The NLRB now has an APP for that!

The NLRB now has an APP for that!  With a full seated board ready to go for the first time in recent years, this APP is sure to keep the Board Decisions coming.

The free NLRB Guide for your SmartPhone is an interactive wizard guiding users through information on their rights and obligations under the National Labor Relations Act. The law applies to employees, employers, and unions in the private sector.

I must say, I didn’t see this one coming.

To download your free NLRB App for Apple, go here…

To download your free NLRB App for Droid, go here…

U.S. DOL files suit against employer for misclassifying employees. Cascom Inc. liable for back wages and liquidated damages totaling $1,474,266 nearly $1.5 million in back wages, damages.

US Department of Labor filed lawsuit to recover wages for 250 employees

DAYTON, Ohio — The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has found Cascom Inc. liable for back wages and liquidated damages totaling $1,474,266 owed to approximately 250 cable installers the Fairfield, Ohio, company misclassified as independent contractors in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The findings of fact were issued following a damages hearing in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2009, after an investigation conducted by the Columbus District Office of the department's Wage and Hour Division. The court ruled in September 2011 that Cascom Inc. and its owner, Julia J. Gress, violated the FLSA by failing to compensate employees for hours worked in excess of 40 per work week because they were misclassified as independent contractors.

"The findings in this case bring justice to workers and their families by providing them with their rightfully earned wages," said Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. "Cascom's business model also hurt law-abiding employers, who were undercut by this illegal practice. The Labor Department is committed to ensuring compliance to protect middle-class workers and to level the playing field for responsible employers."

The installers were found to be employees covered by the FLSA, rather than independent contractors. Cascom Inc. was found to be liable for $737,133 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, which can be collected both from the company and its owner. The company has ceased operations, so the department will seek to collect from the owner as well.

The misclassification of employees as something other than employees, such as independent contractors, presents a serious problem for affected employees, employers and the economy. Misclassified employees are often denied access to critical benefits and protections — such as family and medical leave, overtime, minimum wage and unemployment insurance — to which they are entitled. Employee misclassification also generates substantial losses to the Treasury and the Social Security and Medicare funds, as well as to state unemployment insurance and workers' compensation funds.

Under the FLSA, an employment relationship must be distinguished from a strictly contractual one. An employee — as distinguished from a person who is engaged in a business of his or her own — is one who, as a matter of economic reality, follows the usual path of an employee and is dependent on the business that he or she serves. For more information, visit http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs13.htm.

The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Employers also are required to maintain accurate time and payroll records. For more information about the FLSA and other federal wage laws, call the Wage and Hour Division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or visit http://www.dol.gov/whd.

# # #

Solis v. Cascom Inc., et al.
Civil Action Number: 3:09-cv-00257
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Western Division at Dayton

Press Release can be found here…

Mayor Nutter versus The Unions: The unending battle

THE DEMOCRATIC National Committee met last Friday and, depending on who you ask, Mayor Nutter either had to withdraw his bid for a seat on the political party's executive committee or didn't want it in the first place.

So let's kick off Labor Day weekend with a rousing game of: Which Version Do You Believe?

Let's start with the version of events presented by organized labor in Philadelphia, which is currently quite furious with Nutter.

City workers shouted down his budget address this year because of their four-year budget dispute.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers is running television and radio ads accusing Nutter of not doing enough to fund schools.

A DNC insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of not being authorized to disclose internal politics, said Nutter was put on a slate of candidates for the 60-plus executive committee by the party Chairwoman, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.

That seems like something Nutter, who has worked hard to build a national reputation, would enjoy since the four-year term would last through the next presidential cycle and well past his time as mayor of Philadelphia.

The DNC then asked national union officials from the AFL-CIO, AFSCME and the American Federation of Teachers about that.

Those unions, which feature anti-Nutter material on their websites, made their opposition quite clear on the issue.

The DNC held a vote on the executive committee at its summer meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., last Friday. Nutter was initially approved but then a second vote was quickly held, with Nutter withdrawing his name and offering in his place Dennis Archer, a former mayor of Detroit.

Our DNC source says the withdrawal was Nutter's idea, driven by the union backlash.

"From what I've been told, they really voiced their disapproval of him being on that committee," said Pete Matthews, leader of District Council 33, which represents blue-collar city employees.

Nutter offers an alternative version of events.

The mayor tells us he accepted Wasserman Schultz's invitation to serve as a DNC at-large member but then decided to decline her request that he also serve on the more exclusive executive committee. He did that, Nutter said, because he "didn't want any conflict" if Philadelphia applies to host the Democratic National Convention in 2016.

"I called the chair on my own and declined the offer because I am focused on the 2016 convention," Nutter said yesterday. "It's not a position that I sought. It's something that she offered."

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, the city's Democratic chairman, has been pushing for the city to host a convention. Brady started a "working group" earlier this month to put it all in motion.

Nutter has expressed interest in hosting the convention along with concerns about the cost.

Nutter, scheduled to meet on Thursday with Brady to discuss a 2016 convention bid, dismissed the union version as inaccurate.

"All this other stuff, people will say whatever they're going to say," Nutter said.

 Nutter #dropsthemic

Nutter is clearly tuned in to the hits his image is taking - and the comparisons he is suffering to the increasingly unpopular Gov. Corbett - on the controversial issue of public-school funding.

He took to his Twitter account Tuesday night to declare:

"Bottom line - I put up $155 million in new City ed funding in last 3yrs, State cut funding $140M - that's my record, indisputable."

Nutter, a longtime aficionado of old-school rap music, ended with the hashtag "#dropsthemic."

The Twitter-verse did not seem convinced or impressed.

