Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Airline merger could divide labor union ranks

The president of the AFL-CIO is worried that the merger of American Airlines and US Airways will trigger a costly fight between two unions over representation of airline ground workers.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says that instead of fighting over workers who already belong to a union, the two unions should call a truce and share representation of the airline employees. That way, he says, they could focus on organizing workers who aren't union members.
The major U.S. airlines are heavily unionized. At many of the biggest carriers, unions represent pilots, flight attendants and ground workers such as mechanics and baggage handlers.
Ground workers at American are represented by the Transport Workers Union, while those at US Airways are represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.  Read more here…

Drexel Acquires Firestone Building, Key Piece of Real Estate for Its Campus Transformation

Drexel University acquired the property located at 3161-67 Market Street, a triangular-shaped parcel on the north side of Market Street between JFK Boulevard and 32nd Street that currently houses a Firestone auto repair shop. Located at the heart of Drexel’s campus, the 26,675 square-foot parcel is key to the University’s strategic and master plans, which call for the development of a superblock along Market Street that will serve as a gateway to University City from 30th Street Station.  Read more here...

Monday, April 29, 2013

AREA STANDARDS PICKET – IATSE #8/Electric Factory - SUSPENDED

For Immediate Release April 27, 2013 Contact: Mike Barnes Phone: (215) 880-3162
STAGEHANDS STRIKE AGAINST ELECTRIC FACTORY PUT ON HOLD FOR THE HOOTERS IATSE LOCAL 8 HAS SUSPENDED STRIKE ACTIVITIES A SECOND TIME AS ANOTHER MAJOR BAND LENDS SUPPORT PHILADELPHIA, PA -- The Stagehands have been on strike against Philadelphia-based Electric Factory Concerts! for the past month have set up picket lines outside the concert venue (421 North 7th Street). The stagehands' strike action over area wages and standards will be put on hold, however, during The Hooters concert scheduled at the Electric Factory, Friday, April 27th, 2013 The enormously popular and influential band - some of whose members come from families steeped in the labor movement - has secured an agreement with IATSE Local 8 stagehands for the Philly shows. "IATSE Local 8 would like to thank Dave Uosikkinen and the all the members of The Hooters for their support of workers issues," said Michael Barnes, Business Manager of IATSE Local 8. The union will cease all picketing, handbilling and social media activities as part of the settlement for tonights show only. "IATSE Local 8 looks forward to working with The Hooters on all their future shows in the Philadelphia area in venues that maintain the area standards established by stagehands over the last fifty years" Barnes concluded, "IATSE will be contacting every act scheduled for the Electric Factory to offer a one time pass for their scheduled event. This will prevent any disruption to fans that have already purchased tickets. Going forward, the union has committed to work with the Hooters and all the acts to bring the best experience to the fans at venues that maintain the area standards. We hope more acts will follow the lead of The Hooters and The Drop Kick Murphy's in supporting working men and women.

UPS, Teamsters Agree on New Five-Year Contracts

UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced that it has reached a tentative agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters) on two, new five-year contracts in the small package and freight business units. The tentative contracts, which must be presented to the UPS Teamster-represented employees for ratification, were concluded well in advance of the July 31, 2013, expiration of the current contracts.  Read more here…

Friday, April 26, 2013

$20.5M rehab hospital to be built in Bucks County

Bucks County is getting its first stand-alone rehabilitation hospital.
St. Mary Medical Center plans to open a 50-bed, acute rehabilitation hospital in a partnership with Centerre Healthcare Corp. of Nashville, Tenn.
“We are always looking at community needs and what services we’ll need to be providing in the future,” said Greg Wozniak, president and CEO at St. Mary. “We saw the demand for rehab care was going to be a growing.”
Wozniak said the $20.5 million, rehab hospital will complement the St. Mary’s expanded programs in cardiology, neurosciences and orthopedics. Read more here…

Changing Skyline: Retail magic is missing from South Kensington lofts proposal

On paper, the proposed Soko Lofts project promises to do for its South Kensington neighborhood what the Piazza at Schmidts did for Northern Liberties. Like its paradigm-shifting predecessor two blocks south, Soko Lofts would rim its large block with a dense array of mid-rise apartment buildings, smartly broken up into manageable segments. The spaces between the buildings would become passageways, beckoning the public into a landscaped interior courtyard. Read more here…

