By Jim Melwert

– Septa and two unions representing Regional Rail workers met with the National Mediation Board in Washington today.

The board held the hearing with Septa and the two unions representing about 400 engineers and electrical workers on the transit agency’s Regional Rail lines.

A Septa spokesman says the board encouraged the two sides to go back to the negotiating table and continue talking.

While no talks are currently scheduled, Septa says they hope to continue negotiations soon.

Regional Rail employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen walked off the job in June, but were forced back one day later, after a presidential emergency board was convened. That delays any labor action for 240 days, half of which remain before the unions could take any further job action.

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/08/04/federal-mediation-board-tells-septa-regional-rail-workers-to-keep-talking/

By Alan Pyke

– A new executive order from President Obama will make it harder for companies to win federal contracts if they violate their workers’ rights and withhold their wages, the White House announced Thursday.

Under the new rules, companies that apply for federal contracts larger than half a million dollars will have to disclose any major labor law violations they or their subcontractors have committed in the previous three years. Agencies will prioritize companies with clean records over those that abuse their workers’ rights when weighing contract bids. Each executive branch agency will have a specific bureaucrat in charge of determining whether a company’s lapses “rise to the level of a lack of integrity or business ethics,” according to a White House fact sheet on the rules.

The package of reforms will also prohibit companies that do business with the government from requiring their workers to agree to arbitration processes for workplace harassment or civil rights complaints, guaranteeing that workers who are sexually harassed or discriminated against can get their day in court.

The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order will not kick in until 2016 and its provisions will only be applicable to new contracts, according to the White House fact sheet. But because the new scrutiny of labor law violations will apply to company performance over three years, the new rules serve to put contractors on notice that their treatment of workers today will affect their odds of winning their next contract. The move earned praise from a top official with the coalition of labor groups and activists that has been rallying low-wage federal contract workers to strike and demand action from the White House since the spring of 2013.

“Once again, the President is leading by example,” Change to Win deputy director Joseph Geevarghese said in a statement Thursday. “Just like the executive order raising the minimum wage had a ripple effect across the economy, we hope that this bold step by the President sends a clear signal to the private sector that you need to do right by your workers.”

An earlier Obama executive order raising the pay floor for workers on federal contracts to at least $10.10 per hour did not put a stop to strikes and protests by these workers. That order also has a delayed phase-in because the President cannot rewrite contracts that have already been signed. But starting with the next round of federal contracts, it will mean that the companies that provide basic food and janitorial services at federally-owned buildings, for example, cannot pay their employees less than $10.10 per hour. Such workers have staged regular strikes and protests calling on Obama to act over the past 15 months.

The lack of rules like these for federal contracts prior to Obama’s actions has meant that the federal government is among the largest employers of low-wage workers in the country. Almost 2 million Americans working for government contractors are paid too little to support a family — “more than the number of low-wage workers at Walmart and McDonalds combined,” according to a Demos report from 2013. By contrast, the executives at these same federal contractors earn a combined $23.9 billion per year.

Obama’s use of executive orders to combat congressional inaction on his legislative priorities has angered Republicans so much that they just voted to sue him over the practice. Obama’s latest focus has specifically been around federal contractors, and most recently he signed off on a package of executive order updates to provide LGBT federal contractors employment protections. Democrats in both houses have set their sights on the newest goal for federal contractors, however, introducing legislation to prevent government contracts from going to companies that move overseas to reduce their U.S. tax liability.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/07/31/3466134/obama-executive-order-contractors/

By The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers

Governor Corbett’s allies have once again derailed cigarette tax legislation that would have helped Philadelphia’s schools open in September.

Without the revenue from the cigarette tax, our children will lose even more critical programs and services.

Join the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers on, today, Friday, August 1 in front of Governor Corbett’s Philadelphia office to let the public know what schools will look like for Philly’s children in September if we don’t get sufficient funding!

WHAT: “Fight Back for Funding” Rally

WHEN: Today/Friday, August 1, 2014, 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: Governor Corbett’s Philadelphia Office, Broad and Walnut Streets

Source: https://www.facebook.com/PhilaFedofTeachers/photos/a.218510488179036.68169.146726832024069/864207286942683/?type=1&theater

Associated Press

– The Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ vote on a cigarette tax that would provide funding for Philadelphia schools has gone up in smoke.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ vote on a cigarette tax that would provide funding for Philadelphia schools has gone up in smoke.

“It is irresponsible. Of course it’s irresponsible when you don’t do your job,” said Mayor Michael Nutter.

Mayor Nutter called out state legislators in Harrisburg on Thursday, after a vote to authorize a cigarette sales tax that would supply funding for Philadelphia schools, was stalled.

The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania House of Representatives decided to cancel Monday’s vote.

The bill would authorize a $2-per-pack tax to generate more than $45 million in the first fiscal year.

The money would greatly help the district which is facing an $81 million budget shortfall.

“We shouldn’t be in this position in the first place. They said they were coming back, they said they would take care of this measure,” said Mayor Nutter.

Without the money, school district leaders say layoff notices are set to go out to 1,300 employees on August 15th.

“I am annoyed, disappointed, and frustrated. Frustrated because we are at a point two weeks before we have to make operational decisions to educate children. We are trying to educate children,” said Superintendent Dr. William Hite.

Republican house leaders say legislators failed to reach a consensus on the issue so they postponed the vote.

They aren’t scheduled to reconvene until September 15.

However schools are scheduled to open September 8th, which Mayor Nutter says won’t happen without the needed funding.

“That then results that schools will not open on time. Parents should take it very seriously and then they should be really upset. If your child isn’t in school you may have find alternative arrangements, you may have to stay home, you may not be able to go to work,” said Mayor Nutter.

Lawmakers said, in the meantime, they are urging Governor Tom Corbett to advance the district the funds it needs to open on time.

However Dr. Hite says an advance won’t solve the problem.

“That just provides money to us that’s coming later in the year – earlier in the year. It doesn’t do anything to resolve the $81 million budget deficit,” said Dr. Hite.

Source: http://6abc.com/education/vote-on-cigarette-tax-for-phila-schools-postponed/230591/

Friends of Labor,

– Please See The Upcoming Labor Leader Schedule For Today In Phillylabor Radio For August 2014. Tune In Every Wednesday at 6pm to WWDB 860-AM and See What all the Talk Is About!

In Solidarity,

Joe Dougherty Jr.
PhillyLabor.com
Today In PhillyLabor Radio

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Today In PhillyLabor Labor Leader Schedule (August 2014)

8/6 – American Postal Workers Union (APWU) 7048 President Vince Tarducci

8/13 – PA. Assoc. Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals (PASNAP), President Patricia Eakin

8/20 – Communication Workers of America (CWA) 13000 President Jim Gardler

8/27 – DC 9/Graphic Communications 14-M, President Kurt Freeman