A bill designed to close a loophole in Pennsylvania’s
criminal code that exempts those involved in labor disputes from being charged
with harassment, stalking and related offenses took another step closer to
becoming law Monday. The state Senate approved the measure unanimously (48-0) a
month after passing through the state
House of Representatives Wednesday by a 115-74 vote.
The legislation, House Bill 1154, introduced last April by
Rep. Ron Miller (R-York), now will go to the desk of Gov. Tom Corbett to be
signed into law.
The Senate only made minor tweaks to the House bill.
Specifically, it wanted to make clear that the bill would not trump federal
labor law.
The passage of the legislation comes less than two months
after federal prosecutors in Philadelphia
indicted 10 members of Ironworkers Local 401 on charges of allegedly
participating in a conspiracy to commit extortion, arson, destruction of
property, and assault, in order to force construction contractors to hire union
ironworkers.
Among the criminal acts laid out in the indictment is the
December 2012 arson of a Quaker Meetinghouse under construction in
Philadelphia. The arrests are the biggest criminal prosecutions of local union
officials since the Roofers scandal of the 1980s.
The legislation pointed to a report by the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, that exposed several portions of Pennsylvania law where criminal
actions are immunized from prosecution or conviction simply because they occur
during, in the course of, or in connection with a labor dispute.
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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