Los Angeles, CA (August 11, 2014)—SAG-AFTRA joins the world in mourning the sudden passing of Robin Williams. A two-time Screen Actors Guild Award recipient, Williams was consecutively honored for Outstanding Performance by a Cast for The Birdcage and then for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his inspirational portrayal of Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting.

After spending time at the prestigious Julliard School, Williams became a union member in 1977. He first rose to fame as the beloved alien Mork in the popular series Mork & Mindy and entertained and inspired generations as a stand-up comedian before moving audiences in the classic Dead Poets Society.

Said SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard, “I am deeply saddened to hear of Robin Williams’ death. He was a performer of limitless versatility, equally adept at comedy and drama, whether scripted or improv. With his incomparable manic style, he could appeal to adult sensibilities in a stand-up comedy routine or elicit giggles from children as the voice of Genie in Aladdin. Outside of his career, he used his considerable talents to raise money for charity. He was not only a talented man, but a true humanitarian. It’s such a tremendous loss.”

Source: http://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-statement-loss-robin-williams

By Randy LoBasso

– It’s hard to imagine how much more information the city government actually needs on paid sick leave. After all, it’s come up for a vote twice since 2011. Both times, it passed, was vetoed by Mayor Michael Nutter, then lacked the Council support to override his stamp of disapproval.

Primarily sponsored by Councilman Bill Greenlee in 2013, Philly’s paid sick leave legislation would have mandated local businesses with six or more employees allow those employees to earn sick time, with pay.

Nutter’s problem with the idea? He worried it would put too heavy a burden on local businesses and reduce competitiveness, even though there’s no evidence to support this.

“The paid sick leave bill, in our opinion, would put thousands of jobs at risk and discourage businesses from coming to the city of Philadelphia,” Nutter said last year. “This type of legislation that we’re talking about here is truly better suited at either the commonwealth level, so that it has a statewide reach, or even at a national level.”

Even though he’s shown strong negativity toward the legislation, he threw supporters a bone this June by creating a “task force,” by executive order, to study paid sick leave legislation—which is the same action Mayor Street took before passing an anti-smoking measure last decade.

Like the measure which banned smoking in Philadelphia bars, paid sick leave has been studied enough already to pass in places apparently more progressive than we: San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Eugene, New York City, Jersey City, Newark, Connecticut and Washington, D.C.

Notice a trend? Some within the government testified last year that a sick leave law may not work here because Philadelphia is, by and large, poorer than a place like San Francisco. There was strong lobbying against the bill conducted by Comcast and the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, among others. But that was before it passed and was enacted in Jersey City, Newark, and Eugene without international incident.

Anyway. It’s a new year, and the first meeting of The Mayor’s Task Force took place at the Community College of Philadelphia on Wednesday, where both supporters and those against the idea testified in front of the task force. Each participant was given four minutes.

Of the 18 speakers, 15 of them were in support—either low-wage workers in Philadelphia, or activists working in coordination with a local community organizing groups, like the Working Families Party, a national organization which recently came to Philadelphia and has thus far collected, they claim, 4,000 signatures from local residents in favor of paid sick leave.

According to testimony, many of the examples used at the meeting were similar to what we heard throughout the city during the last two paid sick leave debates—low-wage workers, including restaurant workers, often have no choice but to work sick. It’s bad for them, it’s bad for their families, it’s bad for the customer.

“I work every single day. My son, Jaden, is almost two, and to give him a good life, I can’t afford to take a day off. That means I also can’t afford to get sick. What my family needs,—along with everyone elses—is the opportunity to stay home when we’re sick, and not risk falling behind on rent and bills, or losing my job,” said Shymara Jones, billed as an airport and fast food worker.

Kati Sipp, director of the Pa. Working Families Party, reiterated this, noting, “Making people go to work sick isn’t healthy and it isn’t fair.”

During the 2013 debate over paid sick leave, polls showed more than 80 percent of Philadelphians supported such legislation and a study produced in part by the left-leaning Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center actually showed such mandates to be good for business, proving to have no downside for profits, reducing employee turnover and making employees happier.

Source: http://phillynow.com/2014/08/08/paid-sick-leave-debated-again-as-mayors-task-force-meets/

By Dale Mezzacappa

– Notebook editors Paul Socolar and Dale Mezzacappa prepared a question-and-answer sheet, updating the budget crisis for distribution at E! Day, the District’s annual back-to-school event to be held Friday at School of the Future. This is the event at which the District holds workshops and gives out information to families, as well as free book bags.

