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Pennsylvania

Swarthmore Students Punished For Gaza Protests

March 27, 2025 Betsey Piette, Workers World. , , , , , , ,
Swarthmore College issued sanctions on March 6 against 15 students for participating in anti-genocide activism for Palestinians in Gaza. Their peaceful demonstrations of solidarity with Gaza occurred between October 2023 and March 2024. The college in Media, Pennsylvania, is located outside of Philadelphia. The most extreme sanctions are aimed against one graduating senior who was suspended, nine who received one-semester probation and one who received a two-semester probation. The second-semester senior set to graduate was suspended on the charge of “assault” for the use of a megaphone indoors.

Pennsylvania Governor Sues Trump Administration Over Frozen IRA Funds

February 15, 2025 Paige Bennett, EcoWatch. , , , ,
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced a lawsuit on Thursday against President Donald Trump’s administration for freezing funding made available through the Inflation Reduction Act. As Utility Dive reported, Trump ordered a freeze to IRA funds in an executive order made his first day in office. According to the governor’s office, Pennsylvania state agencies have not been able to access the Solar for All funds or other IRA funding, despite a federal judge ruling on Monday that the current administration must comply with a previous order that blocked the IRA funding freeze, CBS News reported.

How Philly Whole Foods Workers Beat Bezos

February 4, 2025 Eric Blanc, Labor Politics. , , , , , ,
Can labor sustain its forward momentum under Trump? The first big test came last Monday, when Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia voted on whether to unionize with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Many in the labor movement were expecting a loss, since MAGA is now in office and since management — headed by Trump’s new billionaire buddy Jeff Bezos — went scorched earth against the nascent union effort. But a multiracial crew of young, self-organized, left-leaning workers proved the skeptics wrong, as so often has been the case since 2021.

Thousands Of Resident Physicians In Philadelphia Voted To Unionize

January 22, 2025 Aubrey Whelan, Portside. , , , , ,
Eight in 10 doctors-in-training in Philadelphia are now represented by unions, following a wave of labor organizing across major health systems in the region. Doctors at three Philadelphia health systems and Delaware's largest health provider voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents, a division of the Service Employees International Union. The move follows a national trend of physicians unionizing around the country, as doctors increasingly look for solutions to burnout in a field now dominated by large health system employers.

Whistleblower Demands Governor Fix ‘Completely Unregulated’ Fracking Wastewater Network

December 23, 2024 Justin Nobel, DeSmog. , , , , , ,
A whistleblowing Pennsylvania oil and gas worker, together with the state’s former lead environmental regulator, are ringing the alarm bell on an unregulated and shadowy network of pipelines at least hundreds, and perhaps even thousands of miles long. The pipeline system was constructed over the past decade by oil and gas operators in Pennsylvania to transport toxic and radioactive fracking wastewater. “There is no oversight,” says Robert Green, who works in southwestern Pennsylvania as a hydrostatic tester, a niche job in the industry that involves assuring pipelines can appropriately handle the complex and often hazardous fuels and waste streams they contain.

All Out For Mumia Abu-Jamal In December

December 6, 2024 Betsey Piette, Workers' World. , , , ,
Philadelphia, PA - December 9 will mark the 43rd year of unjust incarceration for U.S. political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Demonstrations, teach-ins and other events will be held in several U.S. cities and in Mexico City, Berlin and Paris. In Philadelphia, a teach-in on political prisoners and dismantling the prison industrial complex will take place on Dec. 7 from 1-3 p.m. at Community College of Philadelphia, Center for Business and Industry, 17th and Callowhill streets, Room C2-28. A photo ID will be required for entry to the campus.

Whole Foods Workers File for First-Ever Union, Defying Amazon

November 23, 2024 Kim Kelly, In These Times. , , , , ,
With a rich history stretching back to 1682, Philadelphia boasts the nation’s first library, its first hospital, its first daily newspaper, even its first zoo. Now, a tenacious group of grocery store workers wants to earn the City of Brotherly Love another accomplishment: the nation’s first unionized Whole Foods Market. On November 22, Whole Foods Workers United officially declared its intention to unionize with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 1776 and filed papers with the National Labor Relations Board. Since Amazon bought the company in 2017, Whole Foods has undergone a litany of changes — many, workers say, for the worse.

Struggle To Save Chinatown From Arena Moves To City Council

November 19, 2024 Marta Guttenberg, Workers World. , , , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - A special session of the Philadelphia City Council was held Nov. 12 for council members to question representatives of 76DevCorp about their master plan and Community Benefits Agreement for a $1.5 billion basketball arena called “76 Place” they want to build adjacent to Philadelphia’s historic Chinatown. With Mayor Cherelle Parker being an enthusiastic proponent of the arena plan, it was not surprising that her staff members were on hand to help the owners’ representatives answer questions or that the event was planned without input from communities that will be most impacted.