 Speak your piece

Access to the ballot box is a hot topic these days, with Pennsylvania's voter-ID law in legal limbo and the U.S. Department of Justice showing interest in enforcing the parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June.

Do you have something to say about all that?

The Presidential Commission on Election Administration visits Philadelphia on Wednesday for the third of four national public hearings on ballot-box access.

The commission, launched by President Obama on May 31, will hear first from local election officials at 8 a.m. at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Testimony from the public will be heard from 2 to 4:30 p.m.

Source: Philly.com

Another interesting Circuit Court Decision on Construction Industry Withdraw liability: Ninth Circuit Issues Decision on Multiemployer Plan Obligations.

Possible future implications for area associations and construction industry employers

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Carpenters Pension Trust Fund v. Moxley, No. 11-16133 (9th Cir., Aug. 20, 2013), holding that withdrawal liability is a debt that can be discharged in bankruptcy. The Court rejected the pension fund’s assertion that because its trust agreement defined delinquent contributions as plan assets, the employer was a fiduciary who could not discharge the withdrawal liability obligation because of a “defalcation” exception in the Bankruptcy Code. The case is noteworthy because it addresses a number of important issues relating to multiemployer plan obligations.

The defendant was a sole proprietor of a carpentry business who terminated his union agreement but continued to perform carpentry work. Under the construction industry rules of ERISA, this constituted a withdrawal, and he was assessed about $175,000 in withdrawal liability. He then filed a bankruptcy petition and sought to discharge the debt. The Fund objected based on the defalcation exception, which prohibits discharge of a debt that arises out of fraud or defalcation committed by the debtor when acting in a fiduciary capacity. The court rejected the Fund’s argument that the defendant was a fiduciary of the Fund because he controlled whether to pay the liability, which was treated as a contribution under ERISA’s collection provision and therefore fell under the trust agreement’s definition of plan assets. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and some district courts in the Second Circuit and Ninth Circuit jurisdictions have held, in cases involving delinquent contributions, that when a multiemployer fund defines plan assets as including monies owed to the fund as delinquent contributions, a business owner or manager who elects to pay other bills and not the fund can be held personally liable as a fiduciary.

The Ninth Circuit elected to avoid deciding whether these delinquent contribution cases are good law – but did note that “money that is owed to the Fund is not in the Fund, and is therefore not yet a Fund ‘asset.’” The court relied on an earlier case that rejected a claim by employees that their employer committed a prohibited transaction by failing to make adequate contributions to their pension plan, on the grounds that unpaid contributions are not plan assets. Cline v. Industrial Maintenance Engineering & Contracting Co., 200 F.3d 1223 (9th Cir. 2000). The court also noted that under prior bankruptcy decisions, a debtor is not a fiduciary unless he was a fiduciary before the debt arose – the failure to pay the debt cannot create a fiduciary status that did not previously exist.

The Fund attempted to distinguish these prior cases by arguing that because the trust agreement defined unpaid contributions as plan assets, the defendant had always been a fiduciary, and the withdrawal liability fell within this definition because ERISA § 515 allows withdrawal liability to be collected as if it were contributions. The Ninth Circuit held that whether or not delinquent contributions could be plan assets, withdrawal liability could not be so characterized because it arises by statute, not contract, and arises after the contractual relationship ends. Therefore, it cannot be considered an unpaid contribution under the union contract.

The original post can be found here…

The Ninth Circuit Decision can be found here…

More time granted to study traffic impact of proposed Whole Foods

The Zoning Board of Adjustment granted Logan Square Neighborhood Association a continuance on Wednesday in the case of Rodin Square, the project that would bring a Whole Foods grocery store and 293 residential units to 22nd and Spring Garden streets. The case is now scheduled for a special hearing on October 9, 2013.

According to Ed Panek, attorney and zoning chair for LSNA, the community is still working on a Neighborhood Development Agreement with developer Neil Rodin. Panek said also that a continuance was needed so that the potential traffic impacts of the project could be studied further. Logan Square Neighborhood Association plans to hire its own traffic engineer to review the traffic study performed by the developer’s engineer.

Michael Sklaroff, an attorney for the developer, requested that a special hearing be scheduled no more than 30 days from Wednesday, noting that the developer has met with the community the community more than a dozen times, starting in February. The Board scheduled the first available special hearing date. ZBA Chair Julia Chapman warned that traffic congestion is not directly the purview of the zoning code—though the project’s proposed curb cuts are a source of contention—and said the developer and community groups would likely need to settle traffic issues through other means.

Source: PlanPhilly.com

Mayor, school district say union call to forgo raises falls short

The Philadelphia teachers' union on Wednesday said it would recommend that its members take a one-year pay freeze and make cost-saving changes in health benefits - a proposal that was quickly condemned by both the school district and Mayor Nutter as vague and woefully inadequate.

"What was announced today lacks any detail," Nutter said in a statement. "More to the point, it appears to be very far from the work-rule changes and $103 million in savings that the district needs."

Jerry Jordan, president of the 15,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said the proposal would save the district "millions" but declined to be specific or say if it would be anywhere near the $103 million in concessions the district is demanding. The union, he said, is adamantly against wage cuts.

School district officials were unimpressed.

Source: Philly.com

Regional Collective Bargaining Agreements: TWU Local#234 / SEPTA

SEPTA, Local 234 Begin Contract Talks Well Ahead Of Expiration Date In March

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The union representing thousands of transit workers in Philadlephia says they’re starting contract talks with Septa well in advance of the expiration date of their current contract.

Transit Workers Union local 234 says they’re getting the negotiations underway today, seven months ahead of the March 14th expiration date of the City Transit Division contract with Septa.

