BY FRANK A. SIRIANNI, President of the Pennsylvania State Building Trades Council

– Lately we have all been reading that Gov. Tom Corbett is taking credit for the alleged “relatively low” unemployment rate here in Pennsylvania. As he runs for reelection, he says it is one of the lowest unemployment rates in the USA!

The percentage of unemployed Pennsylvania workers, according to the Pennsylvania Dept. of Labor & Industry, is claimed to be right around 6%, depending on where you live. That is the lowest since before 2008 and the Great Recession.

Well, as everyone knows, you can get any number you want from the Dept. of Labor, especially if you are running for reelection as Governor of an administration with a failed economic policy. All you have to do is call the Secretary of Labor that you appointed and tell her to do it.

The fact of the matter is the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is significantly higher than what is reported to the media by the Department that works for the Governor/candidate trying to get reelected.

That way, the candidate doesn’t become part of the bogus unemployment statistics that his pay-to-play appointees are reporting. To understand the real numbers, you have to add a few people who were conveniently, or possibly intentionally, overlooked.

First, you have to add back into the numbers the 44,000 workers who were made ineligible to qualify for Unemployment Insurance by Gov. Corbett’s Act 60, even though they and their employers faithfully paid their premiums into the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

That alone should be considered a crime! Can you imagine what would happen if you paid into a life-insurance policy yet your family couldn’t collect the benefit when you passed away? Well, 44,000 working citizens here in Pennsylvania, and their employers, are getting just that result. They pay in and they cannot collect; and the number will double, every single year, over the next decade, while out-of-state Marcellus Shale workers take home our unemployment funds.

Second, another number that was conveniently overlooked and not considered in Corbett’s announced bogus unemployment rate, are the roughly 100,000 people who had their Unemployment Insurance terminated by their government just before Christmas 2013.

The sad thing about this whole situation is: While we have a Governor who has lived off the taxpayers most of his entire adult life, right down to the taxpayer-funded SUV, to every steak and bottle of wine he and his family eats and drinks, yet he has the gall to now portray himself as a man of compassion!

So I want to give the Governor the credit he deserves. Way to go, Tom! You have successfully removed the food from the tables of over 150,000 working families in Pennsylvania.

Source: http://www.phillyrecord.com/2014/07/another-opinion-covering-up/

By John Ostapkovich

– PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Pennsylvania Convention Center is buzzing this week with members of the postal workers’ union, who are attending their biennial meeting, through Thursday.

About 8,000 members of the National Association of Letter Carriers are here, many with family members.

“This is a great town and we’re just happy to be here,” said Kevin Card of Portland, Ore., 27 years a letter carrier and now helping his colleagues injured on the job get health care and worker’s compensation.

He says convention sessions cover a wide range of topics: “Basic contract knowledge for our contract, but also political organizing, what’s happening in our community efforts to work with our food drive, and also anything having to do with the life of a letter carrier, whether it’s retirement, whether it’s health care, any of those things we cover in a very extensive manner.”

Card says the US Postal Service is not a dinosaur but doing very well, thank you, thanks to the huge upswing in package deliveries from online shopping. He says USPS finances dip into the red only because Congress ordered it to pre-pay 75 years of expected retiree medical benefits in ten years.

(In 1775 in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress founded the United States Post Office and named Benjamin Franklin the first postmaster general.)

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/07/22/postal-workers-visit-city-of-their-genesis-for-national-convention/

By Ned Resnikoff

– DETROIT – Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison plans to unveil legislation that would make unionization into a legally protected civil right, the congressman said on Saturday.

The bill, which he plans to formally introduce on July 30, would make it easier for workers to take legal action against companies that violate their right to organize.

It is already illegal to fire workers in retaliation for union activities, but enforcing workers’ right to organize can be a tricky process under current law. Currently, wrongfully terminated employees must file an unfair labor practice claim with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which will then determine whether to represent the worker in a legal fight against the employer.

But workers are not able to directly sue their employers for anti-union retaliation, and the process of bringing forward a successful unfair labor practice claim can take years.

Ellison’s legislation would maintain the unfair labor practice system, but also allow workers to individually sue their employers over allegations of illegal retaliation.

“If it’s a civil rights action, it’s vindicating your personal right, first of all to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression,” Ellison told msnbc Saturday at the Netroots Nation conference here. “And it’s your individual right to say what you want. Whether or not there’s ever even a vote, you shouldn’t be fired for expressing an intent to support union activity.”

Ellison said he got the idea for the bill from a book called Why Labor Organizing Should Be A Civil Right, written by Century Foundation fellows Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit. Shortly before the book’s release in early 2012, the two authors presented a synopsis of its core argument in an op-ed for The New York Times.