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Conductors reject SEPTA contract

This is probably one of the most demoralizing outcomes that a negotiator can ever experience.  After spending countless hours of negotiating an agreement that both labor and management have agreed to present to their constituencies, having it rejected by the very authority that has appointed you to negotiate on their behalf is crushing.  Best wishes to both SEPTA and Labor on quickly resolving this matter.   
SEPTA conductors and assistant conductors have rejected a tentative contract. 
SEPTA's board was scheduled to approve the contract Thursday, if the members of United Transportation Union Local 61 had ratified it. Now, the two sides will resume negotiations.  Read more here…

AREA STANDARDS PICKET: Sheet Metal Local #19

As reported in Sheet Metal Worker’s Local#19 Facebook page, Area Standards Picket ongoing against Air tight Heating and Air Conditioning on a multi-structure residential project at 18th and Lombard St in Philadelphia Philadelphia.

Tentative agreement reached with the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.

As reported on IATSE Local Union# 8’s Facebook page, “Tentative agreement reached with the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. The three year deal includes wage increases additional holiday pay and improved conditions.

The Tomato King goes to war for a casino

PHL launched a withering attack on two of its better-known and better-funded rivals for the city's final gaming license - Steve Wynn and Bart Blatstein.
The bombardment came at the meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Congress at the Loews Hotel in Center City.
Regarding the $900 million Wynn Philadelphia casino-resort proposed for Fishtown, Robert J. Borghese, PHL vice president of corporate development, asked sarcastically: "In a serious moment, do we as Philadelphians really believe that international high-rollers will be lured to his Fishtown location?
"Do we really believe it won't cannibalize [nearby] SugarHouse? Don't we deserve our own unique, signature, and iconic casino in Philadelphia that doesn't look like casinos in Las Vegas . . . ?"  Read more here…

Why there's optimism on PGW sale

Now that the city has hired a heavyweight like JPMorgan to sell Philadelphia Gas Works, it raises the question: Who would want to buy an aging utility with limited growth prospects, large numbers of low-income customers, 19th-century pipes, and a hostile political climate?  Read more here…

Website tracks PGW sale effort

The City and Philadelphia Gas Works set up a website Friday that officials said will track the effort to sell the city-owned utility.
The site, www.exploringasale.com, has sections on how a sale would affect PGW customers, employees and the business community, background material and an FAQ.
Over objections of unionized gas workers and the city's public advocate, the commission that oversees PGW voted in January to hire a team of lawyers, financial advisers, and communications consultants to solicit bids to privatize PGW.  Read more here…

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

DC33 returns to Council chambers - without the whistles

It was déjà vu in Council chambers Tuesday night, with scores of city workers in green and black jackets packing the seats and lining the balconies.
But don’t worry – they left their whistles at home this time.  Read more here…

At Navy Yard, 'living lab' of energy efficiency

Building 661 at the Navy Yard was never a thing of beauty. Built in 1942, during the first months of U.S. involvement in World War II, the brick-and-concrete structure's purpose was to house an indoor swimming pool, basketball courts, and offices, a function it pragmatically performed until the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard closed in 1995. Read more here…

City hires 2 firms to seek PGW bids

The city has retained the banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. as lead broker to sell Philadelphia Gas Works, the latest move in the Nutter administration's effort to privatize the utility.  Read more here…

At hearing, SEPTA says what it can't do

More money or less service.
That was the familiar essence of SEPTA's capital-budget presentation Tuesday, as the agency noted how little $308 million will buy these days.
In two hearings at its Center City headquarters, SEPTA officials outlined what they described as a bare-bones spending plan for construction, new vehicles, and growing debt service.  Read more here…

Monday, April 22, 2013

AREA STANDARDS PICKET: Sheet Metal Local #19

As reported on Sheet Metal Local #19 Facebook page, Local 19 is out picketing against Marmaras Sheet Metal at 69th and Chestnut St in Upper Darby, PA.

AREA STANDARDS PICKET: IATSE Local #8

As reported on the IATSE Local #8 Facebook page, ongoing Picket line at 13th and Filbert, Marriott Parking lot. Scabs working AV are undermining our area standards. Show up and let the public know these scumbags must be stopped. All workers welcome.  Negotiations are ongoing.