They say they’ll also address contracts for suburban and frontier transit divisions. Those contracts affect over 5,000 unionized workers with Septa, and many many more commuters who rely on mass transit – including those who remember back in 2009 when busses stopped running in the middle of the night.

Former Septa rider Jean Lavonn says that strike forced him to buy a car.

“Cost me an arm and a leg, but I’m not going through that again, So Septa goes on strike? Good luck to them,” he said. “I can always get to work now.”

That strike, four years ago, lasted six days.

“I mean you understand what’s at stake here,” one man said in Center City. “I mean why do you have to be out on strike before you start? Do it before the deadline, I think that’s what you’re typical citizen wants, pretty much.”

The union says they’re starting negotiations on things like safety, training, and work rules which too often, get lost amid finaincial issues. But the commuters’ advice to both sides is compromise, work together , and get it done.

Source:  CBCPhilly.com

AREA STANDARDS PICKET: Various Trades / Wyndam Hotel

Protesters Use Giant Rat, Screaming Baby, Residents Outraged

It was 6:30 in the morning when Old City resident Gloria Bell says she heard the deafening noise.

“I opened my front door and it sounded like there was a screaming baby which is really unusual for that time of the morning,” she said. “I got my dog out and the further I got away from my house the louder it got.”

What Bell heard was actually the recorded sound of a screaming baby being played over a loud speaker. It’s all part of a protest from the city’s building and trades union that nearby residents say has caused a major headache over the past few days.

Union members with the city’s Building and Trades Council are currently protesting outside the Wyndham Hotel on 400 Arch Street over the hotel’s usage of out of town workers rather than local workers for an ongoing renovation project. The protesters are holding signs outside the hotel and also set up a large, inflatable rat. But residents say what really bothers them is the sound of the baby crying.

“We understand what they’re doing and why they’re protesting,” Bell said. “What we have a problem with is the method that they’re using and this screeching noise early in the morning before the time that the city ordinances allow.”

According to the city’s noise ordinance, protesters are allowed to make as much noise as they want after 8 a.m. Residents claim the protesters are making the noise earlier than that however, which violates the ordinance.

One angry Old City resident reached out to Philadelphia Police to complain about the noise. After several days, she received a response, telling her to call 911. When residents called 911 Tuesday morning, officers with the city’s Civil Affairs team and members of the Health Department Air Quality team responded to the area to test the noise level. By the time they arrived however, residents say the noise level from the protesters had dropped drastically and the officials did not find any violations.

“Within a few minutes the noise stopped,” Bell said. “Then at 8:01 a.m. the noise started again.”

Pat Gillespie, president of the Building Trades Council told NBC10 the protesters will abide by the city’s noise ordinance from now on. As for reps with the Wyndham Hotel, they say they’re just trying to move forward with the renovation project, which is set for completion in November. Union members say they plan to protest every day until the project is completed.

Source: NBC10.com

Philly Teachers' Union To Offer New Contract Proposal

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers says its president will announce a cost-saving contract proposal today.

The union has been negotiating with school district officials for months as the city's schools try to make up a staggering budget deficit.

A news release says union President Jerry Jordan will announce the proposals because he's "concerned about the ability of schools to open efficiently and safely on September 9."

The statement goes on to say that his intention is "to recommend a contract proposal to teachers and school employees that includes forgoing wage increases and making changes to the current healthcare benefits plan."

Jordan's "Announcement of Contract Proposals to Ensure Safe Opening of Schools" is set for 10 a.m.

The release does not, however, say how much the givebacks will amount to.

Schools Superintendent Dr. William Hite has said that he needs more than $100 million in paycuts and health insurance contributions from the teachers union – more than double what he got from the city – and for teachers making more than $55,000 to take a 13-percent paycut.

The teachers' union, with support from the American Federation of Teachers, has been airing ads critical of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter critical of his handling of the district's budget crisis.

The ad campaign accuses the mayor of siding with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett.

Nutter responded to the ads by calling them a distraction from the real issues.

Jordan countered by saying, "The next positive step would be for the mayor to re-direct his frustration away from Philadelphia's teachers and the parents who support them, and call out Governor Corbett, who is ultimately responsible for our schools' fiscal crisis."

Source: myfoxphilly.com

Philly school union head recommends forgoing raise

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers will forgo raises and accept changes in health insurance, the union announced this morning.

PFT President Jerry Jordan will hold a press conference at 10 am to discuss the union proposals.

Forgoing raises, however, hardly addresses the district's demand for salary givebacks, ranging from 5 to 13 percent.

The union contract expires Saturday.

As of yesterday, the district was reporting little progress in getting $103 million in concessions from the teachers' union - givebacks it says are key to shoring up a financial bailout plan that includes money from the state.

"Quite frankly, it would create a level of fiscal stability that this district hasn't seen for some time now," Philadelphia School District Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said of the concessions in a 30-minute interview with the Inquirer.

The contract with the 15,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers - which has strongly resisted the concessions - expires on Saturday. The district and union talked over the weekend and are meeting daily this week in an attempt to come to an agreement, and the first day of class is Sept. 9.

The negotiation arguably is the toughest the two sides have ever faced, given the level of salary cuts and changes the district is demanding, and the dire financial condition of the 136,000-student school district.

Earlier this summer, the district laid off nearly 4,000 employees to cope with a $304 million deficit.

Source: Philly.com

Teachers' Union ready for some compromise

In the ongoing contract dispute between the School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, the teachers' union is prepared to make some compromises.

That's according to KYW Newsradio.

Teachers' union president Jerry Jordan told KYW that the union would "accept a pay freeze” in a new deal. They are also willing to make contributions to their health care premiums.

