Posts tagged Philidelphia
Philly teachers to hold ‘strike-ready prep events’ if deal with union not reached
August 18, 2025 // The School District of Philadelphia superintendent is optimistic bargaining with the teachers’ union will reach a successful conclusion. The 14,000-member teachers’ union voted to authorize a strike if a deal isn’t reached. The teachers’ union contract expires August 31, about a week after the first day of school.
Philadelphia labor union powerbroker gets 6 years for bribery and theft
July 18, 2024 // Dougherty was a longtime power broker in Democratic politics, steering tens of millions in union campaign contributions to candidates for office, including his brother, who was elected to the state's high court in 2015. Federal prosecutors said Dougherty also used the union’s money to buy groceries, restaurant meals, tickets to concerts and sporting events, and other personal items. He paid contractors with union funds for work on his house, his relatives' houses and a neighborhood bar he owned, and arranged for friends and family members to be on the union payroll, according to the indictment. A co-defendant in last year's trial, former union president Brian Burrows, was sentenced last month to four years in prison. Dougherty also was convicted of bribing Philadelphia council member Bobby Henon. Prosecutors said Dougherty gave Henon a no-show union job.
Union leaders plan to appeal return-to-work mandate for City of Philadelphia employees
July 15, 2024 // Philadelphia is now the first and only major northeast city requiring all employees to return to work in person, five days a week.
Op-Ed: SEIU Brings Progressive Union Politics to Philly
June 4, 2024 // While serving as president of SEIU Local 2015, Verrett faced one of the largest union staff labor strikes in American history after accusations of union-busting, surveillance, assault, and intimidation. Verrett’s dedication to SEIU’s progressive politics, however, is unmatched. In the words of the union’s new leader, America’s “ugly, insidious, anti-black racist structures” inform her decision to make “eradicating structural and anti-black racism a core strategy” of union operations.
OP-ED: BIDEN IS INVESTING IN GREEN ENERGY ACROSS THE SOUTH — THROWING SWING STATE UNION WORKERS UNDER THE BUS
July 12, 2023 // The success of the climate program will require continued federal commitment. Biden is placing a bet that clean energy investments could ultimately work the same way as the military-industrial complex. The military and its allied contractors have made sure to set up bases and/or manufacturing facilities in nearly every congressional district in the country, with extra attention paid to areas represented by key lawmakers. That has produced durable support for ever-expanding military budgets. Whether the same could be accomplished for the clean energy industry is an open question, but so far, Republicans from districts that have won federal awards have nevertheless voted to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which funds the tax breaks. By subsidizing the decline of union jobs, the Biden administration risks empowering lawmakers who will then move to end the subsidies altogether. “The total lack of consideration for workers could certainly make the difference in 2024.” “What Biden is doing is politically insane, environmentally bankrupt, and it’s poor economics,” Larry Cohen, former president of the Communications Workers of America and board member of Our Revolution, told The Intercept.
Biden’s rally with union workers will mark first big event of his 2024 campaign
June 19, 2023 // Several of the nation’s most powerful unions — including the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — officially endorsed Biden’s campaign on Friday. The first-of-its-kind joint endorsement among the unions and the backdrop of hundreds of workers are part of a meticulously choreographed effort to show the support of labor behind what Biden himself calls the most pro-union president in history.
Please Touch Museum workers want to unionize
January 30, 2023 // A vast majority of the 46 proposed members filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday, expressing their desire to unionize, though organizers declined to give a specific number of participants. The union would include full-time and part-time employees of the museum who are not contractors or managers. Ghorpadey and Stern said workers want the museum to invest in more robust security infrastructure. Safety concerns, largely due to disgruntled museum visitors who made verbal or physical threats, have led some people to quit, they said.
Philly’s largest municipal union has endorsed Jeff Brown for mayor in a surprise vote
January 18, 2023 // Garrett said the union invited all of the mayoral candidates to speak before the board except former Councilmember and real estate magnate Allan Domb. Garrett said Domb’s record was not in line with his members’ values. Although many of the other candidates, as veteran city officials, have more experience with the union, Brown won the board over during the interview process, Garrett said. Jeff Brown, mayor
‘We’re here to stay’: Local union groups rally in support of Home Depot workers ahead of union vote
October 31, 2022 // Philadelphia unions represented at the rally were AFSCME DC 47 Locals 1723, 1739, 2187, and 2186, Temple Association of University Professionals (TAUP), American Federation of Teachers Local 4531, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, Philadelphia Carpenters Local 158, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 52, and Amazonians United. Quiles filed a union election petition in September with 106 workers’ signatures, to represent 266 employees in his unit — including merchandising, specialty, and operations associates.
The push to unionize Philly’s food scene
May 9, 2022 // Workers used both carrot and stick to give employers an incentive to join the union. They applied pressure with “sip-ins,” in which pro-union customers would monopolize tables while lingering over coffee. The union oversaw training and discipline for its members, and also encouraged forming restaurant associations to defray costs for small business owners.