PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA (April 12, 2013) - Higher education union leaders from across Pennsylvania met last weekend to discuss higher education funding, the difficulty of negotiating contracts in the current political and economic climate, rising college student debt and other issues at the annual AFT Pennsylvania-PSEA Higher Education Coalition Conference.
“The higher education leaders at this conference collectively represent more than 12,000 unionized professors and academic professionals in Pennsylvania,” said Jay Andrews, the conference’s lead organizer and AFTPA’s State Affiliate Political Organizer. Andrews worked with Nate Greenawalt, Pennsylvania State Education Association UniServe Representative, to organize Friday’s and Saturday’s events in Plymouth Meeting.
Keynote Speaker and labor lawyer Amy Rosenberger discussed the threat to collective
bargaining rights posed by a case before the PA Supreme Court; and guest speaker Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, who has announced she is running for PA governor, discussed the importance of funding our colleges and universities.
Rosenberger, a labor attorney and partner at the Philadelphia law firm of Willig, Williams and Davidson, expressed concerns about the impact a case pending before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court could have on unionized employees statewide.
In February, Philadelphia Mayor Nutter, a Democrat, asked the state Supreme Court to overturn a 1993 ruling that favored workers in a standoff during city-public employee negotiations. Nutter has asked the Supreme Court to allow the city to impose a contract unilaterally on blue-collar, AFSCME District Council 33 employees.
"Under the current state of the law, a public employer is required to maintain the status quo after the contract expired – effectively extending the expired contract – as long as the employees have not gone on strike. This rule creates an incentive against strikes in the public sector, particularly during difficult contract negotiations, to avoid the possibility that the employer would impose a concessionary final offer, leaving the union to bargain out from under those terms of employment," Rosenberger explained.
"I am concerned that if Mayor Nutter wins before the Supreme Court, allowing public employers to implement a final offer even when there is not a strike, the result may actually be more strikes among public employees. That would be contrary to the very purpose of Act 195, which was to minimize labor disputes," she said.
It’s not clear when there will be a decision in the District Council 33 case, Rosenberger said. With the departure of Justice Orie Melvin, there are only six sitting Justices on the Supreme Court – three Democrats and three Republicans.
"There are those who speculate that the Court is waiting until the seventh seat is filled to rule on particularly significant cases – especially if there is a tie vote. The vacancy is likely to be filled by appointment of Gov. Corbett (with advice and consent of the Senate), and that will take some time," she added.
AFTPA and dozens of other labor unions filed an Amicus Brief in support of DC 33, white-collar employees’ union, DC 47 and firefighters’ Local 22, who have worked without raises under the terms of the previous contracts since 2009.
Congresswoman Schwartz, 13th District which includes much of Montgomery County and parts of Northeast Philadelphia, who launched her campaign for Pennsylvania governor recently, told leaders that adequate funding for higher education is crucial. “The continued economic strength and security of the United States is directly tied to expanding access to affordable higher education,” she says. “Over the course of their lifetime, a college graduate can expect to earn $1 million more than an individual with only a high school diploma.” Yet tuition costs are making it difficult for many Pennsylvania students to go to college, and 70 percent of college seniors in PA graduate with student-loan debt.
Neither AFTPA nor PSEA have made any endorsements in the 2016 gubernatorial race.
During discussion on the state’s higher education budget, State Sen. Vincent Hughes, minority chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, talked about the Corbett administration’s cuts to education funding, as well as the need for the state to participate in the federal Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion. He said the ACA would provide expanded coverage for an estimated 652,000 Pennsylvanians and federal reimbursements would save the state hundreds of millions of dollars that could be channeled into education, higher education, transportation and other programs.
Among the 80 attendees were representatives of the AFL-CIO Pennsylvania and Philadelphia leadership; American Federation of Teachers’ national legislative, higher education and organizing staff; Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties leaders; and Pennsylvania and New Jersey PSEA and AFT represented state-related universities, community colleges, private colleges and unionized graduate student instructors.
The statewide meeting was held Friday and Saturday, April 12-13, in Plymouth Meeting.