their rights under Sec-tion 1620 or even considers invoking it will not be receiving the endorsement of our central labor council today or in the future. Candidates were also questioned about their position on Right to Work and Paycheck Protection legislation. The committee dis-cussed with each can-didate the impacts that organized labor plays on our local

On Thursday, March 12

th, the legislative

committee of the Bea-ver/Lawrence Central Labor Council (BLCLC) conducted interviews for County and State wide elections. Interviews began at 3pm and the committee worked till nearly 2am discussing each candi-date’s qualifications for each race. Each candidate was asked about Section 1620 of the Pennsylva-nia County Code that allows an elected offi-cial if they choose to ignore the negotiated rights of union workers. Section 1620 has been and will always be viewed as an attack on organized labor, and will continue to be a big part of the BLCLC’s de-cision when endorsing candidates. We have seen first-hand elected officials evoke their

rights under Section 1620. Elected officials right here in Beaver Coun-ty have removed “Just Cause” discipline from collective bargaining agreements while oth-er elected officials have invoked their rights under Section 1620 as they refused to allow dislocated workers to bump into their departments. We as a labor council will not accept such attacks on public sec-tor workers. Any can-didate who invokes

LABOR COUNCIL

OFFICERS

APRIL 2015 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 8

UNION BUG

A Newsletter of the Beaver-Lawrence Counties Central Labor Council

President:

Richard Galiano

Ex. Vice President:

Eric Hoover

Recording Secretary:

Bernie Hall

Secretary-Treasurer:

Larry Nelson

Vice Presidents:

John Howard Thompson

Jim Long

Linwood Alford

Janice Carpenter

Dennis Powell

Trustees:

Lisa Alexander

Laurie Fisher

Mark Benkart

Kerrianne Theuerl

Jody Kohser

Charles Hamilton

Primary Election Endorsements Announced By Eric Hoover

Labor Council Ex. Vice President

Labor Council Endorsed Candidates Commissioner Tony Amadio (D) Joe Spanik (D) Coroner Michael (Doc) Sisk (D) David Gabauer (R) Register of Wills Tracy Antoline-Patton (D) District Attorney Dirk Goodwald (D) Prothonotary Nancy Werme (D) Clerk of Courts Judy Enslen (D) Controller David Rossi (D) Sheriff Tony Guy (R)

(continued on page 6)

* Thank you to the Legislative Committee for organizing the Primary Election endorse-ment interviews on March 12

th. The interviews started

at 4:00pm and went on until 11:00pm. The endorsement votes tak-en at the Council member-ship meeting on March 16

th

went smoothly because of the Committee’s excellent preparation. * The 2015 Legislative Ban-quet will be held on Saturday, May 2nd, at Shadow Lakes, 2000 Beaver Lake Blvd. in Aliquippa, PA. Social Hour (Cocktails, Cash Bar) from 5:00-6:00, Dinner 6:00-7:00,

Program 7:00. Reservations will be accepted until April17, 2015. *The next monthly meeting of the Beaver/Lawrence Cen-tral Labor Council will be held on Monday, April 20, at IBEW Local 712 in Vanport, PA. Executive Board meeting is at 6:00pm followed by the membership meeting at 7:30pm. All are welcome to attend. *Thank you to IAM 1976 for sponsoring the food and re-freshments after the March Council meeting in Beaver. Local 29 will sponsor the food and refreshments after the April meeting in Vanport.

UNION BUG Published Monthly

An official publication of the

Beaver/Lawrence Central Labor Council

P.O. Box A, Beaver, PA 15009

Editor - Victor Colonna

Asst. Editor - Steven Kocherzat

NEWSPAPER COMMITTEE

Eric Hoover

Laurie Fisher

Kerri Theuerl

CALENDAR OF EVENTS COMMITTEE

Jody Kohser

Mark Bankart

President’s Report By Rick Galiano

Page 2 UNION BUG

The opinions expressed in Union Bug articles are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Beaver-Lawrence Central Labor Council or its officers.

*The Endorsed Candidate Luncheon scheduled for April 1

st has been moved.

