Jai’onna Hines

On Tuesday April 30, public school activists packed City Council chambers like an overcrowded Philly classroom. Activists from all over the city came to demand our city leaders find additional funding for starving Philly public schools.

Prior to Tuesday’s school funding hearing, Superintendent Dr. William Hite was in council chambers also asking council to seek out a solution for next year’s school budget. Dr. Hite asked city council to secure an additional $60 million for schools and is counting on $120 million from the state to fill a massive $340 million hole in the school budget.

Person after person at last week’s hearing called for Mayor Nutter and City Council to adequately fund Philadelphia schools and enact fair taxes. Fight for Philly members Patricia Solomon and 13 year old school student Jai’onna Hines testified about the need to raise revenue to guarantee quality education for all residents of the city.

“I have two grand-children in public schools and constantly worry about the quality of the education they are receiving.  Our schools are already operating on bare bones, and without new revenue, our children’s futures will be in deeper jeopardy.” said South Philadelphia resident Patricia.

As Patricia gave her testimony to council, numerous Fight for Philly members sitting in the audience stood up and unraveled 1,500 signatures petitioning Mayor Nutter and City Council to make big businesses and mega non-profits pay their fair share in taxes.

Philadelphia school student Jai’onna asked, “Why are students asked to sacrifice while big corporations get additional tax breaks?  It is up to our elected city leaders to put our schools and communities back on the path of prosperity!”

After Jai’onna’s testimony, Fight for Philly and Neighborhood Networks delivered the 1,500 signatures to Mayor Nutter’s office, but the mayor and staffers refused to accept them.  We eventually left them for a Philadelphia Police officer.

Add your name to the petition here!  The fight for fair taxation continues.

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Last week, Fight for Philly members went to Harrisburg to protest Governor Corbett’s disgusting new tax proposal, which would give even more breaks to big corporations.

With Governor Corbett away in Brazil with his business cronies scouting “business opportunities,” taxpayers protested at the state Capitol against the governor’s proposal to give hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax giveaways to rich corporations without closing tax loopholes. The expensive plan would likely force deeper cuts to public schools, higher education, hospitals, libraries and communities in future years.  By locking-in the tax giveaways for businesses, the plan puts out-of-state corporations before the needs of children, seniors and vital human services.

Fight for Philly member Sylana Christopher addressed the crowd at the Rotunda, saying “Time and time again, the governor chooses to favor large corporations and put profits ahead of our children, seniors, and working families. These tax cuts have drained resources from schools and health care while failing to produce jobs. We can’t afford new tax cuts that hurt kids and do nothing to create jobs. Shame on you, Governor Corbett!”

The protestors bashed the governor’s tax proposal for failing to address job creation or close the “Delaware loophole,” which has already cost the state millions of dollars. Past business tax breaks have failed to create jobs. The state’s unemployment rate is still higher than the national average, with Pennsylvania ranking 34^th out of 50 states in its unemployment rate.

“For Gov. Corbett, tax reform means people pay more and corporations pay less. Every dollar that Corbett gives away in corporate tax breaks is a dollar the people and small businesses have to make up,” said Philadelphian Robert Choice, who also addressed the crowd to encourage the governor to accept the federal Medicaid expansion.

After the rally at the Rotunda, protestors made their way to Governor Corbett’s office to deliver a petition demanding he close corporate loopholes, delay corporate tax cuts, and expand Medicaid.

Last Wednesday, Fight for Philly and 100 federal government employees came together at the Liberty Bell and the Federal building to protest the across-the-boards cuts known as the sequester.

The protest was part of a national day of action showing the sequester’s effects on struggling Americans.  Federal workers are facing reduced hours and furlough notices from the cuts, leading to delays and reduced hours in services for us.  Others are suffering from cuts to health programs, unemployment compensation, and education.

Federal workers and community members chanted, “No more cuts!” and held up signs that read “Freedom, Not Sequestration” and “The Sequestration Stinks”. Union representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency to the National Park Service spoke out against the sequester and called on Congress to come to a resolution.

“There is a budget problem in the United States, but the federal worker did not create the budget problem,” said Richard Gennetti, AFGE District 3 national representative. “The budget problem was created by government decisions, by our national government that spent a tremendous amount of money.”

Fight for Philly member Liz Lassiter has been directly affected by the sequestration. Here’s what she had to say Congress:

“Until last August, I was the Canvass Director for Action United, a community organizing group. I was laid off due to a lack of funding and have been receiving unemployment checks while I look for a job and care for my grandson. It’s a challenge to support my grandson and look for work with the amount I was getting from unemployment. And now I am getting even less! Due to the sequester cuts, my checks got 10% smaller two weeks ago! This is not enough! Cuts like this hurt people like me, who are trying to look for work and take care of our families. Congress needs to reverse the sequester and reverse these cuts!

My grandson attends Head Start programs, which are also losing funding. I don’t know what I would do if he can go for fewer hours or gets kicked out – I really count on this vital early education for him.

Congress, please: End the sequester, for all of us.”

Last Tuesday, workers, business owners, economists, and many others packed City Council in support of a bill requiring businesses to offer employees paid time off when they are sick.

Before the hearing, supporters held a press conference to explain the importance of earned sick time.  Claudia Williams, an economist for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, explained that employers in the city would save an estimated $500,000 if they offered earned time off, contrary to the claim that it hurt businesses and the economy.  Workers also talked about how much paid sick time would help them, and a daycare operator came out in support of the bill as a business owner.