In Bensalem, high hopes for waterfront development

Bensalem Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo calls his township's five-mile waterfront a "mishmash" of uses.
There are light industry and chemical storage; parks and older apartment houses; riverside cottages and the 18th-century Andalusia estate.
But on 45 open acres on State Road just over the Philadelphia line, tucked between a truck yard and small warehouses, the mayor sees the future taking shape. Read more here…

Friday, April 19, 2013

Changing Skyline: Reviewing the 'plans' for Philly's second casino

Philadelphia's recent casino hearings brought back memories of those giddy days in 2006 when gambling was new to Pennsylvania and no amenity was too extravagant for our city's gaming halls. Once again, the applicants vied to seduce us with all kinds of extras. A 320-room resort hotel! Spas! Bike paths! Fishing piers! Skating rink! Luxury shops! A starchitect design!.  Read more here…

Pa. casino: Union's NLRB complaints are media ploy

PITTSBURGH - A spokesman for the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh says dozens of unfair labor practice charges filed by union organizers are a "common tactic" meant to "generate media attention and sympathetic awareness. Read more here…

Commonwealth Pipeline plan officially suspended

There are apparently more than enough Marcellus Shale pipelines in the pipeline, for now at least.
The Commonwealth Pipeline, a $1 billion trunk-line project proposed last year by three companies to transport Marcellus natural gas from Williamsport to Washington, has officially been suspended, according to the venture's website. Read more here…

In Philly, big deal for office market

A fast-growing Philadelphia health-care agency is abandoning its worn South Broad Street offices and moving to the Market Street corporate district in one of the biggest deals this year for the slow-moving Center City office market.  Read more here…

Christie vetoes bill giving unions a leg up in Sandy infrastructure projects

Governor Christie vetoed a measure Monday that would have favored unions workers when rebuilding public infrastructure damaged by superstorm Sandy.
Christie, in his veto message, said the legislation would slow rebuilding in New Jersey at a crucial time.
The bill, sponsored by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, would have made major highway and bridge work eligible to be covered by project labor agreements, which set pay and other work conditions that traditionally favor unions.
State and local governments have to approve such agreements for specific projects, and Sweeney’s bill would have expanded their use to some of the largest infrastructure projects in the recovery effort.
Construction jobs have been among the hardest hit in the economic downturn, and an infusion of billions of dollars in federal recovery money is expected to give a boost to the sector.
Unions traditionally support project labor agreements, and Democrats have argued their use could boost employment.
Yet Christie wrote that the bill “would significantly alter public contracting in this State at a time when the swift reconstruction, rebuilding, and redevelopment of public infrastructure is a priority.”  Read more here…

Thursday, April 18, 2013

SEPTA in tentative pact with rail conductors

SEPTA has reached a tentative contract with the labor union representing Regional Rail conductors and assistant conductors. Read more here…

Plans suspended for 120-mile gas pipeline in Pa.

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The developers of a planned 120-mile natural gas pipeline in eastern Pennsylvania say the project is being suspended indefinitely. Read more here…

City leaders pushing for change in Pa. binding arbitration law

Binding arbitration is the trade off for an inability to withdraw your labor.  While I understand the Mayor’s reasoning behind this tactic, I don’t see this as attainable. As a negotiator for management, my resources are best spent elsewhere.   I hope for a mutually agreeable outcome in this case.
Municipal leaders are calling for changes to Pennsylvania's law on collective bargaining arbitration.
The 1968 statute governs how contract awards for police and firefighters must be decided if there is an impasse on negotiations because police and firefighters are not permitted to strike.  Read more here...

PREIT buys Philly building

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, the regional mall owner whose properties include the Willow Grove Park, Cherry Hill and Moorestown malls, is expanding its presence in Philadelphia. Read more here…

Local developer to build in Powerhouse

Toll Brothers continues to expand into the mixed use, vertical environment.  Toll Brothers, Inc. has teamed up with AECOM Capital to construct Provost Square, a 417-unit apartment complex in Jersey City, N.J. The project is being financed with a $120 million construction loan from PNC Bank, Wells Fargo and Comerica Bank. Work is scheduled to begin this spring.  Read more here…

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

University Of Penn Food Workers To Vote On Teamster Representation

PHILADELPHIA, April 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dining hall employees at Bon Appetit who work at the University of Pennsylvania will vote soon on Teamsters representation. They plan to be unionized so that they can collectively bargain with their employer for fair wages and paid sick days in a written contract.  Read more here...