Following is the Q&A, and here is a link to the actual flyer. Feel free to copy and distribute.

What’s this about the schools not opening on time this fall?

The School District relies primarily on revenue from the city and the state to operate. Right now it does not have enough money to meet its expenses. This is because over the last several years, it has lost a lot of state aid while some of its costs continue to rise – and city and state leaders disagree over who is responsible to provide the necessary funds.

Is it just a threat or could it actually happen?

It could actually happen. Superintendent William Hite says that if he has to cut more personnel, he doesn’t think it will be safe to open schools. He says he needs $81 million in additional revenue just to reach the reduced level of services that the schools had this year, when thousands of jobs were cut – assistant principals, counselors, nurses, teachers, school police, and support staff. “I am at a loss to explain how or why our students are caught in a political tug of war,” Hite said this week. “I can say unequivocally, however, that our students deserve more.”

The governor said he was giving a cash advance to the School District so schools can open. Doesn’t that solve the problem?

No. Gov. Corbett said he will advance $265 million of the funds it already owes the District. It was not a promise of new money that would help close the $81 million gap. Advances like this have been done before; they help the District avoid short-term borrowing that costs money. The District was already counting on this happening.

There were tons of layoffs last year. Who can they possibly lay off now?

If Hite and the School Reform Commission are forced to close the budget gap with layoffs, they can eliminate some positions in District headquarters, but there simply aren’t that many of them left. The central office staff has already been cut in half. Most of the District’s employees work in the schools, so that’s where most further layoffs would have to come. There are more teachers than anyone else, so a good number would have to be teachers, which is why the superintendent is talking about class sizes going up – and possibly reaching 41 in high schools.

Would passing a cigarette tax solve the problem?

If the state legislature agrees to a $2-per-pack tax on cigarettes in Philadelphia, it would help close the gap. Revenue from the tax would be new money. Estimates are that it will bring in between $45 million and $60 million this year, and this money would cut into that $81 million shortfall. But it won’t completely close the gap. And legislators went on their summer recess without approving the tax, and aren’t due back until September.

Is there any movement to resolve this crisis?

So far, the Republican leadership in the state legislature is ignoring pleas from Philadelphia – and from Gov. Corbett – to interrupt its summer recess and return to Harrisburg to authorize the cigarette tax that the City Council has already passed. These leaders, as well as Gov. Corbett’s budget secretary, have told the District to count on the cigarette tax money. Superintendent Hite, however, wants a guarantee and has not yet decided what to do. Meanwhile, many advocacy groups have been calling for the state to adopt a fair formula for adequately funding schools. But legislators have barely started their discussions about what such a formula might look like.

When will we know what will happen?

We will have a good idea of what will happen by Friday, Aug. 15. Superintendent Hite says that this date is the latest he can go in setting staffing levels for all the schools. If he must lay off more people, he has to do it by then.

If District schools didn’t open on time, would charter schools still be able to open?

Most likely. Under state law, charter schools get paid monthly by the District an amount per pupil based on the District’s prior year spending for schools. So if the District’s per pupil spending goes down as it did in 2013-14, charter schools’ funding levels are impacted the following year. However, the District is required to pay the charters all that they are owed. This means that the District cannot try to balance its budget by withholding or reducing what it sends to charters.

Can I do anything to get involved?

You can write or call your elected officials. Phone numbers are in the Notebook’s print edition and on our website.

You can also keep current with what advocacy groups like Education Voters PA, Parents United for Public Education, Public Citizens for Children and Youth, or Youth United for Change are doing by reading the Notebook or contacting those organizations directly.

Source: http://thenotebook.org/blog/147531/key-questions-and-answers-budget-crisis

By Dave Jamieson

– More than a year after its initial election victory at a Guitar Center store, the union representing the chain’s first unionized employees is accusing the retailer of bargaining in “bad faith” and trying to purge the union.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that Guitar Center has stalled in bargaining talks and “punished” workers who voted in favor of representation. Last year, RWDSU won elections at three Guitar Center stores, although those workers have yet to reach a collective bargaining contract with the company.

On Tuesday, Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO labor federation, accused Guitar Center ownership of using “shameful” tactics to avoid a contract with the unionized workers.

