By Peter Van Allen

– One of the advocates of extending the Broad Street Subway into the Navy Yard says he’s gotten assurances from the elected officials that there would be support — and money — for the project.

John J. Dougherty, business manager of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said he has met with elected officials from Washington, D.C., to Harrisburg in an effort to gain political support and funding to extend the SEPTA subway line.

Why is a union leader worried about economic development?

“Jobs,” said Dougherty. “Would I like to see more lights on on my block and more families with young kids? Yes, but it’s about jobs.”

By jobs, he means construction jobs —  and that would certainly benefit the electricians’ union Local 98, which has 5,000 members. But it could also mean more jobs created at the Navy Yard.

Earlier this month, I wrote about an effort gaining momentum to add 1.5 miles to the Broad Street subway line, extending it from Pattison Station into the Navy Yard.

In less than a decade since the Navy Yard was decommissioned, it has generated 11,000 private-sector jobs. It is home to the headquarters of Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN), the U.S. headquarters of GlaxoSmithKline, the principal baking operations for Tastykake and 140 other businesses.

Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., which has overseen management of the Navy Yard since it was handed over by the U.S. Navy, estimates the business park could have 20,000 workers by 2022. Dougherty says there’s capacity for 30,000 employees.

If related plans for housing development at the Navy Yard come to fruition, demands for convenient transportation could be even more crucial.

Naturally, there are obstacles to any such plan.

A 2008 study commissioned by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission estimated that extending the line could cost $370 million.

Today, the figure might be closer to $800 million to $1 billion, according to various estimates.

So how did one of the area’s most powerful labor leaders and Democratic party fundraisers get involved in the project?

Dougherty, who is a former chairman of the Redevelopment Authority, sees economic development as his primary mission — and economic development at the Navy Yard is just one area on his list of priorities.

This week Jeffrey J. Kanne, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based National Real Estate Advisors, announced plans for a $500 million redevelopment of the 1100 block of Market Street. The deal, he told the Philadelphia Inquirer, would not have happened without Dougherty.

“Every time there was a problem, I’d hop on the train and went down to D.C.” to meet with Kanne, Dougherty said this week from Local 98 headquarters at 1701 Spring Garden. “I’d take them to lunch and tell them about everything else going on here.”

At our meeting, Dougherty, whose afternoon schedule included meetings with Mayor Michael Nutter and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, was surrounded by phones that were constantly beeping and ringing. But he said face-to-face contact is still crucial to getting deals done.

“People have to see you to connect with you,” he said.

Dougherty, 52, took over management of Local 98 in 1993, when he says it was near bankruptcy. It now has 5,000 members. Its retirement fund has $1 billion under management. Its yearly health insurance premium to Blue Cross is $70 million a year, he said.

“People think, ‘Oh, what do they know about business?’ But I’d say that’s a pretty big business,” he said.

Dougherty, who still lives in a rowhouse in the city’s Pennsport neighborhood and lost to Larry Farnese in a race for Vince Fumo’s state Senate seat in 2007, said the expectation is that union leaders are “fat slobs with a stogie and a hat on backwards.”

“But look at me: I’m wearing powder-blue socks,” said Dougherty, who was also dressed in a crisp white dress shirt and pinstriped slacks.

He has taken some unorthodox positions on issues. He has long urged lawmakers to allocate more money for infrastructure upgrades, which he freely admits would help his union membership. He has been a longtime proponent of privatization and downsizing at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which did in fact turn to privatization last year.

He said he opposes the city’s business-privilege tax, which he says keeps companies from investing in Philadelphia.

“People look at other cities and they say the problem is the cost of labor [here]. It’s not the cost of labor. It’s that there’s no urgency for occupancy,” he said. “If there was no business privilege tax, [commercial landlords] could charge $5 to $15 more a square foot in rent.”

And that gets back to economic development, which in turn means getting issues and projects in front of the right audience.