The hearing began with Alan Greenberger, the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, claiming that the the Earned Sick Days bill would hurt Philadelphia business. During his testimony, activists held up signs reading, “No sick days make me sick!”  Councilman Bill Greenlee, who is strongly in support of the bill,challenged Greenberger’s testimony, telling him at one point, “You can’t handle the truth!” about the benefits of earned time off. Greenlee then spoke about how successful earned sick time has been in San Francisco. A similar bill was enacted in the Bay Area in 2006, and jobs grew by 3.5% in 4 years, even during the recession.

Childcare provider Karen Barnes and waitress Rosemary Divine spoke next. Karen Barnes contracted impetigo from a child and missed two weeks of work- unpaid. She described the bill as a “necessity” and asked council to consider approving mandatory paid sick time for part time and full-time workers. Restaurant worker Rosemary Devine echoed Karen Barnes’s concerns about going to work sick or working alongside someone who is sick, saying servers especially need to be able to stay home instead of coughing or sneezing on customers’ plates.

The Earned Sick Days bill would create job security for families and help workers take care of themselves or families members without losing income.

Earned Sick Days Bill:

• Workers would earn one hour of sick leave for every 40 hours worked.
• Firms with between six and 10 workers would have to offer up to four sick days per year.
• Larger firms would have to offer up to seven earned sick days per year. Businesses with fewer than six workers would be exempt.
• Victims of domestic abuse could use the sick days for other personal matters, such as meeting with an attorney.

(Read More Here)

After a four-hour long hearing, Council’s Public Health Committee approved the bill!  Now, it goes to a final vote in the full Council next week.  Mayor Nutter is expected to veto the bill, like he did to a similar one in 2011, so it’s up to us to get City Council members to vote to over-ride a veto.  Click here to sign a petition telling Comcast to stop opposing this bill.

Send a letter to the governor demanding Medicaid expansion!

Recently, Governor Corbett made an unsurprising but still disappointing decision when he announced he was “not recommending” Medicaid expansion in PA. This means thousands of uninsured families will fall by the wayside and have no way of covering medical expenses.  It also refuses billions of dollars in federal funds that could help our state’s economy and create jobs.

According to the Maternity Care Coalition:

Today, one in five residents in Pennsylvania receives health coverage through Medicaid. In addition, almost half of all births in Pennsylvania, and 35% of children, are covered by this critical program. While Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) together provide a strong base of health coverage for low-income children and pregnant women – as Medicare does for the elderly – eligibility for low-income adults ages 18 to 64 remains extremely limited. And pregnant women’s coverage ends almost immediately following birth.

The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which increases the number eligible for coverage by significantly raising the income limit, to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($26,344 for a family of three), is key to providing coverage to millions of uninsured adults.

Not only is Governor Corbett denying families health coverage that will cost the state nothing, but he also is smothering future job growth in PA. A report from Families USA and the Pennsylvania Health Access Network said expanding Medicaid would lead to 41,200 new jobs in 2016, as $3.5 billion more in Medicaid funding would flow into the state to cover as many as 682,000 uninsured low-income Pennsylvanians.

Here are reasons why Medicaid expansion is needed:

• A large proportion of low income individuals are presently uninsured.
• Even some low income people with disabilities don’t qualify for Medicaid.
• Medicaid is good for health.
• Medicaid offers financial protection.
• Expansion costs states very little; most of the cost is covered by the federal government.
• More broadly, health reform saves many states money.
• Medicaid expansion supports the economy.

Despite the Governor’s statements, supporters of Medicaid are still pushing for him to change his mind and accept the Medicaid expansion, like the governors of 24 other states have, including 8 Republicans.  Just last week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced his state will accept the Medicaid expansion, saying “It’s simple. We are putting people first.  We have an opportunity to ensure that an even greater number of New Jerseyans who are at or near the poverty line will have access to critical health services beginning in January 2014.” He said that “expanding Medicaid will ensure New Jersey taxpayers will see their dollars maximized.”

Philadelphia’s City Council has called for hearing on the state’s decision on Friday, March 22, 2013.

Send a letter to the governor demanding Medicaid expansion!

On Tuesday, concerned parents, students, and activists marched into Philadelphia City Council chambers to hear testimony pertaining to the proposed closing of 37 Philadelphia schools (already now down to 29 after much protest). Close to 200 protestors packed the room and heckled plans to close neighborhood schools. Protestors waved signs with messaging that opposed closings and shouted, “You’re killing legacies” and “Where’s the money?”

The hearing, with 56 listed witnesses, lasted most of the day and occasionally boiled over in anger.

A common theme in many of the witness testimonies was the idea of small children traveling long distances to schools in unsafe neighborhoods. Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. said he had walked some of the routes that children would have to traverse to get to their new schools and found them dangerous. “Quite frankly, I’m a grown man, and it scares me,” Jones said. “In some cases, we had to cross major thoroughfares that are as wide as rivers.”

Fight for Philly demanded a moratorium on school closings during their testimonies.  Member, Sylana Cristopher spoke passionately about the negative effects the closings would have on her own children. “I do not want my children to be uprooted from their school and placed into an overcrowded school that provides no extra academic support,” she said.

Council then heard from Fight for Philly’s Anne Gemmell, who said “School closings hurt our communities – our families, our kids, our property values, our communities, and more. Cutting middle class jobs and replacing them with low wage, dead-end jobs hurt the households reliant on public education, therefore hurting our schools too.” She went on to further say, “our school district and many around the state are in a state-created crisis exacerbated by the choices Governor Corbett has made. . . we all had to sacrifice while oil and gas companies and other wealthy companies get financial favors.”

The School Reform Commission will hold public school closing hearings Feb. 21, 22, and 23, and is scheduled to vote on the plan March 7.