Hundreds of Union Workers Rally: ‘Pennsylvania Needs Unions’

Hardworking union members from across Pennsylvania arrived at the state capitol on June 11^th to call on politicians to stand with working people: Make it easier for workers to join unions, protect the rights in our contracts and ensure health and safety in our jobs. The group held rallies in the rotunda, visited with lawmakers, and held vigil on the capitol steps.

“I believe that working people deserve to be treated with dignity, and the union and collective action is the best way to make sure that we are,” said Andy Hilt who works to help the disabled community receive benefits n in Central PA. “A living wage, sick pay and retirement don’t just happen, we fight for them.”

It’s a pivotal time. Corporations and the rich are pushing laws and the Supreme Court Case Janus v. AFSCME which all aim to rig the system in favor of wealthy special interests and billion-dollar corporations.

“Every working person in Pennsylvania deserves the benefits I have as a union employee. They all have the right to decent wages, affordable healthcare, job security and many more of the great assets I have thanks to being a union member,” Donna Heimbach, HCPA, CNA, Lewistown.

Union members called for state legislators to sign onto a resolution by Representatives Dan L. Miller and Representative Ed Neilson which supports our rights to join a union and negotiate a fair contract, relieve the tax burden on the middle class, properly fund our schools and human services, and to fight for higher wages and safer working conditions for all workers.

“This fight isn’t only about union members. It’s about all working families. We will not sit back and watch billionaires and the Trump administration take back all we’ve fought to gain over the years. We have fought to earn decent living wages that allow us to support our families and lift up our communities,” said Denise Bennett, a 32BJ SEIU member and Philadelphia School District worker.

A good union job was once the pathway to the middle class. It is not a coincidence that as union membership has sharply declined, income inequality has skyrocketed. The key to better healthcare, higher wages, and decent housing is to give all Pennsylvanians the right to a good union job.

“I can’t remain on the sidelines while lawmakers toy with workers rights, the ability of the labor force to bargain for better wages and independence. I’m here because what affects my neighbor will inevitably affect me,” Precious Bonney, SEIU 668 member.

Recently, we’ve seen a surge in working families across the nation standing up against attacks by wealthy special interests. In March, SEIU members and other union workers helped elect Conor Lamb in a stunning win for a seat in the U.S. Congress. And, teachers in North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arizona have demonstrated showing their strength and will to demand change.

“Lawmakers too often say they are for the people and then make decisions that hurt the 99 percent,” added Bonney. “I’m here to call them out and to tell them to do their jobs or lose their seats.”