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Protest
At a rally outside Philadelphia International Airport today, workers and members of Fight for Philly and SEIU 32BJ protested airport workers' wages and turned the focus on Mayor Nutter and City Council.
“[Nutter] can literally change the lives of thousands of workers,” said Rev. Greg Holston of the New Vision United Methodist Church in Philadelphia. The call to reform comes in anticipation of a hearing during which members of City Council will review the lease agreement between the city and US Airways. Currently, airport and airline subcontractors employe nearly a thousand workers who earn a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or $2.83 plus tips.
The "Poverty at PHL Doesn't Fly" campaign seeks the extension of the 21st Century Living Wage and Benefits Standard to airport workers. The standard has been in place since 2005, and City Council recently passed an ordinance introduced by Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. to extend that living wage — 150 percent of federal minimum wage — to employees of airport subcontractors and sub-lessees. However, the administration informed Council that it was not bound by that ordinance and would not, therefore, enforce it.
Workers say that being employed by a subcontractor does not make their needs any less than those employed by primary contractors.
“We want [to be paid] enough to make us feel dignified and human,” said Onethea McKnight, an airport worker for 10 years who has never received a raise from her $7-per-hour starting wage.
Next up, workers and activists are inviting the Mayor and City Council to, “walk a day in our shoes” during which the Mayor or a City Council member would spend a day following an airport worker around, from “the moment they get up in the morning … to the moment they go to bed at night,” said Julie Blust of 32BJ.
Hundreds of Philadelphians echoed back speeches delivered under Love Park's iconic sign after organizer Chris Norris opened the rally with an Occupy Wall Street-style “Mic Check!”
“I decided to come with my wife to stand for justice in an unjust situation,” said Stan, a 55-year old from Montgomery County carrying a sign picturing a check list that read "Skittles, iced tea, hoodie, black" through the largely African-American crowd. "Black" was double-checked. “We needed to come out to speak for those who don't have a voice any longer.”
“It's wrong what they did to that little boy,” 18-year old Shanese Dutton, a student at Germanton High School tells City Paper. “We want justice.”
Amtrak Police arrested three Occupy Philly protesters at 30th Street Station this afternoon who were handing out leaflets in opposition to a new Pennsylvania anti-abortion law.
“It was just people handing out flyers,” says organizer Amanda Geraci. “There was no blocking people getting to their trains, there was no civil disobedience. It was just handing out paper.”
Amtrak Police approached the protesters at 12:15pm, according to Occupy, two to three minutes after they began a “mic check.” Amtrak Police allegedly gave no order to disperse before making arrests.
“We walked into 30th Street Station in a group and we started to mic check in reference Senate Bill 732, which is an anti-abortion bill,” says Aine, an arrested protester. “The Amtrak Police just pinned us in in a circle and didn’t tell me anything. I turned around to walk away, and one of the cops grabbed me by the arm and told me I was under arrest.”
The three activists, amongst twenty leafleting at 30th Street Station, were detained for 45 minutes and released with citations charging them with obstructing a highway, defiant trespassing and disorderly conduct. Amtrak Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from City Paper.
The two other arrested protesters say that police assaulted them.
“The cop grabbed me and slammed me on my shoulder blade and stomped on my shoulder blade and elbow,” John Phillips. “The officer was like, ‘I told you you didn’t want to get arrested.’”
“In the middle of the mic check,” says Lex, “they grabbed me put cuffs on my wrists, and shoved a baton into my back.”
Occupy Philly isn’t backing down. They will be handing out more flyers against Senate Bill 732 today at 4:30pm. Republican Governor Tom Corbett signed the legislation, which would require abortion clinics to make extremely costly renovations to stay in business, in December.
Watch the video invitation here:
To the tune of Simon and Garfunkel’s rendition of “Silent Night”:
“Occupy Christmas, December 22, LOVE Park.
We will carol. We will honor a holiday not of shopping but of family. Of a homeless family who had to sleep in a barn. Of a child born to challenge an empire and a fearful tyrant who profiled the youth of Judea.
Don't just listen to the news. Be part of it.”
How on earth did we go from the friendliest mayor-protester relationship in the country to this mess — in, what, two weeks time? Instead of asking that question, the Daily News is slogging through the extreme (and highly questionable) conspiracy theories that have been swirling around Occupy Philly. Today’s cover reads “Stain on the City: How the homeless hijacked Occupy Philly.”
Occupy encampments nationwide have struggled with the influx of homeless attracted to the food, healthcare, and relative security of group camping. The point being: Why not blame homelessness on the government — federal, state and local? Occupy Philly certainly didn’t invent poor people. It’s true: the article by David Gambacorta, Jason Nark and Will Bunch does froth far less at the mouth than the sensational cover (this is the Daily News after all). But it ends by picking up on a disturbing storyline — and one that appears to be completely false:
“Not true,” says Mayor Michael Nutter’s spokesperson, Mark McDonald in response to rumors that the Occupy Philly encampment would be evicted later tonight. “Not going to happen.”
The date “Nov. 15” has been rumored to be the city’s deadline over the past weeks — and no one, the Mayor included, knows where the rumor originated.
[Correction from Mayor Nutter's office at bottom of post]
If it seems as though all of the Occupy Wall Street evictions are taking place at the same time — Oakland, Portland and now the New York City mothership — that's because they are. And if you think the crackdown might be secretly coordinated by big city mayors around the country, as many protesters contend, you might be right, too.
This morning's arrests at Occupy Oakland cap a weekend of evictions, including raids in Portland and Denver. On Sunday, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter issued a long press release demanding that Occupy Philly vacate Dilworth Plaza ahead of a scheduled reconstruction project. Two days prior, protesters voted to maintain their City Hall encampment.
Mayor Nutter, like other mayors, has cited reports of filthy conditions and incidents of violence and sexual assault. Unlike other mayors, however, he has largely cooperated with the movement and refrained from the sort of police violence witnessed in New York and Oakland. Plus, the construction project will create an estimated 1,000 jobs, improve handicapped accessibility and, well, just make the place nicer.
Occupy Philly continues to debate whether to move their protest tent city when construction to rebuild Dilworth Plaza begins later this month. A “radical caucus” put forward a proposal to stay put for good that will be decided at tomorrow night’s General Assembly, and it reads like so:
"Occupy Philadelphia will stay at Dilworth Plaza at the anticipated ‘start of the Dilworth Plaza construction.’ We also intend to expand to Thomas Paine Plaza. If this proposal is adopted Occupy Philadelphia will issue a public statement and a list of demands."
Mayor Michael Nutter has allowed the Occupy Philly encampment in front of City Hall to continue more or less unmolested. But he has made it clear that the protest tent city must move in the coming month when construction to rebuild Dilworth Plaza is slated to begin. But protesters have debated whether to comply and last night, a group called the “radical caucus” put forward a proposal to vote on whether to stay put in Dilworth for good.
It’s possible, says organizer Chris Goldstein, that the proposal, like many others, will be tabled or amended. And he says that whether people stay or relocate will in the end be a personal choice since the General Assembly (GA) isn’t a governing body. It’s just a space to build consensus — or something close to it (the rules call for an overwhelming super-majority).
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