The teachers' union contract expires on Sunday.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal

AREA STANDARDS PICKET: District Council #21 / Wyndam Hotel

As posted on District Council #21’s Facebook page. 

There is an important JOB ACTION underway daily, 6:30 AM - Wyndam Hotel, 4th & Arch Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19106

“The rash of non-union contractors being awarded large projects in our territory must STOP before it erodes our area wages worse than it already has…”

“Please come out and let these contractors and building owners know – we will no longer take the dismantling of union labor.”

Original post can be found here…

Equitable Exception To Excuse Interim Withdrawal Liability Payments Rejected

A federal district court in New Jersey recently declined to apply an equitable exception to excuse an employer’s failure to pay interim withdrawal liability payments while it challenged the demand for withdrawal liability. Nat’l Integrated Grp. Pension Plan v. Black Millwork Co., 2:11-cv-05072-KM-MAH (D.N.J. August 1, 2013). After making one withdrawal liability payment, the employer initiated arbitration to challenge the plan’s demand for withdrawal liability and made no further payments. Notwithstanding ERISA’s “pay now, dispute later” statutory withdrawal liability rules, the employer argued that the court should apply an equitable exception to this mandate. In particular, the employer argued that the court should invoke, like the Fifth and Seventh Circuits have done, equity to excuse an employer’s failure to pay interim withdrawal liability when an employer could show: (i) severe financial hardship, and (ii) the fund’s claim is frivolous and not colorable. The district court, observing that the Third Circuit had previously expressed skepticism regarding whether a court could apply such an equitable exception, concluded that even if the Third Circuit were to adopt such an equitable exception, the employer had not shown that the plan’s claim was frivolous.

Source: Proskauerlaw

http://planphilly.com/articles/2013/08/27/armory-demolition-underway-the-dolphin-takes-over-sidewalk

After 127 years, the old armory building on South Broad Street is finally coming down.

A crane inside the building was pushing around a giant pile of debris Monday morning, and trucks were hauling it away through the back entrance on Juniper Street. According to city records, JPC Group is performing the demolition. Vincent Mancini, the architect of the 50-unit residential complex proposed for the site by developer Michael Carosella, said the demolition will likely be finished by November.

Carosella, who did not return a phone call from PlanPhilly on Monday, met with South Broad Street Neighbors Association last week, to present updated plans for the project.

Mancini, of Landmark Architects, said the project will now include around 1,300 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor, a community meeting space, green roofs and porous pavement. The developer will be amending his zoning application prior to a hearing at the Zoning Board of Adjustment on Wednesday, September 11, at 2 p.m.

Peter Zutter, president of South Broad Street Neighbors Association, the local RCO, said the group plans to support zoning relief for the project. Much of last week’s meeting, Zutter said, was focused on the demolition of the armory, the first to go through a new process put in place after the deadly collapse of a building at 22nd and Market streets in June. At a City Council hearing following that collapse in July, experts presented a demolition case study using the armory as the subject.

Source: PlanPhilly.com

AREA STANDARDS PICKET: Sheet Metal Local #19 / Talgar, Inc.

As reported on Sheet Metal LU#19’s Facebook page, ongoing area standards picket at Front & South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147.

The original post may be found here…

Nutter angrily rejects teacher criticism

Mayor Nutter is incensed.

That's because he's the target of a Philadelphia Federation of Teachers ad campaign that alleges he sided with Gov. Corbett when state aid to schools was being slashed.

"That's just a lie," Nutter says.

The ad he's talking about features Kia Hinton, a mother of three. "You've let us all down," she chides the mayor in a 30-second TV spot that began airing last week and that appeared several times Sunday evening. "Massive budget cuts starve our kids of the education they deserve.

"The thing is, we can fix our schools. But, Mr. Mayor, you have a choice. Invest in our kids' education, or keep cozying up to the governor."

In a 40-minute Inquirer interview late last week, Nutter, seated at a conference table in his second-floor City Hall office with his educational and financial lieutenants, said education had been a major priority since he took office in 2008. He ticked off the new sources of city revenue totalling $150 million he has helped deliver for schools, and he reviewed his efforts to secure money from Harrisburg.

He spoke as the PFT's contract for 15,000 teachers and staff was nearing its expiration on Saturday. The union's print, radio, and TV ad blitz comes as the rhetoric intensifies. The union has declined to say how much it is spending on the ads.

Nutter does not blame Hinton, who belongs to the community group Action United, which is allied with the PFT, or question her sincerity. "She read a script," he said.

"But for anyone to say that I'm not looking out for kids, that I'm part of some grand scheme to damage public education - that's just a lie," he said.

"And there's not one fact to support that. I have a very strong record on these issues."

PFT president Jerry Jordan defended the ads.

"So much has transpired during his tenure as mayor regarding education," Jordan said Sunday, including closing 24 schools in June and turning some district schools over to charter school operators.

"I don't know how you can take the mayor out of the equation," he said.

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. has been saying for months the district needs $120 million in concessions and savings from the union to help plug a deficit that remains at more than $220 million.

Hite wants PFT members to begin contributing to the cost of their health-care coverage. And the district has proposed pay cuts beginning at 5 percent based on salary. Salaries for those earning more than $55,000 would be cut 13 percent.

The typical city classroom teacher in 2012-13 earned $70,790 - 41st of 62 districts in Southeastern Pennsylvania, according to an Inquirer analysis. Bucks County's Council Rock was tops at $95,171.

The mayor, too, has been saying for months that the PFT must agree to changes to help solve the district's money crisis. On that score, at least, Nutter is in accord with Corbett.

Nutter enraged the union recently when he said labor was "the only adults at the table who so far have yet to financially contribute to a solution for this crisis. . . . It is time for the PFT to step up."