This was necessary due to a scheduling conflict with an event hosted by the Alleghe-ny Co. CLC for Kevin Daugherty, endorsed candi-date for State Supreme Court. We are urging all del-egates to attend this event and show our support for Judge Daugherty. We have rescheduled our luncheon for April 15

th at

11:30am Tinitiques Café in Bridgewater, Pa. This will be a great opportunity for Labor leaders and delegates along with friends of Labor to meet our endorsed prima-ry candidates. There is no cost to attend. Please RSVP to beaverlaw-renceclc@gmail.com if you wish to attend.

mailto:beaverlawrenceclc@gmail.commailto:beaverlawrenceclc@gmail.com

“The most important thing is to shelter in place, stay in-doors, no outdoor activity, turn the air conditioners off, keep the windows closed”. These were the instructions Torrance Mayor Patrick Furey gave to the neighbors of Exxon Mobil refinery, in-cluding children at 14 schools, for three hours fol-lowing a massive explosion at the facility Feb 18. Four workers were injured and the force of the explosion was so great it registered as a mag-nitude 1.4 earthquake. It was the third U.S refinery explo-sion this year. The USW oil workers’ strike wasn’t about wages or bene-fits, it was about 12 hour shifts for 30 straight days, worker fatigue from working as much as 16 or 20 hours and too many ill paid, ill trained contract workers. The workers injured at Tor-rance were contract workers. During the strike, more than 20% of the oil refining capac-ity of the country was on strike and over 5000 workers were on strike in the Greater Houston area alone. Solidarity has worked and the strike has been partially settled. An agreement was

ratified with Shell, and strik-ing Shell and Motiva workers will be going back to work. The pattern was maintained and the offer was put on the tables at all the companies. Gains were made in safety and the agreement calls for immediate review of staffing and workload assessments. Daily maintenance and repair was also addressed. Hiring plans are being developed along with recruitment and training programs. Preserving “retrogression” clauses in the agreement was also important. This was language designed to protect past gains in health, safety, health care and in many oth-er aspects of the contract. However until local issues are resolved workers at BP, Tesoro and other facilities will remain on strike. Democracy Override – SB 333! SB 333, as amended in the PA Senate, is a patently anti-democratic bill. Some sena-tors are trying to deny the right of municipalities' to de-cide what is best for their lo-cal community. This state intervention bill would keep local communi-

ties from passing laws on paid or unpaid leave that go beyond the state minimum -- even when that minimum is zero. A recent amendment made a terrible bill even worse. Phila-delphia council passed a very popular bill to grant workers paid sick days earli-er this year. Members of our legislature deliberately amended the bill so that it strips Philadelphia workers of their hard won victory on paid sick days. It also prevents other municipalities in our state from creating paid and unpaid leave laws that are best for their local communi-ties. Call your Senator and ask how they can in good con-science strip democratically won rights from the city of Philadelphia where the Dec-laration of Independence was signed and where the Constitution was written? I’m sure that these same sena-tors would be fine with pass-ing right to work in cities, counties and municipalities which is the newest tactic on right to work.

Page 3 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 8

Oil Workers Strike By Janet Hill

National VP CLUW

Page 4 UNION BUG

Well, Spring has finally ar-rived. Last year the Labor Council installed a New Ser-vice at the Midland VFW Park. We will finish this Project soon. The old service was in-adequate. Thanks to the gen-erous donations from, the La-bor Council, Commissioner Joe Spanik and the Volun-teers, the VFW will have a bet-ter service for their future ex-pansions. There is a lot of work to do out there and if any one would like to Volunteer Contact the Midland VFW. The Beaver-Lawrence Labor Council Community Services Spring Arts and Craft Show was held on March 28th and the 29th. This is one of our fundraisers that allows us to do things such as the project for the VFW. Our next show will be November 7th and 8th. If you know any Crafters that would like to participate, con-tact Sara Dudash at 724-730-

7402 or Mark Benkart at 724-312-4387. On Sunday, the 15th, a group of Activists and young people did a march from New Bright-en to Beaver Falls to com-memorate the Selma to Mont-gomery marches in 1965. They were marching for Voting rights and Racial injustice in the South. The March 7, 1965 march is referred as Bloody Sunday due to the police bru-tality. The Labor Council peo-ple participating were Linwood Alford, Vanessa Taylor, Eric Hoover, and our NWALF rep-resentative Nic Johanningmei-er.

Moral Mondays The Moral Mondays Commit-tee has been concentrating on raising the minimum wage in Pennsylvania. There is a growing movement in Pennsyl-vania supported by the Ser-

vice Employees International Union. Their movement is called Raise the Wage Pa. Please visit their Facebook site and ours moralmonday-spennsylvania. Our monthly meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of the month at Kings Restaurant located in Monaca. If you would like to participate, you can contact me at 724-312-4387 or just show up. The next rally will be Wednes-day, April 15th, 4:00 pm in Pittsburgh at Forbes and Bige-low in front of the Cathedral of Learning. This rally is for Nurs-ing Home Workers to support raising their wages to $15.00 per hour. SEIU will provide transportation for any one who would like to participate. It will be leaving the IBEW Local 712 Hall in Vanport. Please contact Kerry Theuerl at 724-544-4599 if you are interested.

