By Tom MacDonald

– A Philadelphia labor union is using unmanned aircraft to survey building sites in the city.

John Dougherty, head of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council says he’s bought three drones scanning the city for unscrupulous contractors who are violating building codes.

“It’s more to get the unlicensed contractors sometimes undocumented workers just document it and send it to the right authorities and let them know,” he said. “It’s just a more positive way to do business in the modern world.”

Dougherty, who also is business manager at the influential IBEW Local 98 of the electricians union, says the overhead surveillance could even save lives.

“Who is to say if we had a drone flying around 22nd and Market Street [before the 2013 building collapse there] we could have prevented that tragedy,” he said.

Dougherty says if they find something troubling, they will send it to city officials or even federal officials for further investigation.

Source – http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/philadelphia/90995-union-leader-johnny-doc-now-has-his-own-air-force-video

By American Postal Workers Union

– The Postal Service earned an operating profit of $1.3 billion in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2016, compared to $1.1 billion the same time last year, according to financial results released Feb. 9.

This marks back-to-back years that the USPS enjoyed an operating profit exceeding $1 billion – without using a cent of taxpayer support.
Shipping and packaging volume increased by 16.2 percent, compared to the same time last year.

“These results demonstrate that it is time to expand – not cut – the services we provide to the American people,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein.

“Dedicated postal workers led the Postal Service to an impressive holiday season, which strengthened the financial outlook,” he said.
“For the USPS to continue to improve, Congress must pass postal reform legislation that eliminates the pre-funding hoax, which chokes the Postal Service financially.”

Vince Tarducci, President
Local 7048

Source – http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2016/pr16_006.htm

By The Associated Press

– ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – One of the nation’s largest police unions won’t hold its annual picnic at a Pennsylvania amusement park after learning how officials treated an employee with special needs.

The (Allentown) Morning Call reports (http://bit.ly/1Qr7MKn ) John McNesby, president of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, said the union decided to move its picnic after hearing about Chris Emery’s attempt to return to his job at Dorney Park for a 13th season.

A change in the hiring process forced Emery, who cleaned restrooms, to interview for his job in a group setting. He was told he didn’t pass.

McNesby says the process got under the skin of union members.

Mike Fehnel, the Allentown park’s general manager, has said the company respects and values all of their workers, and they want Emery back.

Brief PhillyLabor.com Editorial – Chris Emery is a recent Dorney Park employee with special needs who was not rehired because evidently he no longer fits the employee profile at the amusement park. What a disgrace!!! Kudos to John Mc Nesby and Co. for standing up for Chris!!!!

Source – http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/news&id=368364581

– IBEW Local 98 in Philadelphia is flying high – literally. The union is using drones to record footage from high above targeted work sites. Local 98 has three drones to check on construction sites and to film 98’s own picket lines and protests to protect the union from false claims against it.

It’s plane ingenious.

To View Video, Go To: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=zcTuma-7L5c&app=desktop

By The Pa. AFL-CIO

– With officials from the twelve countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) convening in New Zealand today to formally sign the agreement, President Trumka joined Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and many of our allies on Capitol Hill to reiterate our strong opposition to the TPP. President Trumka called the agreement toxic and said no photo op can change the fact that millions of working people are united in opposition to the TPP.

Now more than ever, as pro-TPP forces attempt to build momentum for the agreement, working people need to raise their voices and let members of Congress know that if the TPP comes up for a vote, we are going to kill it once and for all.  Call Congress at 1-855-856-7545 and tell your Representative to REJECT the TPP.

Call Congress, today or tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday, February 8-9, and throughout the week. Let’s send a strong message to U.S. House offices that Congress must reject – and not put to a vote – trade deals that lower our wages and kill our jobs.

Why Should Workers Oppose The Trans-Pacific Partnership?

• Voting for the TPP means fewer jobs and lower wages for American workers. This is because it fails to address currency manipulation; has incredibly weak rules of origin on autos and auto parts; and fails to level the playing field in terms of state-owned enterprises and labor and environmental standards.

• All the rhetoric being used to pitch the TPP has been heard before. NAFTA and CAFTA were supposed to end undocumented immigration. The Colombia FTA was supposed to solve the long-standing issues of violent repression of labor unionists. And the Korea FTA was going to create 70,000 jobs. Not one of these promises has been fulfilled.

• Far from helping America lead in the world, provisions like ISDS, a form of private “corporate court” for foreign investors only, will help global corporations write the rules of trade and receive potentially huge payouts of taxpayer funds.

• The evidence from 20 years of the corporate trade agenda is in. Leading economists including Jared Bernstein, Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Reich agree that the TPP—as currently drafted—won’t work for working families.

• The AARP, Doctors Without Borders, and Oxfam America agree: TPP contains extreme patent protections for name-brand pharmaceuticals that threaten to restrict access to lifesaving medicines in all TPP countries, including in the US.

• We continue to hear promises about how the TPP will have the “highest labor standards ever,” but USTR won’t share plans to bring Vietnam, Mexico, Malaysia, and Brunei—all egregious labor rights violators–into compliance with international standards, and the GAO has demonstrated that US enforcement is weak no matter what the labor standards are.

• We continue to hear that the TPP will help raise standards in China—it won’t. The TPP’s lack of rules against currency manipulation and weak rules of origin mean that China can benefit from the TPP without ever joining or changing its ways.

• We keep hearing that TPP will increase exports—but it’s unlikely to increase net exports, which are needed to create jobs. Our massive trade deficit with TPP countries like Japan is likely to continue to grow, particularly because TPP fails to include currency rules.

• The TPP will weaken Buy American policies, sending taxpayer dollars overseas instead of creating U.S. jobs.

• This could have been different. The AFL-CIO put forward a positive trade agenda for the TPP, but unfortunately, the USTR ignored our advice and listened to Wall Street and global corporations instead.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6735