy Secretary for Elections and Administration at Pennsylvania’s Department of State. “We are very pleased with the number of people who have embraced it.”

The online system, available at register.votespa.com, requires the same information collected using a traditional paper registration. Anyone looking to vote in this November’s election must register using either method by October 5.

“Paper registrations will still be available, and anyone who wants to use a paper registration can still do so. But over time, we think that we will be using fewer of those, and that will save the printing cost,” said Schneider.

State officials say the online system also saves money by eliminating the need for human data entry. Additionally, it reduces the chance for mistakes due to factors including poor handwriting.

Applicants who already have a Pennsylvania driver’s license or PennDOT ID card can complete their registration online, while those without those forms of identification will need to submit an additional form containing their signature.

Online registration is available in both English and Spanish. Voters can also use the system to update an address.

The Commonwealth is the 23rd state to offer online registration. “Get out the vote” efforts are likely to use tablets and other electronic devices to register more voters online, especially in the lead up to the 2016 elections.

“I think that increasing turnout is dependent on a variety of factors, but certainly, the
first step in turning out is getting registered,” said Schneider

Source – http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/86004-pennsylvania-residents-can-now-register-to-vote-online?linktype=hp_impact