The people of Philly know that the labor movement created the American middle class, and thus the engine of the most powerful economy in the history of the world. We know that the middle class is being eviscerated by the radical right-wing, a debilitated democracy, and out of control corporate power.
We are learning that the states with lowest wages and worse quality of life are the right to work (for less) states. That’s why we here in Pennsylvania wiped out our former Republican governor’s radical anti-worker agenda.
Here in the birthplace of democracy we know that democracy is being dismantled, and that a voter tsunami to the polls is essential.
All that is why we are supporting Jim Kenney, an 1199 member and former hospital worker, for mayor. He will rebuild our schools and reject the education apartheid of private, for profit education. He will help us win mandatory paid time off and double the minimum wage. Most of all, he will work with us to make forming a union and collective bargaining an absolute right of workers to rebuild our communities and our wages.
35 years of stagnant wages are more than enough. We need to dig out entrenched corporate interests root and branch. One of Kenney’s opponents, Anthony Williams, has already been bought by the private education scam artists and the fracking industry that is eating up our state.
That’s why we’re working round the clock for Kenney.
Image source: Jim Kenney