“Our proposal would make disciplining or firing an employee ‘on the basis of seeking union membership’ illegal just as it now is on the basis of race, color, sex, religion and national origin,” they wrote in the op-ed. “It would expand the fundamental right of association encapsulated in the First Amendment and apply it to the private workplace just as the rights of equality articulated in the 14th Amendment have been so applied.”

The full details of Ellison’s bill remain to be seen, but the proposal set forward by Kahlenberg and Marvit would “provide that after 180 days, a plaintiff can move his or her case from [the NLRB] to federal court.” That’s how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission currently operates with regard to accusations of workplace discrimination.

Kahlenberg told msnbc that he was “delighted” by Ellison’s announcement.

“I think it’s a terrific development and Congressman Ellison’s the right person to advance this idea,” Kahlenberg said. “He has a strong record on civil rights and a strong record on labor.”

Ellison had not spoken directly with either Kahlenberg or Marvit about the idea, but Kahlenberg said he had been in contact with Ellison’s staff. According to Ellison, a recent Supreme Court decision has made it more important than ever to strengthen collective bargaining rights.

“In the aftermath of Harris v. Quinn, there’s no doubt that organizing rights are under as much threat as ever,” he said. “And now even from the Supreme Court.”

Source: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/keith-ellison-union-organizing-civil-right

Sisters and Brothers,

The trial of the City’s unilateral implementation lawsuit took place in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Friday, presided over by Judge Idee Fox.

In February 2013 the Mayor asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to grant the City the ability to “unilaterally impose” the City’s “final offer” in our contract negotiations, which would have significantly reduced your overtime pay, cut your pensions, and let the City furlough each and every one of our members 15 days every year, without limit on who could be furloughed or when. The “imposed” offer, forced on the Union by the Mayor, is his attempt to end our right to negotiate a fair contract.

District Council 33’s lawyers’ strong opposition to the City’s request led the Supreme Court to deny the City’s plea last June. The Supreme Court’s ruling sent the City’s lawsuit back to Common Pleas Court for trial, and Judge Fox held trial on Friday, July 18. Lawyers for the City and District Council 33 argued the case before the Judge.

Our Executive Board members who attended were very encouraged by her questions and reaction to our lawyer’s arguments. Our lawyer, Sam Spear, submitted a 54-page brief describing why we are right and why the City’s anti-union attack, if successful, would decimate all public sector unions’ collective bargaining rights throughout Pennsylvania.

At the close of the trial and at the request of the City, the Judge allowed both sides 30 days to submit additional written findings for her consideration. Due to the complex nature of this case, the Judge’s decision is not expected to be issued for at least several months after that.

We were all extremely encouraged by what took place in the courtroom and believe we will again beat back this attempt by the City to destroy our contract and take away our members’ collective bargaining rights. On Tuesday July 22 we will continue contract negotiations with the City, fighting for our proposals to win a fair contract for all members of District Council 33.

In Solidarity,

Pete Matthews

Note: Below is a link to a story from KYW radio that gives an in-depth report of the trial.

Go To: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/07/18/city-of-philadelphia-asks-to-impose-contract-terms-in-stalled-blue-collar-talks/

By Jared Shelly

– Ed Rendell had some harsh words for politicians that don’t want to invest in the nation’s infrastructure.

“We have politicians that just worry about their own survival,” the former Pennsylvania governor said during a panel discussion with the Atlantic’s Washington Editor-at-Large Steve Clemons at the National Constitution Center on Wednesday. “The frustrating thing is that we know what to do, we just don’t have the will to do it.”

Rendell, who has made infrastructure one of his main areas of focus since he left office in 2011, said the current political landscape doesn’t allow the country to make necessary repairs to roads and bridges.

“We’ve stopped investing because of this idea that when government spends money it’s bad,” said Rendell, who referred to notes on his iPad during the presentation. He argued that infrastructure investments mean people get jobs, and structures (like roads and bridges) get the critical repairs they need.

Sponsored by Seimens, the Atlantic magazine event “Building the Future” also focused on manufacturing, something Rendell touted as a burgeoning industry — and a great career path.

“There are still 600,000 manufacturing jobs going unfilled in the United States,” said Rendell, noting that many employers can’t seem to find workers with the right skill sets.

“Do you want a great job? Do you want to be in demand? Become a manufacturing engineer,” he said.

And for those that think manufacturing is done in a dirty, smoke-filled factory are simply misinformed. These days, manufacturing is highly-skilled work, often done in clean rooms and resulting in technically advanced products. (Rendell repeatedly touted a manufactured knee replacement as a good example.)

The stereotype of dark hands and black lungs is so 1940s.

“It’s not blue collar, it’s white collar or no collar,” he said.

Another stigma also needs to be removed: The idea that science is nerdy, uncool and not for a career for women.

“If you’re a young girl going into science, don’t worry about being called a nerd,” he said. “As Bill Gates said the nerds wind up running the world.”

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2014/07/18/ed-rendell-calls-out-politicians-for-not-investing.html