Community Services Report By Mark Benkart

Labor Council Community Services Committee Chair

Marchers en route from New Brighton to Beaver Falls to commemorate the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965.

Interview with David R. Fillman – AFSCME Council 13 Executive Director By Laurie Fisher

Labor Council Trustee

Page 5 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 8

David R. Fillman has served as

Executive Director of AFSCME

Council 13 (Pennsylvania)

since 2002. He started as a

mechanic for PennDOT and

worked his way up through the

ranks, serving as a staff rep

and then a council director. In

2002 he was unanimously ap-

pointed by Council 13’s execu-

tive board to fulfill his prede-

cessor’s remaining term.

David has been re-elected eve-

ry three years since then. He

also serves as an international

vice-president on AFSCME’s

International board. David has

received multiple honors and

accolades from many labor or-

ganizations. He negotiates for

the state employees’ contract

and is acutely aware of labor’s

political responsibilities.

What are you anticipating in

AFSCME's relationship with

Governor Tom Wolf?

I anticipate a great relationship

with this governor. When Tom

Wolf won the primary election

and received the nomination to

run against Corbett for the gov-

ernorship, he called me the

next day because he wanted

AFSCME on his side. He

knows the importance of the

jobs our members do, as well

as the importance of keeping

those jobs unionized.

AFSCME members mobilized

statewide to advocate for Tom

Wolf for the 2014 election, get-

ting thousands of working

Pennsylvanians to the polls.

Governor Wolf knows the im-

pact labor had on the election,

and was endorsed by us be-

cause he will look out for the

needs of the middle class and

union members in PA.

We are hoping Wolf takes a

look at subcontracts in the

Commonwealth and brings

more work in-house; that could

greatly benefit the economy

and its workers. Also, Governor

Wolf has a good philosophy

that I think will benefit state

workers when we go to the ne-

gotiating table shortly with the

current state agreement expir-

ing on June 30.

Former Governor Corbett

seemed to feel that the

state's budget issues could

be solved on the backs of

state workers via pensions,

hiring freezes and payless

paydays. Do state workers

still have a budget bull’s eye

on their backs?

While we are very pleased with

the outcome of the gubernatori-

al election, some down ballot

races did not have such a good

result. We lost some seats in

the legislature, and the new

crop is as extreme as ever.

With this kind of a legislature,

there is always a bull’s eye on

state workers’ backs to a de-

gree. However, Governor Wolf

does have the power to veto,

and I believe he would use it if

any kinds of attacks on workers

make it to his desk.

Governor Wolf also realizes

that Pennsylvania’s budgetary

issues are not so much of a

spending problem as much as

they are a revenue problem,

meaning he will protect state

workers who bring in so much

revenue and save the state

money while providing top-

notch quality of work. His expe-

rience as Secretary of Reve-

nue bears this out.

I also think Governor Wolf has

the ability to reach across the

aisle and come to resolutions

that will avoid travesties such

as hiring freezes and payless

paydays. AFSCME will do eve-

rything in its power to assure

that these kinds of measures

aren’t taken, and that the budg-

et not be balanced on state

workers’ backs.

Do you think that paycheck

deception is still an issue?

Or that the public has an un-

derstanding of what this is

and that it does not have a

cost associated with it?

Once again, with a legislature

like this one, things like

paycheck deception will always

be an issue to an extent. And

you allude to a good point; the

(continued on page 8)

Council Announces Primary Endorsements (Continued from page 1)

Page 6 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 8

On behalf of SEIU Local 668, I would like to thank the Beaver-Lawrence Central Labor Council, and especial-ly its Legislative Committee, for taking a principled stand on the use of Section 1620 of the Pennsylvania County Code and ensuring that the candidates for political office endorsed by the La-bor Council in the spring pri-mary adhere to contractually bargained rights with the County. All candidates for office should respect and uphold the worker rights and pro-tections contained in collec-

tive bargaining agreements, Department of Labor regula-tions, and case law as re-lates to Labor. At SEIU Local 668, we make it a point to endorse and support candidates for political office on both sides of the aisle, who are pro-worker. We are grateful to the Beaver-Lawrence Cen-tral Labor Council for not supporting candidates who would subvert the Constitu-tion to override the contrac-tual rights of SEIU workers in Beaver County. Collective bargaining is the

fair and equitable way to maintain a harmonious rela-tionship between employers and workers. When unscru-pulous politicians seek to undermine, bypass or ignore their own agreed upon labor contracts, they become dic-tators instead of elected rep-resentatives, and give citi-zens more reason to distrust Government. We cannot tolerate those who will not keep their word.

