Pa. unions still able to flex political muscle

• Ed Mahon
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  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 Jacqueline Larma / AP Photo

In this June 27, 2018, file photo, Amanda Hammock, center, a Delaware County, Pa. Democratic Party activist, is dressed as Rosie the Riveter during a protest organized by the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO. The protesters denounced a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that government workers can't be forced to contribute to labor unions that represent them in collective bargaining.

Pa. ranks 4th in nation for union membership

Jacqueline Larma / AP Photo

In this June 27, 2018, file photo, Amanda Hammock, center, a Delaware County, Pa. Democratic Party activist, is dressed as Rosie the Riveter during a protest organized by the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO. The protesters denounced a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that government workers can’t be forced to contribute to labor unions that represent them in collective bargaining.

• Ahead of the upcoming Labor Day holiday, it’s worth looking at the role of unions in Pennsylvania. First some numbers: Across Pennsylvania, there were 701,000 union members in 2018, according to federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data for employed wage and salary workers. That is about 12.6 percent of all employed wage and salary workers here.

• Among states, Pennsylvania ranks fourth for the number of union members. We rank higher than Texas and Florida, which both have more people.

• Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court made it illegal for unions to collect fees from government workers who don’t join the union but are covered by negotiated contracts. One year later, Post-Gazette reporter Nick Garber found that labor leaders around Pittsburgh say they’re in good financial shape despite the decision. “Frankly, we did lose money — agency fees were a big portion of our budget,” said Steve Catanese, president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 668 in Pittsburgh. “But when we saw more people join up, it replaced a lot of that loss.”

• On the political side, unions exert their power in a lot of areas. In a story earlier this week, PennLive’s Charlie Thompson noted that the leaders of the union that represents about 3,5000 state liquor store clerks is warning about dangers that would follow looser rules for the sale of wine and liquor.

• The Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association is fighting plans from Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration to close a state prison near Wilkes-Barre.

• The Pennsylvania State Education Association has praised Gov. Tom Wolf for his leadership in boosting state education funding. While efforts to raise the minimum salary for school districts teachers to $45,000 a year failed last spring, the state’s largest teachers union hopes to make progress on the issue in the fall. Several states away, the governor of Illinois recently signed into law a bill that will raise the minimum teacher salary to $40,000 a year by 2023-24.

• Labor Day events will take place across the state this weekend, including parades in Pittsburgh, Philly and Erie on Monday.

Best of the rest

Jacqueline Larma / AP Photo

PA Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel attends the formal dedication of the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix Friday June 1, 2018 in Collegeville, Pa.

• The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections plans to implement 11 changes after a review of recent homicides in which the alleged perpetrators were former state inmates out on parole. WITF’s Brett Sholtis has the details.

• The Inquirer’s Jason Nark spent time at Pennsylvania’s smallest daily newspaper, The Daily Herald in Blair County. “It sends a writer, sometimes two, to every council and school board meeting in the communities it covers,” Nark writes. “…The Daily Herald is the opposite of a ghost.” If you decide to read Nark’s story, make sure to stay for the feral cat concerns raised at a recent council meeting.

• Erie Coke’s plant can say open until at least February if it meets certain conditions, an Environmental Hearing Board judge ruled on Wednesday, GoErie.com reports. The state Department of Environmental Protection, which is “extremely disappointed” with Wednesday’s decision, could appeal to Commonwealth Court. In July, state environmental regulators attempted to shut down the foundry, which has a lengthy history of environmental violations.

• PA Post won’t be sending The Context in your mailbox Monday morning as we’ll be off enjoying the Labor Day holiday. We will return for Tuesday’s edition. In the meantime, feel free to listen to some old-timey songs performed by Pete Seeger, the bard of organized labor.