Agreement ends labor protest over U.S. Open at Merion

Over several months of negotiations, the USGA argued that it could not hire union workers because it was bound by existing contracts.
USGA spokesman Joe Goode said Tuesday the organization was able to "amend" its contract with Classic Tents to have local carpenters take over the flooring.  Read more here…

Living on the Edge

Realen Properties is proposing to construct the second phase of Edgewater, a multifamily complex at 23rd and Race streets in Philadelphia.
Realen’s plans would entail constructing a 22-story building on an existing surface parking lot at the ramp off 23rd Street. The tower will have 240 apartments. As with the first phase of Edgewater, Realen’s finance partner will be Northwest Mutual Life. The cost of the project hasn’t been finalized.
 Read more here...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Dranoff Properties is planning to construct a project called One Ardmore Place as the first phase of a redevelopment effort in Ardmore, Pa. Read more here...

Dranoff Properties is planning to construct a project called One Ardmore Place as the first phase of a redevelopment effort in Ardmore, Pa. Read more here...

Social Workers join Teamsters

As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Saturday, April 13, 2013, 7:01 AM, Case workers in Chester County's Department of Human Services voted 96-56 Thursday to join the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters Local 384 in Norristown, the union said. The organizing effort covers 162 employees work in the department's aging, children, youth and families, drug and alcohol services, youth center and mental health/intellectual developmental disabilities units, the Teamsters said. The union said that two years ago it had tried to organize the workers, but was beaten back. - Harold Brubaker

Monday, April 15, 2013

Dockworkers ratify new 6-year contract

NORTH BERGEN, N.J. - Dockworkers along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico have ratified a new six-year contract, ending more than a year of negotiations.
The International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO, posted news of the ratification on its website late Tuesday. It said vote totals from its 14,500 longshoremen were still being tallied but that the contract was "overwhelmingly approved." Read more here…

Big day tomorrow in Ardmore

Carl Dranoff of Dranoff Properties will unveil his plans tomorrow for a long-awaited $56 million mixed-use development that will go on an existing surface parking lot on Cricket Avenue in Ardmore, Pa. The high-profile development has been in the works for almost 10 years and recently got the green light to move forward by Lower Merion commissioners. Read more here…

Friday, April 12, 2013

At Pa. gaming board hearing, more support than opposition for 2d city casino

After the first of two days of public testimony Thursday, the state's Gaming Control Board had heard more support than opposition for a second casino in Philadelphia. Read more here...

IATSE, LU#8 Area Standards Labor Dispute & Picket are ongoing as reported on IATSE, LU#8’s Facebook page.

Did Philadelphia casino applicant pay for supporters?

The Pennsylvania State Gaming Commission held its second round of hearings and presentations on Thursday to determine just who will get the final gaming license in Philadelphia.
The purpose of the hearing, held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City, was to gather public input before deciding on which of six proposals will get one license.
But, it appeared the group behind one proposal was trying to stack the deck. Read more here…

Design Group Says Wynn’s Casino Proposal Is Worst Among Philadelphia Applicants

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — For hours on end over two days, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has begun hearing testimony from neighbors, organizations, and elected officials on the six groups competing for Philadelphia’s second casino license.  Read more here…

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Research Brief on America’s Cities: 2013 Local Economic Conditions Survey, National League of Cities

The National League of Cities Local Economic Conditions Survey is a national mail and email survey of city officials conducted annually in January. Surveys were mailed and emailed to the chief elected officials in a sample of 1,127 cities asking for assessments of their city’s local economic conditions in 2012 and anticipated spending and policy priorities in 2013. In total, the 2013 data are drawn from 310 cities, for a response rate of 28%. The full report may be found here…

Many in Old City support 205 Race development, by any means

It may shock PlanPhilly readers, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t come right out and say it: for many people, the zoning process is secondary, at best, to the developments that must go through it. The proposed 128-unit mixed-use project from Brown Hill Development at 205 Race Street may be one such case.  Read more here…