Tom Herman, President SEIU Local 668

SEIU 668 Thanks the Labor Council

economy and middle class families. After hours of interviews and hours of discussion the committee decided on a list of recommendations to be presented to the delegates of the Beaver/Lawrence Central Labor Council on Monday March 16

th, 2015

at the regular scheduled CLC meeting. All candi-dates were invited to at-tend the delegates meeting

and were each given 3 minutes to discuss their candidacy for public office before the recommenda-tions were made to the del-egates.

After recommendations were made by the legisla-tive committee there was

open discussion about each race and those in at-tendance voted to endorse or not endorse. As a cen-tral labor council we are a

non-partisan organization and are not affiliated with any political party.

We support candidates that we believe will fight for public policy that is favora-ble to working families at all levels of government regardless of their political

affiliation. Below you will find a list of candidates en-dorsed by the Beaver/Lawrence Central Labor Council.

On Thursday February 26th,

UFCW Local 23 traveled to Harrisburg dressed on our gold to join hundreds of un-ion members and other con-cerned folk at the Rally for Good Jobs and Healthy Communities. The people told the legislature we want a fair budget with working class priorities, and we were heard loud and clear with the help of the Local 23 drums rock-ing the rotunda! Good day, great rally! But things turned bittersweet for the PLCB employees on hand. In the House Cham-ber, they were getting ready to vote on eliminating their jobs and their families’ means of support. On Monday of that week, the House Liquor Control Com-mittee passed House Speak-er Mike Turzai’s privatization bill, HB 466, to the House floor with a straight party line vote without benefit of public hearing or any vetting what-soever. The maker of the bill didn’t even seem to know what was in it. On the PCN call in show the week prior, Rep. Turzai referred to “money from the auction” of licenses three times even though there is no provision for such an auction in his bill. The House had not held hearings on privatization since 2011, and there has

been a 25% turnover in the chamber since then. If that sort of non-transparency wasn’t disap-pointing enough, the bill was rushed through the house and passed quickly Thursday afternoon with many not hav-ing a chance to look at de-tails. It passed totally on ide-ology, the only way a bill can when the math is bad and many assumptions are simp-ly wrong. All the Democrats and four brave Republicans voted against the Speaker’s plan. The bill moves on to the Senate. Reps. Matzie, Sainato and Gibbons voted against HB 466. Reps. Marshall and Christiana, who were co-sponsors, joined Rep. West-erling in voting for HB 466. The good news is this wasn’t at all unexpected; it has hap-pened before. In March of 2013, they rammed through another privatization bill in the same manner. I laughed up coffee (not fun) when I read in Post-Gazette that the vote was historic. They said the same thing two years ago! How many times can something happen and still be historic? The first time a mountain is climbed it’s histo-ry, the second time not so much.

But this should serve notice that those looking to attack organized labor haven’t given up. It’s like we’ve been play-ing a hockey game the last four years without a goalie. Against tremendous odds, we fought privatization of both liquor and lottery, right to work, changes to prevail-ing wage, and other nefari-ous plans concocted by the far right that would hurt work-ing people, and we managed to keep the game tied. Now we have Governor Tom Wolf in goal. But that doesn’t mean we drop our sticks and quit playing! We still have to play defense because no matter how good you think your goalie is, if you let the other team take enough shots, something could get through. And we need to start playing offense. Score some goals of our own. Don’t settle for a tie. We can start by backing Gover-nor Wolf’s “big bold budget” which will include revenue from modernizing rather than privatizing the PLCB. Once we balance a budget without putting it on the backs of working people or cutting vital programs, we will be one step closer to the Governor’s vision for PA “Jobs that Pay, Schools that Teach, Government that Works.”

UFCW Continues Fight Against Privatization By John Rzodkiewicz

UFCW Local 23 Representative

Page 7 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 8

public really is unaware of what

so-called “paycheck protection”

actually is, and how bad it is for

state workers and all taxpayers.

When the average person who

may not know what it’s about

hears something called

“paycheck protection,” he or

she will probably think, ‘that

sounds good.’ But as we know,

it is not.