With the Broad Street Subway extension, Dougherty used the same strategy for face-to-face meetings he used on Market East.

“We’ve been pushing the Navy Yard. We hired a full-time lobbyist, Mike Oscar, to keep in tune with federal issues,” he said.

A year ago, he started pushing the Navy Yard subway issue — which had been largely dormant since the study came out in 2008, shortly before the recession hit.

With other economic development and labor leaders, Dougherty made several treks to Washington to meet with elected officials from both sides of the aisle: Sen. Casey (Dem.), Sen. Pat Toomey (Rep.), Rep. Bob Brady (Dem.-1st District), Rep. Bill Schuster (Rep.-9th District).

The objective was to get political backing and assurances that they’d help in finding funding for the Broad Street line extension.

Last fall he went to Gov. Tom Corbett, who was in the middle of hammering out the transportation funding plan, to get assurances that funding would be there when the time comes. He won’t say how much in funding commitment he has received so far.

“I said the same thing to everyone: It’s a high priority. We need a subway into the Navy Yard. We have Urban Outfitters there. We have other businesses there. But there’s room for 20,000 more [employees]. We need the added transportation. With transportation, we will fill every house in South Philly and Point Breeze. It’s a hidden jewel.”

At the urging of Sen. Casey, a meeting with Navy Yard stakeholders was held in January.

Dougherty said a follow up meeting is being worked out.

“[The subway plan] is closer to reality than a ‘vision’ or a ‘dream,’” he said. “$800 million would get you a good subway. All these transactions are time right to keep Philadelphia very fluid in a world that’s increasingly connected.”

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/peter-van-allen/2014/03/why-labor-leader-john-dougherty-wants-subway.html?page=all

And five reasons we should all be grateful.

By Gene Marks

– This week, and by an overwhelming 83% margin, the union representing Philadelphia’s high school principals agreed to enormous pay cuts, a 10-month work year, and to contribute more toward their health insurance. We are grateful. We thank you.

“There’s not a cavalry coming,” union president Robert McGrogan said. “With a new fiscal year on our doorstep, we needed to do something to help right the district. We’ve ratified a contract, but we’re hardly celebrating.”

The pay cut amounts to 16% of their salaries so it’s easy to understand how they feel. A 16% pay cut (for some principals it’s as much as $20,000 per year) is unthinkable for most of us.  It hurts a lot. It’s a step backward. It’s frustrating and upsetting.

True, the typical principal makes between $124,000 and $149,000 a year and that’s more than many. But at best it’s middle class. I know some teachers in suburban school districts who aren’t earning much less. And for most in the business world, this is not as much as you think — a typical CEO running an organization the size of a Philly school usually makes significantly more than that. Don’t believe me?  The CEOs of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau and VisitPhiladelphia make $356,000 and $425,000 per year, respectively.  Most of our principals didn’t create today’s school district’s problems — they were started long ago. But now they’re anteing up. Thank you.

And thank you for pretending that your jobs are only for 10 months. They’re not and we know that. Maybe teachers can take the summers off. But principals can’t. Paid or unpaid, I know for a fact that most principals will feel compelled to work through the summer in order to keep their organizations running. They can’t just leave in June and show up in September. This is not a 10-month-a-year job. I hope some of these principals really do take some time off to recharge — they deserve it. Or use that time to work other jobs, like summer camps or consulting or speaking or writing to earn a few extra bucks. They deserve that too.

And thank you for recognizing reality and agreeing to pay more for your health insurance. Those of us in the private sector are in disbelief when we learn about the kinds of benefits provided to today’s government employees — generous pension plans, early retirement ages, top-quality, fully paid health benefits, favorable overtime, substantial vacations, etc. etc. My business can’t afford to offer these perks, and neither can most of my clients. It’s out of whack with the rest of the universe. By agreeing to take on more of this burden from the taxpayer our principals are bravely admitting this.