The union responded by urging members to "let the 'education mayor' know that our city's teachers and school employees 'step up' every day."

Nutter said he was not surprised by the ads. "There has been a growing sense that they were increasingly, as the contract time whittles down . . . getting agitated," he said. "I was anticipating that they would do something, say something, make some kind of attack."

The School Reform Commission's recent vote to suspend part of the state school code inflamed the PFT further.

Members packed that SRC meeting to protest the move, which allows the district to recall nearly 1,000 of 3,859 laid-off employees without following seniority, a bedrock principle of teachers' contracts.

Nutter said the union should not blame him for Harrisburg's decisions. "The state has cut funding for education all across the commonwealth for the last couple of years," he said.

Jordan agreed the state had not provided enough money for district schools but was nonetheless critical of Nutter's role. "As a leader, he has not been speaking out against the lack of state funding," Jordan said.

When Hite said in the spring the district faced a $304 million deficit, he asked for $60 million in new city funding and $120 million from the state. Nutter offered a plan to provide $95 million, including $45 million from a new cigarette tax.

But thanks to the legislature, there was no cigarette tax. Instead, the package Nutter said was "cobbled together" in Harrisburg included a $45 million one-time state grant and a provision that called for the city to borrow $50 million for schools against future revenue from the extension of the city's extra 1 percent sales tax.

Also, Corbett's education secretary must certify that the district has launched enough financial and academic "reforms" to obtain the $45 million.

"That was the package," Nutter said. "It wasn't a negotiation. It was: 'This is what you're going to get.' "

Nutter said he was not satisfied with the deal.

He said his administration would be back in Harrisburg when legislators return next month to press again for the cigarette tax and to advocate, with other mayors and districts, for a statewide funding formula that distributes school aid based on enrollment and need.

As for the PFT, Jordan said its 10-day ad campaign ends this week. But depending on what happens, he said, "There could be more coming."

Source: Philly.com

Radnor office building sells for $26 million

Keystone Property Group has sold 240 Radnor-Chester Road in Radnor for $26 million, or $260 a square foot.

The buyer in this off-market transaction wasn’t disclosed.

Main Line Health fully occupies the 100,462-square-foot office building and signed a long-term lease in 2008 to consolidate its corporate offices and Home Care Network.

Keystone bought the building, which was vacant at the time, in 2005 for $11 million from Rosemont Construction. The real estate company subsequently invested another $9 million stripping the building down to the steel and renovating it. It was rebranded the Keystone Executive Center.

Real Estate, Economic Development

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal

More labor peace in schools

As parents and students hustle to back-to-school sales and teachers prepare their curriculums for the new year, something unfamiliar is in the late-summer air in several large suburban school districts: labor peace.

Bitter, high-profile contract battles in the Pennsbury, Phoenixville Area, and Neshaminy School Districts all ended in deals in recent months. In the case of Neshaminy, the squabble had dragged on for five years.

With a slowly improving yet uncertain economy, teachers and other union staffers generally won modest pay hikes but gave back some benefits.

Not that all is quiet, and Philadelphia doesn't have a monopoly on labor acrimony.

With the 2013-14 school year imminent, teachers and administrators in other districts, such as West Chester's, are still at odds, and some experts are reluctant to declare that the miniwave of recent contract settlements means an Aquarian age of peace and harmony has finally arrived in the Philadelphia region.

Lawrence Feinberg, the Havertown school board member who cochairs the Keystone State Education Coalition, said the settlement of some of the most contentious contract disputes simply might signal that unionized teachers have come to accept that the era of benefit gains and more substantial raises is over.

"I think they pretty much understand we're not living in those times anymore," Feinberg said. "The economy is not growing. . . . There's not as much leverage," he added, noting that the loss of 20,000 education jobs in Pennsylvania over the last couple of years had created a glut of jobseekers. He said one opening for a kindergarten teacher in Havertown drew 300 applicants.

Still, the list of suburban districts without a contract approaching Labor Day weekend is substantial.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association says 10 of the 62 districts in the counties are negotiating expired contracts, and agreements are coming to an end in 20 others. In the West Chester Area School District, 900 unionized teachers have lacked a contract since summer 2012 amid increasing public acrimony over the stalled talks.

Jeffrey Sultanik, the chief negotiator for West Chester, said rising pension obligations and health-care costs, lagging state funding, and legal limits on tax increases left little room to maneuver. He added that in some cases, union members have every incentive to work without a contract at their existing salaries and benefits.

"Very frankly, the teachers' unions find themselves in situations where they are sometimes better off in living with the current contract because they don't have to make any concession if they don't settle," Sultanik said.

Debbie Fell, president of the West Chester Area Education Association, sees it differently.

"In general, the economy is picking up, the housing industry is picking up, the unemployment numbers are better. We're hopeful we can come to some resolution . . ., but currently, we're not being given any kind of offer to give us an incentive to come to an agreement," she said. "We prefer the status quo."

On Monday, a fact-finder will review the dispute and make a recommendation.

No situation in the counties, however, approaches Philadelphia's, where the union contract is expiring, hundreds of teachers and staff are being laid off, the district is demanding steep pay cuts and other unprecedented givebacks, and the start date of school is uncertain.

By contrast, teachers in several of the most public and protracted labor battles did opt for multiyear contracts this year - perhaps a calculation that an agreement provided insurance against further outbreaks of fiscal uncertainty.

In Neshaminy, the seemingly intractable impasse that spilled over into harsh radio ads and local talk-radio debates finally ended in June with raises for teachers that were offset by higher health-care contributions and other benefit changes.

"Teachers are pretty aware of what's going on economically and willing to make sacrifices to move communities forward," said Zeek Weil, southeastern representative for the PSEA.

