– Organized and Sponsored by The Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO and The Tri-State Labor Day Parade Committee.

Footage Produced by PhillyLabor and Split-Society Productions

To View Interviews, Go To: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYnrSPun_rY&feature=youtu.be

BY David Sirota

– It is rare for a politician to publicly deride efforts to boost voter turnout. It is seen as a taboo in a country that prides itself on its democratic ideals. Yet, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie last week slammed efforts to simplify voter registration.

Referring to Illinois joining other states—including many Republican-led ones—in passing a same-day voter registration law, Christie said: “Same-day registration all of a sudden this year comes to Illinois. Shocking. It’s shocking. I’m sure it was all based on public policy, good public policy to get same-day registration here in Illinois just this year, when the governor is in the toilet and needs as much help as he can get.”

Christie was campaigning for Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn, who signed the same-day registration bill into law in July.

Christie, who chairs the Republican Governors Association, denounced the effort to boost voter turnout as an underhanded Democratic tactic, despite the Illinois State Board of Elections being composed equally of Democrats and Republicans. Referring to the same-day voter initiative, Christie said Quinn “will try every trick in the book,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Christie said the program is designed to be a major “obstacle” for the GOP’s gubernatorial candidates.

The trouble with such rhetoric—beyond its anti-democratic themes—is its absurd assertions about partisan motives. After all, many of the 11 states with same-day registration laws currently have Republican governors.

In reality, same-day registration is all about turnout, not partisanship. According to data compiled by the think tank Demos, average voter turnout is more than 10 percent higher in states that allow citizens to register on the same day that they vote. Demos also notes that “four of the top five states for voter turnout in the 2012 presidential election all offered same-day registration.” There was some evidence in Wisconsin that same-day registration boosted Democratic turnout, but the Wisconsin State Journal of Madison reports that “Republican areas also saw heavy use of the state’s last-minute registration law.” The registration system been also been adopted by such deeply Republican states as Wyoming, Idaho and Utah.

Unlike Christie, most Republicans who have fought voter turnout efforts like same-day registration have argued that same-day registration would increase voter fraud. This has allowed the GOP to position itself as battling crime—not as trying to block legal voters. But the GOP has been unable to substantiate that voter-fraud claim, and there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Demos, for example, surveyed data from six states with same-day registration and found that “there has been very little voter fraud in [same-day registration] states over the past several election cycles.” In GOP-dominated North Dakota—which requires no voter registration at all—Secretary of State Alvin Jaeger, a Republican, reported that “voter fraud has not been widespread in North Dakota” and that there have been “very few known incidents of voter fraud” in the state.

Those findings confirm a recent analysis of primary, general, special and municipal elections by Loyola University professor Justin Levitt. He found that since 2000, more than a billion ballots have been cast in the United States and there have been just 31 credible incidents of voter fraud.

In light of that data, Republican efforts to prevent same-day registration and preclude voting betray a fear that has nothing to do with voter fraud and everything to do with political power. Essentially, the GOP fears that when more Americans exercise their basic democratic rights, Republicans may have less chance of winning elections.

Source: http://inthesetimes.com/article/17141/why_higher_voter_turnout_scares_the_gop

By Cleve Bryan

– Sources tell CBS 3 Eyewitness News that the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City is filing for bankruptcy, is expected to close in November and terminate all employees.

Another hit while the city is already down as gamblers learn the Trump Taj Mahal is in trouble.

“This is the only place we go and it’s actually fantastic, but I’m not surprised,” Taj Mahal customer Lee Meredith said.

A source confirms to CBS 3 Eyewitness News that the Taj Mahal has already begun the process for bankruptcy and layoff notices could go out to workers next week. As of August, the casino hotel had more than 2,800 employees.

“It’s catastrophic, I mean what are those families going to do?” Taj Mahal customer Judy Handzo said.

A closure would put 34 of Wayne Richardson’s employees out of work at the White House Sub Shop’s Taj Mahal location.

“Right now we just have our hands up in the air saying just give us some information. We have another year and a half on our contract over here, I mean what do we do?” Wayne Richardson, General Manager of White House Subs at Taj Mahal, said.

In August a Deutsche Bank forecast that Atlantic City’s gambling market will shrink from 11 to 6 casinos by 2017 with the Trump Taj Mahal joining the list of closed properties.