A billboard puts Philly apartment tower on hold

Any number of obstacles can kill a high-rise project in Philadelphia. Usually it's money. Construction costs can run as high as New York's, yet rents remain much lower here, the margins smaller. Read more here…

Second round of hearings set for this week on a second Philadelphia casino

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board will have a full house Thursday and Friday when it hosts two days of public hearings on Philadelphia's second casino at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Doug Harbach, a gaming board spokesman, said all the slots for speakers have been reserved. Anyone who has not signed up will likely have to wait until a third hearing, scheduled for May 8 in South Philadelphia.  Read more here…

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Brady announces Delaware River dredging funding

President Barack Obama's Fiscal Year 2014 budget includes $20 million to complete the Delaware River Channel dredging, Congressman Bob Brady, D-Pa., announced today. Read more here...

Still under construction, apartment complex expected to sell at record price

The developer of 2040 Market St., an apartment building under construction in Center City, has decided to put the property up for sale. Read more here...

Pressure Applied To Overturn Sick Leave Veto

Groups supporting the paid sick leave bill – including a contingent of influential labor leaders – have been pressuring the six Council members who voted against the legislation, in search of the one vote needed to overturn Mayor Nutter’s veto.  Read more here…

PhillyDeals: Why is the Convention Center a privatization target?

The main problem keeping more big shows from the Pennsylvania Convention Center is that too many customers don't feel they are getting value for all they pay under its current labor arrangements, consultant Public Financial Management Inc. (PFM) wrote in a recent report to the center's board, echoing earlier reports. Read more here…

Fishtown Neighbors Association backs Wynn project

A link to the Inquirer post may be found here...

Bristol Borough to build its marina on the Delaware

A new marina will finally be built along the Delaware River in Bristol Borough, after it was announced Tuesday that the borough will receive a $1.5 million federal grant to cap off the funding needed for the $2.5 million project. Read more here…

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Wynn seeks minority vendors, subcontractors

A couple of great Philadelphia Constructors on this project with Dan Keating , Keating Consulting, and Intech Construction.  Best wishes!
Representatives from more than 150 firms turned out for Wynn Philadelphia’s construction supplier, subcontractor and vendor outreach to gain insight on potential contracting opportunities.  Read more here...

Monday, April 8, 2013

Bills target 'fly-by-night' contractors, but critics worry

A CITY COUNCIL committee on Friday advanced legislation aimed at cracking down on unlicensed "fly-by-night" contractors who do projects in the city without paying taxes or fees. 
While I personally take no position on this legislation, the fact that the often apathetic General Building Contractors Association takes the position that they did is interesting.    They already have to monitor all of their subcontractors and bonding on site and currently employ the personnel to do so.  I think there are other components of this legislation that could be more problematic, such as the civil action component.  It makes me question, as I have for many years, what are GBCA’s underlying political motives and agenda here.
Read more here...

Labor dispute over U.S. Open in Merion intensifies, Carpenters and IATSE join in the fight

A labor dispute with the USGA heated up this week as local unions alleged a contractor brought in foreign workers to set up tents and infrastructure for the U.S. Open.  Read more here...

Wynn project could shake up Phila. waterfront

Where North Beach Street twists and turns into Richmond Avenue in Fishtown, the old William Cramp & Sons shipyard has been the envy of developers and dreamers alike. Read more here...

Friday, April 5, 2013

Architect hired to study linking Center City to waterfront

The agency overseeing Philadelphia's Delaware waterfront took a first step Thursday toward reconnecting Center City to the river by hiring a respected landscape architecture firm to develop a strategy for bridging the daunting I-95 canyon and making it easier for pedestrians to access the water.  Read more here…

Wynn details proposed Fishtown casino

Steve Wynn sent this new rendering of the River Walk for his proposed Fishtown casino on the Delaware River waterfront.  Read more here…

RACP to the rescue, again! State adds extra money to $55 million hotel Reading hotel project.

The long-planned 220-room Doubletree Convention Center Hotel on Penn Street has received a $500,000 bolster from the state.  Read more here…

Tension rising at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

Tense labor relations and a hostile work environment are spreading unrest among the 120 civilian police officers at a military base that spans Burlington and Ocean Counties, the officers allege in more than 60 grievances filed since 2010.  Read more here…

Thursday, April 4, 2013

A Park to Connect Old City to Penn's Landing?