‘Northumberland 2’ Free On Bail After Alleged Mink Release

November 14, 2024 Chris Schiano, Unicorn Riot. , , ,
Northumberland County, PA — An engaged couple from Massachusetts was freed on bail from jail last week after the alleged October 19 release of over 600 mink from the Richard H. Stahl Sons Inc. fur farm near Sunbury, off Pennsylvania State Route 890. State prosecutors charged Celeste Legere and Cara Mitrano with over a dozen criminal counts — including ecoterrorism and RICO charges — and they face decades in prison. Originally held on $150,000 bail each, Legere and Mitrano were later allowed by a judge to post 10 percent of the full bail amount.

American Bar Association Mandates Crackdown On Law Student Speech

October 25, 2024 Fight Back! News. , , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, PA – On October 16, over the objections of students, Temple University Beasley School of Law adopted anti-protest policies mandated by the American Bar Association. In the spring of 2024, the American Bar Association (ABA) adopted a mandate forcing all law schools to adopt policies designed to prevent the student protests that have taken place since October 7, 2023. While the student movement has recently surged as a part of the broader pro-Palestine movement, law student protests that have raised concern from the ABA also include the pro-choice and LGBTQ rights activism following judicial attacks on women and LGBTQ people in the courts.

Aramark Concession Workers Strike At Philly Sports Complex

October 2, 2024 Dan Feidt, Unicorn Riot. , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, PA — The unionized workforce that handles concessions at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex started to strike on Monday, September 23. Hundreds of Aramark stadium workers that bargain with the UNITE HERE Philly Local 274 union are demanding new contracts. Unicorn Riot was told that Aramark, which is headquartered in Center City Philadelphia with a market capitalization value of $9.8 billion, has tried to prevent the unionized workers from qualifying for healthcare plans by dividing their hours between the three stadiums – Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field and the Wells Fargo Center.

Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant To Reopen; Microsoft To Purchase Power

September 24, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. , , , , ,
In March of 1979, Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant — which was powered by two pressurized light-water reactors — experienced a cooling malfunction that caused part of the core of the second reactor to melt, releasing radioactive material into the environment. Constellation Energy has plans to reopen Three Mile Island, and Microsoft has agreed to buy power from it for 20 years. Recent United States government zero-emissions energy incentives have spurred owners of closed-down nuclear plants to consider reopening them, reported Pennsylvania’s WESA. Activists are asking the government of Pennsylvania to stop the reopening of the plant.

Activists Take Over Harris’ Campaign Office Demanding: ‘Release One NOW!’

September 17, 2024 Joe Piette, Workers' World. , , , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Southeast Asian community members and allies held a peaceful sit-in for over three hours inside the Harris/Walz campaign office in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia on Sept. 9. They were demanding the Biden/Harris administration release Southeast Asian refugee Sereyrath “One” Van from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and order a moratorium on deportations through the end of their term. The sit-in began when six Southeast Asian community members and allies attending a weekday canvassing session at Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign office sat down on the floor, held up signs and chanted: “Release One NOW! Moratorium NOW! Not One More!”

The People Versus The Billionaires

September 11, 2024 Betsey Piette, Workers' World. , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Several thousand people turned out for the Save Chinatown Coalition rally on Sept. 7 to protest the Philadelphia 76ers’ proposal to build a new $1.55 billion arena near Chinatown called “76 Place.” While the National Basketball Association team’s billionaire owners repeatedly say a new arena at 10th and Market streets would provide “economic opportunity for surrounding areas,” community residents, who have been fighting this proposal for over two years, argue that it would be an “existential threat” to this historic Philadelphia neighborhood. The impact studies commissioned by the city, released in late August, support the residents’ arguments.

‘Gross Human Rights Violations’ At ICE Detention Center

September 10, 2024 Joe Piette, Workers' World. , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - When immigrants are picked up from their communities and eventually detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center, Pennsylvania’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, they are forced to endure “punitive, inhumane and dangerous conditions.” The charge of “widespread human rights violations” was made in a report by the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice, with support from the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union. Entitled “In the Shadow of the Valley: The Unnecessary Confinement and Dehumanizing Conditions of People in Immigration Detention at Moshannon Valley Processing Center,” the report was released at a press conference at Temple University Beasley School of Law on Sept. 4.
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