Most importantly, thank you for your leadership. As principal, you are the CEO of your school. When times are good you can benefit. But when times are bad you unfortunately must make hard choices, even if it personally affects you. This is what CEOs do. They sacrifice when needed. They lead by example. And our school principals are making a statement to everyone else in the school district. They are saying “we are doing the right thing, will you?”

Because in the end, it’s about the kids in this district, not about them. And you are showing that you do care. Like past leaders of our district, you are not demanding more and more from the taxpayer, or jumping ship and taking big severance payouts. You understand that the money you receive is money that could be used to buy books or fund after-school programs. Schools are about the kids, not about personal profits. This is the life educators choose, for better or worse. They choose to put the kids’ needs in front of their own. Our principals are re-affirming that choice. I am grateful there are people willing to do this. They make up for people like me. Thank you.

Unfortunately, thank yous only go so far. The principals’ pay cuts will sting them for years to come, well after they’ve been forgotten by the rest of us. So before these acts of leadership are forgotten, let’s take the opportunity to really thank them. Let’s encourage our political and educational leaders to do just one thing. And what’s that?

Give these principals the ability to really do their jobs.

Allow them to hire and fire without recourse.
Let them build their own teams of great teachers and create their own kind of teaching environments without bureaucracy, lawsuits, excessive rules and micromanagement from the district or its unions.
And let them fire those teachers that don’t want to comply.

If we’re asking them to take such a significant cut in pay and benefits, the least we can do is offer them a better professional life. The district has many, many great teachers and staff. And unfortunately more than a few lousy ones. Principals shouldn’t have to deal with lousy, lazy, unresponsive, entitlement-heavy staff. They don’t deserve that. They deserve more.

Will the rest of the district, still facing close to a $400 million deficit, follow?  We’ll see. But for now, let’s just say thanks to these principals.

Source: http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/03/20/thank-philadelphia-principals-pay-cut-benefits-union/

By ANDY MEDICI

– The Postal Service plans to shrink its workforce by 10,000 positions in fiscal 2015, according to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

The reductions will be entirely through attrition — there will be no buy-outs or reductions in force— Donahoe said at a media roundtable at the annual National Postal Forum at the National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Md.

“We have been good planners and we use overtime and other things to work our way through that,” he said.

He said the Postal Service has been able to reduce its workforce by about 320,000 since fiscal 2000 and avoid reductions-in-force because its average employee age is 52 and through careful management.

He said the ultimate goal is for the Postal Service to reduce its career workforce from about 485,000 to around 400,000, with about 65,000 full-time non-career workers. But the Postal Service can do that only with the added flexibility provided by legislation pending in Congress.

That Senate bill would waive the requirement that the Postal Service pre-fund its retiree health benefits — about $5.5 billion a year — and would give it greater flexibility to reduce the size of its workforce and end Saturday delivery. The bill does not allow the Postal Service to break off from the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program as the Postal Service had suggested previously.

Donahoe said the concept of a separate health plan for postal employees is also a ‘dead issue’ and while he thinks it would have provided a better plan at a lower cost it was not worth it if it would get in the way of broader postal reform making its way through congress.

“I am fine walking away from it. I am more than happy to compromise and get that bill across the finish line,” Donahoe said.

While the Postal Service and postal employee unions disagree on issues such as the five-day delivery week he said they have been able to come together on issues such as increased automation and lower starting salaries for career jobs.

“I think the unions also understand that postal jobs are good jobs and that sometimes you have to make changes in order to maintain a certain standard of living in those jobs,” he said.

Source: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20140317/MGMT03/303170011/Postal-Service-reduce-workforce-by-10-000

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– For the Wisconsin labor movement, March marks a bitter anniversary. Three years ago, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed Act 10, stripping most of the state’s public employee unions of their ability to collectively bargain. For union members in Pennsylvania, this is a cautionary tale as we face a similar fight in the form of paycheck deception.

