Friday March 19th is a big day across the City with a bunch of important events focused on the state of Philadelphia's employed and unemployed.

First, tomorrow at 10AM in room 400 of City Hall, the PA House Urban Affairs Committee along with the Unified Taxi Workers Alliance and Liberty Resources will hold a public meeting on House Bill 1914. This bill would grant Taxi Drivers the right to workers compensation coverage and create wheelchair accessible taxis. Workers compensation coverage is particularly important for cab drivers as they are 60 percent more likely to be killed on the job and 80 percent more likely to be assaulted on the job according to recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor. Moreover, according to the Philadelphia Parking Authority, taxi drives make an average of $29.50 plus tips per 12 hour shift or $4.17 an hour, and it has been reported by taxi drivers that wages are declining even further due to the recession.

HB1914 would compel medallion owners (who have seen the value of medallions go up 400 percent in the last four years) to pay around $1.50 a day for workers compensation coverage. The bill would also necessitate some wheelchair accessible cabs, which most major cities already have. Check out the video Driving the America Dream a joint production of UTWA and Media Mobilizing Project focused on the working conditions and need for workers compensation for cab drivers.

Second, tomorrow at 10:15 outside the main entrance of Temple University Hospital (Broad and Ontario) National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will join rank-and-file union leaders to pledge all-out support from organized labor for an impending strike by Temple University Hospital’s 1,500 nurses and professional and technical employees. Shortly before the press event, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) will deliver a 10-day strike notice to the hospital, setting a walkout deadline of 7:00 A.M. Wednesday, March 31. Check out recent reporting on the nurses campaign at Temple University on MMP's labor blog: PASNAP wins tuition reimbursement battle | Temple students meet with PASNAP | Temple found guilty of bad-faith bargaining with PASNAP | Temple Doesn't want us to Speak for our Patients

Finally at 11:45 National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Philadelphia AFL-CIO President Pat Eiding will lead hundreds of union activists in a massive rally at Paine Plaza -- across from City Hall at 15th and JFK -- to tell Bank of America that it's time to pay up to restore the jobs Wall Street destroyed in the worst financial collapse since the great depression. This event is one of 200 actions happening across the country at the Big 6 Wall Street Banks now through March 26 demanding "Good Jobs Now: Make Wall Street Pay."

Philadelphians should definitely come out and support these events

Philly UNITE HERE members held a candlelight vigil outside of the Hyatt Regency Penn’s Landing demanding that Hyatt Hotels “Bring Back the Hyatt 100.” Workers offered prayers and songs, and unfurled a 150-foot long “Hope Quilt,” which stitches together stories of Hyatt housekeepers and the pain they endure everyday.

In August, Hyatt Hotels fired 100 housekeepers from its three Boston area hotels after asking the workers to train their replacements from an outsourcing agency. The action ignited a national controversy for Hyatt Hotels, which launched an initial public offering of its stock on November 5, 2009. One of the Hyatt 100, Aracelly Arango, spoke at our vigil.

The vigil ended a week of actions by thousands of workers in a dozen cities.

Tonight: Philadelphia Hotel Workers Hold Vigil for Boston’s “Hyatt 100”

As part of a wave of actions across North America, workers bring the 150-foot “Hope Quilt” to Philadelphia — spotlighting pain and mistreatment of Hyatt housekeepers

WHAT: Candlelight vigil with “Hope Quilt,” as part of a wave of actions in U.S. and Canada, calling for Hyatt to “Bring Back the Hyatt 100” housekeepers in Boston and end mistreatment of housekeepers in hotels across North America.

WHO: Philadelphia housekeepers and fellow members of UNITE HERE
Aracelly Arango, one of the “Hyatt 100” fired housekeepers from Boston

WHERE: Outside the Hyatt Regency Penn’s Landing, Dock St & Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia

WHEN: 5:00 p.m. Tonight, Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Political Scientist Michael Parenti catalogued seven generalizations about the way the news media create anti-union messaging--from painting workers as greedy, to omitting the salary of management or depicting public officials (like Mayor Nutter) as neutral. Using this lens to dissect the coverage of the SEPTA strike, it becomes clear that local media like the Inquirer and Daily News have a dangerous anti-union bias, once again making the case that to build our own movement we need our own media.

Last week the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) announced the results of the election to represent the 2,300 cafeteria workers and noon time aides in the Philadelphia School District: members of UNITE HERE Local 634 voted by a 2:1 margin to stay with their union and rejected SEIU’s anti-union tactics.

After months of attacks directed by New York-based SEIU 32BJ, the PLRB counted 1121 votes for UNITE HERE Local 634 and only 551 votes for SEIU Philadelphia Joint Board. There were 10 votes for no union and 198 challenged ballots.

I frequently shop at Whole Foods. It is the closest grocery store to my house. They have excellent cookies, good produce, etc. They employ or have employed a bunch of my friends, and seem to pay them fairly well, even if they do not always treat them as kind as their image would suggest. And, after reading any Michael Pollan book, it is pretty hard to totally buy into Whole Food's take on organics. But still, despite all that, and that it creates a (w)hole in my wallet (badda boom!), I end up going there a lot.

But that said, it is worth remembering a few things for when you have a choice of where to shop. First, in an industry that is largely unionized, Whole Foods stands out as being anti-labor. This is a comment from their CEO:

The union is like having herpes. It doesn't kill you, but it's unpleasant and inconvenient, and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover.

Well that is just so sweet of him. As the quote would suggest, Whole Foods has been working to kill Employee Free Choice, a hugely important reform for working families.

