Union

On Wednesday evening, caregivers at Broomall Presbyterian Village, a nursing home in Broomall, Pennsylvania, voted to form a union with SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, which represents over 22,000 health care workers statewide.  These workers celebrated their first moments as proud union members by sharing their stories with Sharita Rollins, a certified nursing assistant from Philadelphia and a longtime member of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania.  She interviewed the workers and asked them what they hoped to win in their first union contract.

The mining accident in the coal region of West Virginia is a tragedy. The loss of 25 lives in what amounted to the worst explosion in a mine in the past 25 years, along with the death of four miners who were found this past weekend, is inexcusable. We now know that the mine where this incident occurred was riddled with safety violations that the Massey Coal corporation skirted and ignored.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the public hearing last Friday March 19th at City Hall.  MMP was there along with representation from every group in MMP.

In this audio piece, Kate Harkins, of Temple University's Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) discusses what she learned from listening to the stories of Temple Nurses and Allied Professionals (members of PASNAP).

This summer, students from the Philadelphia Student Union visited the town of Matewan, West Virginia; a town with a rich history of coal miner organizing. There, a man named Wes Harris explained the conditions faced by coal miners in the early 20th century, and that some miners are still experiencing today. This visit was part of a larger immersion into Appalachia, to better understand poverty in this country and how to build a multi-racial movement to end it.

On this show:

+ Organizers from around the world gather to strategize building a movement to end poverty.
+ Domestic workers fight to be protected under labor law.
+ Workers United speaks about their creation as a new union.
+ Poor & working people see loss of services under PA budget stalemate.
+ Local news and analysis from Philly's working people.

 
In late April, the Baltimore based human rights organizing group United Workers Association held a major human rights march and protest to announce the worst of the worst of the employers in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Last week, the Temple University Administration, without advanced warning and for no direct cause, fired several union secretaries (members ofAFSCME 1741have been without a contract for nearly two years)in the College of Liberal Arts as part of what they called "restructuring." This "restructuring" mostly involves hiring a number of the secretaries back in non-union jobs, but very similar capacities, at reduced pay and benefits.

On this month's show: Philadelphia's budget cuts and how they are affecting neighborhood rec centers and libraries. We’ll also hear about a push for more paid sick days for Philly workers, and about Baltimore hotel workers’ fight for justice. Plus we’ll have music and other news.