Act 10 included many aspects of the worst anti-labor bills Pennsylvania workers have been fighting here. It stripped all public employee union members of their rights to bargain over issues other than pay (which was capped to rise no faster than the rate of inflation), required employees to pay half of their pension contributions, and dumped 12.5% of health insurance costs onto public employees. It took 25 days – less than a month – for Governor Walker to introduce the law in the state legislature and finally sign it into law.

Marty Beil, head of the Wisconsin State Employees Association, said afterwards that Wisconsin should be seen as a warning to other state labor movements. “I speak to union officials in other states, and I tell them, ‘Don’t be misled,’ ” Mr. Beil said. “We thought this could never happen here. But it did. You have to stay vigilant.”

What can we learn from Wisconsin, to ensure that Pennsylvania lawmakers don’t employ the same dirty tricks here?

• Early and consistent pushback is critical: If we want to keep paycheck deception out of Pennsylvania, we need to defeat this bill before it ever starts moving in the Legislature. Like Pennsylvania, the attacks in Wisconsin were pushed by a Republican governor and Republican majorities and greased by millions of dollars from Koch-funded right wing groups like Americans for Prosperity. That means that the bill could move at any moment. We need to be ready.

• Once the onslaught begins, it’s over: Once legislators found the political will to push these bills, they could not be stopped. How fast did Act 10 move? On February 14, 2011, Governor Walker introduced it in the Legislature. Despite massive protests and mobilization by Wisconsin unions, the law passed both Houses just one month later, in the middle of the night on March 10^th. A day later, the governor signed Act 10 into law.

• Always watchful: If HB 1507 and SB 1034 move, they will likely be when we least expect it. The speed with which legislators rammed Act 10 through caught even the watchdogs in the Wisconsin labor movement by surprise. Governor Walker likened Act 10 to “dropping the bomb.” With the same forces are at work here in Pennsylvania, we must be prepared for the other side to take any opportunity to push this bill through – whether it is now, before campaign season heats up, or in November, when the Commonwealth Foundation will be pressuring “lame duck” legislators to act before they leave office.

Our strong collective voices, including a rally of thousands at the state Capitol in January, have forced a stalemate on paycheck deception, pensions and the other attacks facing Pennsylvania working families. Yet we cannot afford to let our guard down.

Governor Corbett has said he will sign HB 1507 or SB 1034 if either come to his desk. Let’s make sure it doesn’t get that far.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Go to our action page on paycheck deception to learn about all the ways you can help us prevent another Wisconsin and keep paycheck deception out of Pennsylvania. Take 5 minutes now to donate, write a letter to your legislator, write a letter to the editor, share content on social media, and more! Thank you for all that you have done and will continue to do.

Source: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=3621

– As part of the Union Leader Meet and Greet Event Series, the PhillyLabor Business To Labor Network is excited to feature DC-9/Graphics Communications Union 14-M President, Kurt Freeman and Graphics Communications Union 16-N, President, Joe Inemer as the guest speakers at the upcoming Philly Labor Meet and Greet Event.

Kurt Freeman and Joe Inemer are 2 of Philadelphia’s premier labor leaders with reputations as passionate advocates for their members and staunch supporters of the entire Philadelphia area labor community. Both Graphics Communications locals 14-M and 16-N are part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and include approximately 1200 members.

EVENT DETAILS

WHAT: An Exclusive Union Leader Meet and Greet Event Featuring Guest Speakers, DC-9/Graphics Communications Union 14-M President – Kurt Freeman and Graphics Communications Union 16-N, President, Joe Inemer

When: Wednesday, March 19, 2014, from 6p-8p
Where: District Council 21 Painters and Allied Trades Union Hall located at 2980 Southampton Road Philadelphia, PA 19154.

Cost: A “BY INVITATION ONLY” Event, FREE To Invitees

PhillyLabor is a Media and PR Resource, Serving the Philadelphia Area Union Community.