“The fight against Bain Capital and Ares Management for fair pay and decent health care for the Guitar Center workers is what the labor movement is all about,” Trumka said at RWDSU’s convention in Orlando, Florida. “The dirty tactics of Bain and Ares have been shameful and ugly. I want every Guitar Center worker to know the entire AFL-CIO and every one of our affiliates stands behind them in their efforts to win a fair contract.”

Bain Capital, Mitt Romney’s old investment firm, held a controlling stake in the music equipment retailer until April, when it completed a deal handing the reins over to the private equity firm Ares Management.

In an email, Guitar Center spokesman Christopher Bennett called the union’s claims “baseless,” noting that one worker recently withdrew his charge of an unfair labor practice.

“The RWDSU’s continued insistence on filing bogus charges against us and spreading misinformation to our associates and in the media is disappointing and a waste of everyone’s time,” Bennett said. “For more than a year we have respected the bargaining process and the law in dealing with the union.”

Bennett went on, “For 50 years our organization has put musicians and our people first. If the union had any respect for the bargaining process or our associates, they would keep this kind of rhetoric out of the headlines and stop taking cheap shots that nobody takes seriously

As HuffPost reported last year, RWDSU launched an organizing campaign at several Guitar Center stores, where workers had grievances related to job security, health care coverage and the company’s wage system for commissioned salespeople. The apparent discontent helped the union notch election victories at shops in New York, Chicago and Las Vegas, with two failed bids at other stores in New York.

The union now alleges that Guitar Center management has made a show of addressing workers’ grievances — but only at the company’s non-union stores.

Because unionized workers would be covered by their own contract, it’s perfectly normal for a company with both unionized and non-unionized employees to enact new pay-and-benefit policies exclusively for the non-union workforce. But in a letter to the federal labor board, RWDSU said that the company had “refused” to consider the same improvements for the unionized workers at the bargaining table, “all as a method for punishing the RWDSU represented employee for joining the Union.”

The labor board is investigating RWDSU’s complaints, which it could dismiss or choose to pursue further on behalf of the union.

Phil Andrews, director of the union’s retail organizing project, argued that Guitar Center is trying to send a message to other workers who might consider unionizing. “It’s a situation where the non-union stores were given a carrot in order to stay away from the union, and the union stores were being punished,” Andrews said. “That was the impression they wanted to give.”

When it comes to bargaining talks, RWDSU contends that Guitar Center has been dragging its feet in hopes that support for the union will erode before a contract gets signed. In its letter to the labor board, the union accused the company of engaging in “regressive bargaining,” changing its stance on wage-and-hour issues and “failing to respond” to proposals from the union.

“It became clear a few months ago to us that their intention was never to negotiate a good contract,” Andrews said.

According to National Labor Relations Board filings, Guitar Center is represented by Jackson Lewis, a law firm known for its “union avoidance” work.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/05/guitar-center-union_n_5652157.html?1407272719

The announcement of a cash advance is a positive development, but current funding levels will still leave the school district on life support and unable to properly educate our children.**

PHILADELPHIA—“While it is still unclear how Governor Corbett’s announcement of a $265 million advance will impact the on-time opening of schools, it is very clear that this does not represent new funding, nor will it be sufficient to adequately provide the resources Philadelphia’s children deserve.

“Last September, our schools opened with a startling lack of programs and services for schoolchildren. Our schools still do not have an acceptable number of counselors, nurses, librarians or secretaries. Last school year was especially trying for students and staff. Many children who needed medical attention did not have the service of a nurse when they needed it. College-bound students missed deadlines for submitting college applications because they couldn’t get an appointment with a counselor. Children lost access to art, music and extracurricular activities.

“There is no question that we need the State Legislature to quickly reconvene and pass cigarette tax legislation. Our schools desperately need the projected $45 million in revenue the tax would generate this year.

“But even with these funds, we know that last year’s dire scenarios are certain to repeat themselves in our schools this year. Over 300 instructional support personnel were laid off on July 31, which means that there will be even fewer adults on hand this year than last to foster a safe learning environment in our schools.

“This crisis is not limited to the current budget cycle. Though the state is constitutionally obligated to provide a thorough and efficient public education to every child in the commonwealth, it has for years been woefully deficient in meeting this obligation for Philadelphia’s children.

A cash advance and passage of cigarette tax alone are not enough to fix the damage done by Governor Corbett’s cuts to public education.”

Source: https://www.facebook.com/PhilaFedofTeachers