The Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO has endorsed the following candidates in the November 2015 general election:

Mayor
Jim Kenney

City Council At-Large
Blondell Reynolds-Brown – D
Helen Gym – D
William K. Greenlee – D
Allan Domb – D
Derek S. Green – D
Daniel Tinney – R

City Council by District
1. Mark F. Squilla
2. Kenyatta Johnson
3. Jannie L. Blackwell
4. Curtis J. Jones Jr.
5. Darrell L. Clarke
6. Bobby Henon
7. Maria Quinones Sanchez
8. Cindy Bass
9. Cherelle Parker
10. Brian J. O’Neill

Sheriff
Jewell Williams

Register of Wills
Ronald R. Donatucci

City Commissioner
Lisa M. Deeley – D
Anthony Clark – D
Al Schmidt – R

In addition, the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO has endorsed the following judicial candidates in the November 2015 general election:

Supreme Court
Judge Kevin Dougherty — D
Judge David Wecht — D
Judge Christine Donohue — D

Superior Court
Alice Beck-Dubow — D

Commonwealth Court
Mike Wojcik — D

Source – http://www.pa.aflcio.org/philaflcio/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=0C7A64F7-C8CD-4B21-92D2-F3A1813A6982

By The Pa. AFL-CIO

– A major victory for fast food workers in forming unions at McDonalds, Burger King and other franchises took a big step forward yesterday with a landmark decision by the National Labor Relations Board in a case involving a Teamsters organizing campaign at a waste management company.

The NLRB ruled that Browning Ferris Industries qualifies as a “joint employer” alongside one of its subcontractors. The decision effectively loosens the standards for who can be considered a worker’s boss under law, and its impact will be felt in any industry that relies on franchising or outsourcing.

Unions already representing workers and helping them form unions in service and retail industries have been challenging big corporations that rely on these business models to claim no accountability to workers. Yesterday’s decision is a major victory that opens the door to organizing and representing millions of workers on large scale basis instead of on a worksite-by-worksite model which is very difficult.

The NLRB which has a Democratic majority whose members were appointed by President Obama ruled by a 3-2 margin with two Republican board members dissenting. The majority decision states, “It is not the goal of joint-employer law to guarantee the freedom of employers to insulate themselves from their legal responsibility to workers, while maintaining control of the workplace,” they wrote. “Such an approach has no basis in the National Labor Relations Act or federal labor policy.”

The Browning Ferris case grew out of an organizing effort by the Teamsters. The union sought to have the waste management company named as a joint employer for workers employed by the staffing firm Leadpoint Business Services, a subcontractor for Browning Ferris. If Browning Ferris were deemed a joint employer, it would have to join Leadpoint in bargaining with the Teamsters. Such a determination could also make it easier for the Teamsters to organize workers at other staffing agencies that do work for Browning Ferris.

A regional director of the NLRB ruled that Browning Ferris did not exert enough control over Leadpoint workers to be considered a joint employer under current standards, but the Teamsters appealed that ruling to the federal board. This week’s ruling will change those standards for future cases.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6361

By Laura Benshoff

– Teachers union president Michele Paulick said she received some unwelcome news at the Chester Upland School District teacher convocation this week.

“Our superintendent, Gregory Shannon, read a letter from our receiver, Francis Barnes, that informed the teachers that there are no funds,” said Paulick, who described feeling “shock, frustration and anger” at the news.

However, in a Thursday evening vote, the 200-member union decided unanimously to work without pay for as long as individual members are able, Paulick said. The Chester Upland School District educates about 3,500 students, with nearly the same number attending area charter schools.

“We arrived at the decision to continue working because we have to put our children first,” she said. “It’s not their fault we’re in this situation.”

Two factors put Chester Upland in an especially difficult position. The district, which has been designated fiscally distressed for more than 20 years, is carrying a $24 million budget deficit from the last school year. Thanks to Pennsylvania’s ongoing budget gridlock, no money is flowing into the district from state coffers.

With no fund balance and no money coming in, officials said they won’t be able to make payroll for the first week of school, which starts Wednesday.

The parent union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, is helping to raise funds to supplement teachers’ loss of income. This is the second time in recent memory that Chester Upland teachers voted to work without pay. In 2012, the district ran out of operating funds in January and asked for an emergency infusion of cash from then Gov. Tom Corbett.

This year, the timing is worse, said Paulick. “We haven’t had any paychecks coming in over the summer, so it was very difficult to budget” for the coming weeks.

News that the district is too broke to operate comes on the heels of another blow to the district’s finances. Earlier this week, Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Chad Kenney rejected several portions of a recovery plan that would have eliminated the district’s existing fund deficit.

The plan, backed by Gov. Tom Wolf, proposed eliminating the $24 million deficit, largely by cutting back special-education tuition payments to charter schools. Those payments have ballooned in recent years to $40,000 per student, regardless of how severe — and therefore expensive — the student’s disability may be.

Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan said the receiver and state advisers to the district “are reviewing our options for further corrective action” based on Kenney’s comments.

When the budget is finally passed, “all districts would have the money come to them retroactively,” said Sheridan. Other districts have cut charter payments or taken out loans to cover their costs while the state budget negotiations sputter along.

Pennsylvania is two months into the fiscal year with no budget as Wolf and GOP legislative leaders wrangle for a spending plan that bends to their priorities.

Paulick said the impasse is “a travesty.”

“We are out here serving our community and serving our students, and we just need the support from our elected officials,” she said.

Source – http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/85684-chester-upland-cant-pay-its-teachers-but-theyre-working-anyway

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– Thank you Governor Wolf for bringing Pennsylvania’s voter registration into the the 21st century. Online voter registration became a reality for Pennsylvania voters this week. The online registration application, hosted by the Department of State, is now available for use by eligible citizens at register.votesPA.com.

We fully support this initiative as one of the many improvements to make it easier and efficient for people to register and to vote in every election. This will help improve citizen participation which will strengthen our democracy. We encourage everyone to vote no matter whether you are blue red or purple.” President Bloomingdale said.

“What a contrast to just a few years ago when we were fighting to protect the right to vote from an “ALEC sponsored” Voter ID law that disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania voters. Now we have a Governor who believes as we do that our democracy is stronger when people vote and hold their elected officials accountable,” Secretary-Treasurer Snyder said.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6356

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

– Atlantic City’s main casino workers union said Tuesday it has given billionaire Carl Icahn “one last chance” to avoid a strike at the Taj Mahal casino by reinstating employee health and pension benefits.

Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union held a public strike preparation event Tuesday, gathering materials it would need for a strike. It also trained workers to be “picket captains” in the event it makes good on its threat to strike.

Icahn is in the process of acquiring the casino from bankruptcy court, but the transfer has not yet become official. The union wants the restoration of health insurance and pension benefits that Trump Entertainment Resorts canceled last October.

Icahn has called the benefits unaffordable, adding he will close the casino if an appeals court reinstates them.

Source – http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/85537-casino-union-last-chance-for-icahn-to-avoid-strike-at-taj-mahal