Groups like the American Legis-

lative Exchange Council

(ALEC), and PA-based Com-

monwealth Foundation gener-

ate legislation that extremist

legislators often use word-for-

word. And they give them nice-

sounding names like “paycheck

protection” and “right to work” to

deceive the public. That’s why it

truly is paycheck deception, and

while it will remain an issue, it is

another thing I believe Gov.

Wolf would veto if it reached his

desk.

Are the lottery and spirit

stores still on the auction

block? How did the legisla-

tors in Beaver and Lawrence

counties vote on these is-

sues in 2014?

I think it is safe to say the lottery

is not on the auction block. Cor-

bett tried hard to sell our great

state lottery and kept running

into legal troubles. Tom Wolf

has no desire to sell the lottery,

and understands its ability to

generate revenue after his time

as Revenue Secretary. This

goes back to the point I made

about Pennsylvania’s budgetary

issues not being as much of a

spending problem as they are a

revenue problem; and I do not

see Wolf selling the state lottery

with it recently bringing in rec-

ord revenues. If he looks at the

recent cases in Illinois and New

Jersey, he will see that selling

the lottery does not usually end

well for the state.

Our Wine & Spirits stores are

another fantastic source of

good jobs and revenue for the

state, and I would expect a veto

by Gov. Wolf if the legislature

gets a bill to his desk; they were

unsuccessful in passing it even

with Corbett as the governor.

Beaver and Lawrence county

Legislators Robert Matzie (D-

16), Mark Longietti (D-7), Jaret

Gibbons (D-10) and Christopher

Sainato (D-9) voted against the

Wine & Spirits privatization bill

that passed the PA House.

James Christiana (R-15), Jim

Marshall (R-14) and Michele

Brooks (R-17) voted for it.

Harris v Quinn takes away the

right of unions to collect fair

share fees from employees

that are not members of the

Union. The Supreme Court

decision held that home

health care employees who

are not "full-fledged public

employees" cannot be com-

pelled to pay agency fees.

What should AFSCME and

other government employees

in Beaver and Lawrence

counties and the CLC be do-

ing to push back against this

ruling? And to prevent it from

being interpreted to apply to

full-fledged government em-

ployees?

Harris v. Quinn was a big set-

back for organized labor. As

you said, the ruling stated that

employees who are not “full-

fledged public employees” can-

not be required to pay agency

or Fair Share fees. Back in the

1970’s, the Supreme Court

case Abood v. Detroit Board of

Education affirmed the legality

of deducting agency or Fair

Share fees from workers’

paychecks. Harris v. Quinn

challenged that, and was mildly

successful.

Anti-union forces are now push-

ing a case called Friedrichs v.

California Teachers Associa-

tion, which seeks to completely

overturn Abood. Our best weap-

ons against this case are mak-

ing all union members aware of

the detrimental effects it could

have. Continue to organize,

both internally and externally.

Work to increase full member-

ship and help us to build a

strong force against those who

seek to dismantle our move-

ment.

Page 8 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 8

Interview with David R. Fillman (Continued from page 5)

BEAVER/LAWRENCE

CENTRAL LABOR

COUNCIL

Calendar of Events

04/14 Community Services meeting - 6:30 pm Moral Mondays meeting - 7:00 pm King’s Restaurant, Monaca 04/15 Luncheon for local union leaders to meet candidates, Tinitique Café, Bridgewater, 11:30 am 04/15 SEIU Healthcare Nursing Home Day of Action, taking a stand for quality jobs & quality care, gather at Forbes & Bigelow in front of the Cathedral of Learning, 4:00 pm 04/20 Beaver-Lawrence Central Labor Council mtg– Ex Bd @ 6:00 pm; Membership @ 7:30 pm, IBEW 712- Vanport 04/25 Legislative Breakfast in Beaver County, IBEW 712 , Vanport, 9:00 am 04/28 Workman’s Comp claim workshops hosted by Rudberg Law Offices, LLC, 9:00 am-4:30 pm 05/02 Beaver-Lawrence CLC Legislative Banquet Shadow Lakes, Aliquippa, 5:00 pm 05/18 Beaver-Lawrence Central Labor Council mtg– Ex Bd @ 6:00 pm; Membership @ 7:30 pm, PSEA Bldg - New Castle

We’re on the Web: pa.aflcio.org/349

Calendar of Events submissions must be emailed to Jody Kohser, Calendar of Events Coordinator, at jkohser@verizon.net, by 6:00

p.m. on April 20th to be considered for publication in the May Issue of the UNION BUG.

mailto:jkohser@verizon.net