“I can’t imagine less than eight casinos down here. I hope not,” Taj Mahal customer Rob Handzo said.

Stockton College gaming expert Israel Posner thinks a Taj bankruptcy is a sign Atlantic City’s future is darkened, but not doomed.

“The revenue has been declining and the profitably has been declining, so it’s not a surprising event. I think the remaining casinos are in reasonably good shape and really are doing reasonably well,” Israel Posner of Stockton College Gaming Institute said.

The situation with the Taj will add another layer to discussions that are scheduled for Monday. Governor Chris Christie has called a summit together of local leaders to discuss the future of Atlantic City.

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/09/05/sources-trump-taj-mahal-filing-for-bankruptcy/

By Randy LoBasso

– This morning, fast food and low-wage workers in 150 cities across the U.S. walked out of their jobs, demanding a higher minimum wage. In Philadelphia, workers and organizers met on North Broad—some at the McDonald’s at Girard, others marching down from Allegheny.

Demanding $15 per hour, the protests were part of a 2-year campaign to bring attention to the United States’ working poor and allow fast food workers to form a union.

“We’re the richest country in the world, where corporate CEOs are making more money than anyone else, the stock market is going through the roof, and wealth disparity is greater than it’s been since the 20s,” said state Sen. Daylin Leach of Montgomery County, who showed up at McDonald’s this morning before the march down Broad Street. “It’s time that we start allowing workers to live decent lives by paying decent wages. I think that’s a statement that has to be made across the country and whatever I can do to lend my voice to that, I’m proud to do.”

Leach has introduced numerous bills which would raise the minimum wage, including one currently sitting in committee that’d raise the wage to $12—“although $15 would be awesome,” he told PhillyNow.

Ed Henry, of Northeast Philadelphia, says he’s been working at UPS for 18 years—where he’s a member of a union. He began working once a week at a Burger King for extra cash and says the situation is ripe for a union, given the number of workers worried about demanding higher wages for fear of losing their jobs.

As noted by NBC News, walkouts alone are “unlikely to yield raises or union rights in the immediate term”—but they have forced policymakers to pay attention to these otherwise ignored population of low-wage workers. Since 2012, several cities and two states have also passed paid sick leave laws, and earlier this summer, Seattle actually did raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour.

For low-wage worker Jose Torres, who works at Burger King on Frankford Ave. in Northeast Philadelphia, the fight for higher wages has been life-changing. Today was his third action, and he’s traveled as far as Chicago to protest low-wages with other Philadelphia workers and organizers.

“At first I thought it was kind of sketchy, but when I actually see what we do with these actions—it gets people out here motivated and it’s not just fast food people; it’s health care workers, leaders, you’ve got the Jewish Labor Board, all these people are coming out here,” he said.

Still though, he admits it’s been hard to get his co-workers to walk out, for fear of repercussions.

Glenn Davis, Green Party candidate for state House in the 190th District, said he used to work at the McDonald’s on Vine Street, and it, obviously, totally failed to bring in the money he needed to live and raise his three children. And a union, he noted, “would give [the workers here] a voice. As many people are out here — which I’m proud of — there should be a lot more. But there are no unions, so they think they’re gonna get fired. A union would support this.”

McDonald’s put out this statement to reporters this afternoon, which, in part:

“At McDonald’s we respect everyone’s rights to peacefully protest. The topic of minimum wage goes well beyond McDonald’s — it affects our country’s entire workforce. McDonald’s and our independent franchisees support paying our valued employees fair wages aligned with a competitive marketplace. We believe that any minimum wage increase should be implemented over time so that the impact on owners of small and medium-sized businesses – like the ones who own and operate the majority of our restaurants – is manageable. Additionally, we believe that any increase needs to be considered in a broad context, one that considers, for example, the impact of the Affordable Care Act and its definition of “full time” employment, as well as the treatment, from a tax perspective, of investments made by businesses owners.”

Eleven protesters were reportedly arrested after converging at the McDonald’s at Broad and Arch after refusing to vacate the street.

Source – http://phillynow.com/2014/09/04/photo-gallery-fast-food-protest-in-philly-calls-for-15-minimum-wage/