Weil said because schools are heavily funded by property taxes, an uptick in the housing market would help negotiators finally come to terms. At the same time, a wild card there is continued wariness over the future of state funding, which plunged sharply when Gov. Corbett took office in 2011.

In addition to West Chester, districts with expired contracts are: Chester Upland, Kennett Consolidated, Southeast Delco, New Hope-Solebury, Palisades, Perkiomen Valley, Spring-Ford, Upper Perkiomen, and Wissahickon.

Those whose teacher contracts expire at the end of this school year are: Avon Grove, Coatesville, Garnet Valley, Great Valley, Interboro, Octorara, Oxford, Ridley, Rose Tree-Media, Bristol Township, Central Bucks, Cheltenham, Colonial, North Penn, Pennridge, Springfield, and Upper Dublin School Districts.

Source: Philly.com

Crisis requires union action

Other than the children, there are no innocents in this city's inability to avert a funding disaster in its public schools.

The teachers' union can't portray itself as just as victimized as students. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has consistently refused to indicate any willingness to make concessions. So it has no one to blame but itself for the School Reform Commission's decision to unilaterally take needed steps to address the crisis.

The SRC decided last week to suspend some teacher seniority rules and other regulations to give the district more flexibility in rehiring laid-off teachers and providing guaranteed step wage increases. It's not surprising that the union and some advocates vehemently oppose the SRC's action, saying the changes will allow the district to arbitrarily make personnel moves. But the suspension of work rules is permitted during a fiscal crisis under the Pennsylvania law that allowed the state's 2001 takeover of the district.

Having been given a fiscal rescue plan that still leaves the schools short, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. has little choice but to do more belt-tightening so schools can open Sept. 9. He had threatened to delay or scale back the opening of school unless the district received assurances of $50 million from the city. Even with that promise, the district faces a staggering deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars.

By suspending state personnel rules, the district will be able to rehire laid-off employees based on the schools' specific needs, instead of by seniority, as required under the union contract. That will allow Hite to assign staff as needed and bring back counselors, aides, and support staff.

Faced with a $304 million budget gap, the district gave pink slips to nearly 4,000 employees earlier this summer, but it hopes to rehire about 1,000 of them. By changing the rules, the district will be able to cut costs by hiring licensed nurses who aren't certified to work in schools, and it can sell vacant property more easily.

Calling for "shared sacrifice," Hite had asked for $133 million in concessions from the teachers and other unions. But that request has fallen on deaf ears, which gave Gov. Corbett reason to withhold a $45 million federal grant that was contingent on the unions' agreeing to concessions.

One would think PFT President Jerry Jordan would be more than willing to compromise to save his members' jobs. But he has offered no counterproposals that would save or generate enough cash for the schools. Jordan has instead steadfastly maintained that his members won't accept any cuts in pay or benefits in a new contract after their current pact expires on Aug. 31.

"Now that our schools are officially in crisis mode, it's time for the city and state to meet their obligation to provide a quality public education for every child," Jordan said in a statement Wednesday. He is right to keep pushing the state to fulfill its constitutionally mandated obligation to adequately fund schools. The city must do more, too. But with the schools on the brink of collapse, the unions can't sit around waiting for everyone else to step up.

Source: Philly.com

Battle brews in Cherry Hill over unused site at former track

In heavily developed Cherry Hill - considered by many the commercial epicenter of South Jersey - prime real estate doesn't come cheap or in plenty.

So it's not surprising that a battle is brewing over an undeveloped 10-acre parcel on Route 70.

The dispute pits the owners, who obtained approvals more than a decade ago to develop an off-track betting parlor at the site, against Cherry Hill Township and its mayor over what the land could become in a hot market.

The current owners dream of the day when a federal ban is overturned and they can offer lucrative sports betting at the site. Township officials see the plot as better suited now to a corporate campus, possibly one that would ensure Subaru of America doesn't move out of town.

With the parcel's highly visible and desirable location, expect a legal fight if the land is tagged by the township as "an area in need of redevelopment," said Barbara Casey, a partner at Ballard Spahr who is representing GS Park Racing, the owners.

GS Park (also known as Pennwood) is a joint venture of two gaming powerhouses - Penn National Gaming Inc. of Wyomissing and Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment Inc. of Bensalem, which owns Parx Casino. GS Park owns Freehold Raceway and an OTB facility in Toms River. Greenwood also owns Atlantic City Racecourse and an OTB site in Vineland.

Both companies are currently competing for a Philadelphia casino license.

"[My client] is not interested in selling the property, and we do not believe the property is blighted in order to meet the criteria for an area in need of redevelopment," Casey said. "We intend to fight any attempt by Cherry Hill Township to designate the property as [blighted]."

She calls the move a ploy "to exercise condemnation powers in order to transfer the land to private ownership."

The fracas began when the township council at its June 11 meeting asked the planning board to begin studying new uses for the Route 70 plot and a 35-acre site on Woodcrest Road across town, site of the former Victory Refrigeration plant.

"We believe the OTB site, with its access to transportation and retail and its high-visibility location on Route 70, could be an ideal site for a modern corporate campus for a company looking for a suburban headquarters," Cherry Hill Mayor Chuck Cahn said in an interview last week.

The township said the "redevelopment zone" designation would attract or retain commercial taxpaying entities.

One possibility, Cahn suggested: Subaru of America, which is scouting sites in the township and elsewhere to relocate its corporate headquarters from its current Route 70 address.

Subaru of America spokeswoman Gayle Coston said, "At this time, we are not in a position to affirm or deny any parcels that are currently under consideration."

Bridget Palmer, spokeswoman for the township, said "knowledge that Subaru was potentially in the market for a new headquarters prompted . . . the preliminary study."

