Budget

Students from across Pennsylvania rallied demanding Equity in Education.  This action was organized by Philadelphia Student Union, Project Peace, A+ Schools' TeenBloc & Juntos.  Over the course of the last year, Governor Tom Corbett has cut public education in Pennsylvania by more than $1 Billion, all the while increasing funding for prisons.  These unprecedented cuts have lead to school districts like Chester Upland laying-off fifty-three percent of their teaching staff, a precursor to the teachers finally working without pay beginning in January of this year.

Over 100 people attended the eight-hour Town Meeting For Jobs Not Wars on Saturday, October 30th from 9AM to 3PM in an auditorium at Philadelphia Community College. On the same day, Jon Stewart had a major rally in Washington D.C. and President Obama made an appearance at Temple University in Philadelphia. Organizers from the Coalition For Jobs Not Wars, the group that sponsored the town meeting, declared it a rousing success and a propitious beginning for the newly created coalition. So far, the coalition is made up of 13 Philadelphia community and activist groups.

On October 4th of this year, the City of Philadelphia released a memorandum aimed at stripping Fire Service Paramedics of their union representation under Local 22. All uniformed fire department personnel have been represented collectively by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 22 for the last 25 years.

Philadelphia is in crisis. People across the city are feeling the effects of the global economic downturn and wondering what the future will bring for them and their families. The city has finally resolved a long, drawn out, and deeply unsettling budgeting process, and it feels now like the dust has finally settled. But even though massive service cuts and layoffs are off the table for now, this economic crisis is far from over, and we in Philadelphia now have a clear idea of the kinds of solutions our city government is willing to present.

While delivering his budget to City Council, Mayor Nutter declared war on Philadelphia's municipal unions stating that he would seek to slash health care and pension benefits for city workers while reducing the number of paid vacation days.