And now, the same whack-job is lobbying against true universal healthcare:

John Mackey, chief executive of Whole Foods, said that while his company offers coverage, he worries that an employer mandate would lead to more stringent federal rules on what employer plans must include.

He said that would drive up the cost of employer benefits, motivating companies to end their benefits and instead let employees sign up for the public insurance option, figuring that paying a penalty would be less costly. This would result in eventual domination by the public insurance plan -- something Mackey suspects is reformers' secret hope.

"It's a Trojan horse," he said.

As Jake McIntyre notes, if you take an employee mandate and a public option out of health care reform, you are basically left with nothing except a huge payout to insurance companies, with millions upon millions of people still uninsured.

Does the fact that the CEO of Whole Foods is anti-labor or anti-universal health care mean I will never shop there again? No. But, there are a considerable amount of grocery stores that are much more friendly to labor, and presumably, to health care for all. From the United Food and Commercial Workers 1776 page, we see for example, that the following grocery stores are unionized:

Acme Markets
Giant Eagle
Shop Rite Supermarkets
Super Fresh Food Markets

It doesn't list Fresh Grocer. I have no clue about them. But either way, that is a big portion of our city's groceries stores.

And when you combine that list with the 30 or so farmers markets around Philly, most of which sell organic, locally made, fresher than Whole Foods goods, you kind of realize, yes, you do have a choice.

Will I forever boycott Whole Foods? No. Will I try to be more conscious of where I am shopping in the future? You better believe it.

Hi YPP,

I hope you enjoy my new interview focusing on some really important and creative organizing -- a good example of the poor organizing transnationally and drawing connections between different communities. If you like the interview, please help spread the word. Permission is granted to reprint as long as UpsideDownWorld.org is cited as the original source.

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1908/1/

Appalachia and Colombia: The People Behind the Coal

--An interview with Aviva Chomsky

By Hans Bennett

Hey all, please come out on Monday and support the Taxi Workers Alliance at the PPA board meeting. Check out the audio and video clips the Media Mobilizing Project produced below which explain the action.

The Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania (TWA) is calling drivers and concerned citizens to the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) Board Meeting at 3101 Market Street. The cabdrivers are attending the board meeting to demand that the PPA live up to its promise of removing the failing GPS systems from city cabs.

Video: Drivers Demand Accountability

Audio: Announcement of Monday Action

The city woke up to some good news in the Inquirer—Governor Rendell is evidently going to try to broke a compromise on the Convention Center labor dispute. So Council is not likely to adopt Frank DiCicco’s proposal to open the expansion of the Convention Center to non-union contractors

This is a tough issue for those of us who are both pro-labor and pro-minority. There is no question that many of the building trades have fewer minority and women members than they should, given the demographics of the city and region. And there is no question that racism is a main reason for these low numbers.

And yet, while I don’t doubt the good intentions of Frank DiCicco and the other supporters of this proposal, opening work at the Convention Center to non-union contractors is not a good solution, for many reasons.

Temple University Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) and Philly Jobs With Justice is asking for your support and solidarity.

RALLY/PRAYER CIRCLE
On December 11, 2007 from 3:00PM-4:00PM at Temple University (Sullivan Hall, 1330 W Berks St).

Temple Student Labor Action Project will gather to recognize International Human Rights Day and continue the escalation of tactics aimed towards the Temple Board of Trustees and Temple President, Anne Weaver Hart.

We have yet to get a straight answer from Temple administration about our demand for 5 sick days.
http://media.www.temple-news.com/media/storage/paper143/news/2007/09/11/...

Since then we have had a series of meetings:

As I write this, I'm watching an ABC News report about how there is food literally rotting in the field for the lack of illegal workers to harvest it. I mention this on YPP b/c one of the US' major mushroom-producing areas lies west of the city, in Kennett Square + roundabout.

OK, now, call me crazy, but if you can't hire enough illegal immigrant workers to harvest the food, shouldn't you, I don't know, actually hire citizens? Ja, you'd have to pay them living wages, rather than poverty wages, and this will likely raise food costs. But as a Wal-Mart documentary pointed out, there's a high cost to low prices.

-Z

September 7, 2007, Philadelphia, PA- 115 students, clergy, community activists and AlliedBarton security guards, the Philadelphia Officers and Workers Rising (POWR) Campaign, marched on the campus of Temple University. The rally gathered to demand a meeting with Temple University Administrators concerning the fact that more than 300 AlliedBarton security guards that work at the university lack any paid sick leave.

The clergy group was surprised to find when they went to deliver a letter about the situation to President Ann Weaver Hart’s office that Sullivan Hall had been locked and was guarded by armed Temple Police Officers. Though many workers were still in the building, and possibly in violation of Philadelphia Fire Codes, the main entrances to Sullivan Hall were locked and fortified.

Union members will begin to gather at the Sheet Metal Workers Hall on Columbus Blvd. and Washington Ave. at 8 a.m. Pat Eiding, president of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, will kick off the speaking program at 9 a.m.

This year, we’ll be joined by Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George and National AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. On Labor Day, President Sweeney will kick off the AFL-CIO's campaign for health care for all.

So, whether you come to march or simply watch the parade, come out Monday to celebrate our union movement.

PARADE DETAILS:
Sheet Metal Workers Local 19
1301 S. Columbus Blvd.
Monday, Sept. 3
Gather: 8 a.m.
Program: 9 a.m
Parade: 10 a.m.

FESTIVAL DETAILS:
Penn's Landing Great Plaza
Market St. and Columbus Blvd.
Monday, Sept. 3
11 a.m.--3 p.m.

Call 215-665-9800 or go to www.phillyunions.com