It was not clear what appeal the 10-acre site might hold for Subaru, whose current headquarters are on 14 acres up the street.

Palmer said there had been "no formal discussions of Subaru's potential plans for any future site."

Cahn said that if the OTB parcel was declared a redevelopment zone, a plan to determine "its appropriate potential uses" would be devised.

But with available land at a premium in Camden County's second-largest municipality, it won't be easy wresting the plot away from GS Park, which is keeping a close eye on whether sports betting becomes legal at New Jersey's casinos and racetracks. It says an OTB parlor there was still a possibility.

"The gaming and wagering industry in New Jersey is in rather a state of flux at present," said Bob Green, chairman of Greenwood Gaming. "It is commercially prudent for us to keep our options open regarding the future use and development of the site."

Said Penn National spokesman Eric Schippers: If the courts permit sports wagering in New Jersey, it "would then make an off-track wagering facility at that location an even more viable proposition."

New Jersey and Gov. Christie are fighting in federal court to overturn a law that limits sports betting to four states, including Nevada. A judicial panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia is expected to rule in the coming weeks. If the state loses its challenge to be able to offer betting on collegiate and professional sports, Christie says he will take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Anne Koons, a Realtor at Prudential Fox & Roach's Cherry Hill office, said an acre for either residential or commercial development at the location could fetch between $300,000 and $400,000.

"You have a lot of commerce there," she said. "It's close to good schools, I-295, the New Jersey Turnpike, and the Shore, and has access to the High-Speed Line. It's a prominent place to be."

The plot is part of the 600-acre former Garden State Park, a harness and thoroughbred racetrack that opened in 1942 off Haddonfield Road.

In its heyday, "The Garden," as it was known, hosted the nation's top races. It along with Atlantic City Race Course and Monmouth Park formed what was then the "Golden Triangle" of New Jersey racing.

A fire April 14, 1977, ravaged the storied track and grandstand. It was rebuilt in 1985, but struggled to survive against competition from Atlantic City casinos.

With steep revenue and attendance declines throughout the 1990s, the track ceased operation in May 2001. Demolition began in 2003 and was completed by March 2005.

Tony developments of luxury condos and townhouses, corporate offices, and shopping centers sprang up, but retained the track's name - Towne Place at Garden State Park, the Plaza Grande at Garden State Park, Market Place at Garden State Park, Park Place at Garden State Park.

Although GS Park obtained approvals in 2007 to develop the OTB site - next to a Home Depot - the recession soon hit and the project has sat dormant. Here, the original gatehouse on Route 70 is the only vestige of the old track. The plot, overgrown with weeds, sprawls out behind the gate. Ducks wade in a storm-water basin.

Nearby is NJ Transit's Cherry Hill-Cornell Avenue rail station, which connects Cherry Hill to Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Across Route 70 is a Holiday Inn.

"Route 70 is a major access point for commuters coming into and out of Cherry Hill every day," Cahn said. "This is the road that the majority of our visitors use to come into Cherry Hill, and that's why it is, literally, the 'Gateway to Cherry Hill.' "

But prime location or not, Casey said GS Park's permits on the land are legally protected at least through Dec. 31, 2014. She said other developers have approached her client to buy the land but have been turned away.

"My client has potential business use of this site - whether an OTB or something else," she said. "It's a piece of property that they see value in. . . . They don't want to sell it."

The township's preliminary review of the site is expected to take several weeks to a few months.

Source: Philly.com

Man rescued in hospital construction accident

A construction worker was buried in a ditch for more than two hours Sunday morning during an excavation mishap at the Coatesville VA Medical Center in Caln Township.

The man, a contractor working on an emergency generator project, was doing pipe work in a trench about 8 a.m. when mounds of dirt started to slide, burying him up to his neck, said Kathleen Pomorski, a hospital spokeswoman.

A Chester County rescue task force comprising firefighters from several departments freed the man about 10:30 a.m. He was stabilized and conscious as he was rushed to Paoli Memorial Hospital, Pomorski said. She did not know the worker's identity and said he did not appear to have any serious injuries.

"We're happy the gentleman is OK," Pomorski said. "The response from the community partners was fantastic. People were on spot right away, everyone did a very good job, and we were prepared to handle such an emergency."

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.

The generator project has been ongoing for several weeks, Pomorski said. It will increase the medical center's capacity to power its campus on emergency generators in the event of an electricity loss.

Source: Philly.com

Changing Skyline: Suggestions for One Riverside

A great public space like the Schuylkill River Park deserves an exceptional building as a neighbor. So far, developer Carl Dranoff's proposal for One Riverside isn't it.

That doesn't mean the 21-story apartment tower designed by Cecil Baker + Partners can't evolve into something worthy of the popular riverfront park that surrounds the site. But it's going to take work - and not just by the development team. The neighborhood has to pitch in, too.

The wailing and keening that greeted last week's presentation to the Center City Residents Association wasn't the kind of constructive help that this project needs. "It will literally cast a shadow over all that is good," one speaker declared. By the end, you could be forgiven for expecting the tower to unleash a nuclear winter. On Tuesday, the CCRA's board voted to fight the project.

If Dranoff, the developer of Symphony House and 777, were seeking a zoning variance to build the riverfront tower, such take-no-prisoners opposition might be reasonable. Ideally, the triangular blip of land on 25th Street - now a surface lot - should have been acquired years ago by the city for the park. But the site is zoned for high-rise buildings, and has been since 1975. The odds of stopping the 167-unit development appear slim.