Currently divided by I-95, Penn’s Landing could one day connect to Old City if a plan is made reality that would cover the highway and install a sloped park. Read more here...

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Have Philadelphia Labor Unions Finally Been Beat?

On a personal note, I simply do not believe that the writer’s angle on their blog posting is accurate.  However, it is labor related and a media focus here in the city for over a year.  Interestingly enough, the Post Brothers are recently alleged to have accepted one trade union’s pension fund investment money to fund their renovation of the Atlantic Building at 206 South Broad Street, Philadelphia in return for hiring that trade union on the project.  I guess the old saying could have some truth to it, “if you can’t beat them, join them.”  While I cannot confirm that information at this time and it will remain only a rumor until confirmed, I have seen this strategy deployed in Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs before. 
The construction model has changed here in Philadelphia over the last 6 years.  No longer are the signatory General Contractors the voice of the industry or the constructor of choice on projects.  The signatory obligations contained within their primary labor agreement is burdensome & problematic; the fact that most signatory general contractors in the region are not the primary employers on their projects really does make them the least attractive choice from an owner’s project risk analysis.  If you choose to no longer self-perform and, instead, sub contract most of your project, why have an agreement with restrictions that could dictate how your project is constructed by sub contractors?  It just adds cost, complexity and problems to the project.  General Contractors that do not possess a signatory obligation to a sub contracting clause have always had the agility and flexibility to hire and award their projects based on economics and efficiency without being bound by an overbearing sub-contracting clause.  Sub contracting trades have recognized this and are beginning the process of adapting and becoming more competitive.  Both non-signatory and signatory models of construction have their pros and cons.  Non-signatory: agility, flexibility, but the constant need to continually invest in and maintain additional human resources capacity to address the needs of a project.  Signatory: available workforce capacity and instant access to a mobile, highly skilled and trained workforce, but associated costs & unfunded liabilities and language can be burdensome.  As the industry evolves, so has the model.  Non-signatory construction managers and organizations have the agility and flexibility required to competitively build projects while having the ability, through sub contracting as many signatory general contractors have already chosen to do, to access the available workforce capacity and instant access to a mobile, highly skilled, certified and trained workforce.  While I think that the Post Brothers may have contributed to the change process, in the end, they very well may have embraced the one thing that they claim to take a position against and it appears, if they did accept financial support on their next project, that they did it for the money.  In any event, and as is my personal belief, developers and builders have the right to build in a way and manner that recognizes and meets their preferences, obligations and is the most economic and efficient process for their organizations.  It’s a risk and rewards proposition and I do not believe that anyone, other than the developer or builder, can make that decision on ther behalf.  Now, on to the web page: 
“One of Philadelphia’s most watched civic dramas could be coming to a close and escalating, all at once. Developers Matt and Mike Pestronk are opening the Goldtex apartment building on Wood Street on May 1st, and they will begin taking leasing applications on Friday.  Read more here…

PhillyDeals: Convention Center stirs interest of local firms

The Pennsylvania Convention Center board of directors says it sought applicants from across the United States when it sent a "Request for Qualifications" last year, seeking private firms to show they could handle management, marketing, maintenance, and capital improvements at the sprawling, taxpayer-funded, under-used Center City complex. Read more here…

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Monday, April 1, 2013

Hospital begins $37 million expansion

Aria Health is starting work Monday on a $37 million emergency department construction project at its Torresdale campus in Northeast Philadelphia.  Read more here...

NLRB to oversee union-organizing vote at Philadelphia charter school

And, in what union officials said will be a first for a charter school in Pennsylvania, New Media's union election will be overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) instead of Pennsylvania's state labor board.. Read more here…

With new right-to-work law and shrinking union ranks, is organized labor still a movement?

Don McGough lost his job as a union steelworker. He found a new position and a decade later, he voted no when the machinists’ union tried to organize workers at his company, JWF Industries, in Pennsylvania. “There are so many companies that just closed their doors because the union wouldn’t budge,” he says.
Overall, it’s an interesting article with some references to labor in Pennsylvania.  Read more here...