Still, there are legitimate concerns about this sensitive site, just a few feet from the Locust Street entrance to the Schuylkill trail. Although high-rises dot the length of the trail, none is as deeply embedded in the park as this would be. The tower's 144-foot south wall would loom oppressively over the community garden, a manicured oasis that is a popular and romantic place to stroll. (I know because I have a plot there.)

The tower won't actually cast shadows on the garden (despite all the doomsday forecasts) since it sits north of the garden, out of the arc of the rising and setting sun. Yet the high-rise's presence can't help but change the character of a park visited by a million people a year.

So what to do?

Before answering that question, it's worth pointing out that community groups around the city have tried for years to get developers to play by the rules of zoning. That was a motive for the recent overhaul of the zoning code, which sought to clarify the process. You can't expect developers to follow the new standard if neighborhood groups expect to bend those rules to their self-interest.

What's more, the CCRA was an enabler of Dranoff's current project. According to its president, Jeff Braff, the group agreed in 2010 to lift a restrictive covenant forcing Dranoff to use the site as dedicated parking for his rental building across the street, Locust on the Park. It became just an ordinary public parking lot, which opened it up for development.

Fortunately, the new code requires Dranoff to submit the tower project to the Planning Commission's Civic Design committee for review. Scheduled for Sept. 3, the hearing is a chance to make the tower a better neighbor. Even though the CCRA voted to oppose the project, Braff says the group is still open to negotiations.

Here are six suggestions for doing just that:

1. Reduce the square footage from 167,000 to 150,000. Why? One of the worst things about the design is the plan for three curb cuts along 25th Street: two loading docks and one garage entrance. Blame the new code, which requires a second loading dock for buildings of more than 150,000 square feet.

This is not as arbitrary as it sounds. The zoning only allows a 140,000-square-foot building on the site, but Dranoff is hoping for the extra space as a bonus for locating one level of parking below ground. It's crazy that such modest public benefit should beget the significant public nuisance of a second loading dock. A bonus of 10,000 seems fair. By cutting the square footage, he would also reduce the tower's bulk.

2. Combine the two remaining curb cuts into one. To do this, the garage height would need to be raised to 14 feet to accommodate trucks. Since throngs of people walk, jog, and bike along 25th Street to the trail's Locust Street entrance, having just one driveway will minimize conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles.

3. Shift this combined garage-and-truck entrance away from the garden. Then move the lobby to face the garden. Why waste an opportunity to have tenants enter through a beautiful green space? Imagine the lobby as a gossamer, glass portal.

4. Move the tower north to minimize its impact on the park. Since the triangular site tapers to a point, the shift would mean shrinking the tower's footprint. That's not a bad thing. Right now, the floorplate is 9,000 square feet, twice the size of 1706 Rittenhouse, a model of what a slim, chic, residential tower should be. To recover the lost square footage, Dranoff could make the tower slightly taller.

There's another argument for increasing the distance between the tower and the park. If you look at cities that have lined their waterfronts with urbane towers, the buildings are always separated from the waterside path by a street. That helps delineate what's public and what's private.

A buffer between the park and the tower would serve the same function. Think of it as a green street. It's true that some tenants in Dranoff's Locust on the Park would lose their views of the river, but the public gains.

5. Activate 25th Street. Dranoff's garage will create a long blank wall along this heavily used residential street. He has hired landscape architects at Olin to pretty things up with vines, but don't believe for a minute that the strategy will be effective. Ten years after Olin planted vines to camouflage the subpar architecture on Independence Mall, they still haven't grown in. Ditto for the vines at the Barnes Foundation. Architectural problems should be solved with architectural solutions.

Because the garage is in a flood plain, Dranoff says he can't include retail on the ground floor of the garage to liven up the street frontage. Here's an alternative: Devote the strip along 25th Street to public bicycle parking, with a glass shop wall. Such bike stations are springing up in cities around the country. Is there a more perfect spot in Philadelphia than next to the trail entrance?

6. Use zinc panels on the tower's south and west walls. At the CCRA presentation, architect Cecil Baker promised to use metal cladding on the south side to minimize glare. The west side is equally important since it receives the harsh afternoon sun. Zinc is the best choice of metals because it has a matte finish and is as natural as brick or stone.

Admittedly, these suggestions don't address the issue that most outraged speakers at the CCRA meeting: parking. They argued that a 167-unit building is too dense and will make it harder to park in the neighborhood.

Sadly, density remains a dirty word in Philadelphia. But it's the high concentration of people in the neighborhood that made Schuylkill River park possible in the first place. Who's opposed to that?

Source: Philly.com

AREA STANDARDS PICKET: Various trades / Windham Hotels

Giant, Crying Rat Draws Old City Hotel Guests Into Labor Dispute

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The amplified recording of a screeching infant has been disturbing guests and neighbors of an Old City hotel that recently changed hands.

The sound effect, along with a ten-foot-tall inflatable rat, are the centerpieces of a protest by union workers who say the hotel is using out-of-town labor for renovations.

Meanwhile, the hotel guests are wondering why they’re the ones paying the price.

 “This woke me up half past six yesterday morning,” said Alex Taylor, visiting Philadelphia from Britain with his wife, “and I was sort of half asleep thinking, ‘Oh my god, there’s a baby in distress somewhere!’  And it took me about five minutes to work out that it was on a loop, and therefore it was somebody playing it.”

His wife, Sally, says they believe in free speech so they didn’t complain.

“We just turned the air conditioning up really loud,” she tells KYW Newsradio.

The crying sound, ear-splitting at ground level, is meant to be “the sound of the middle class being destroyed,” according to Pat Gillespie of the Building Trades Council, who says out-of-town labor  erodes wages.

The hotel carries the Wyndham brand but is owned and run by Texas-based FelCor. A spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Source: CBS3.com