New President, New Disregard for Worker Safety
April, 2024
Excerpts From: AFSCME.org, Written by the AFSCME Staff · Monday, April 28, 2025
The Fight for Workers’ Safety
The sad truth is that even as workplace injuries rise across the country, we have a White House hell-bent on dismantling the very institutions meant to safeguard workers — all to hand tax breaks to billionaires who want to trample their rights,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in a statement in recognition of Workers Memorial Day. “They are shuttering OSHA field offices, firing federal employees who investigate workplace incidents, and making it easier for employers to silence those who speak out about feeling unsafe.” Over the past three months, the White House has announced plans to close 11 OSHA field offices. This administration is also laying off at least two-thirds of the staff of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
The new administration’s actions are nonsensical and cruel given how little money it takes to protect workers’ lives and, from an economic perspective, how well that money is spent. NIOSH’s budget is only about $2.20 per worker in the United States annually, or $338 million, yet occupational injuries and illnesses drain our economy of some $250 billion each year.
Key legislation to boost worker safety
In nearly half the country, public service workers aren’t protected by OSHA standards. That’s why AFSCME supports the Public Service Worker Protection Act, which will be reintroduced in the House this week by Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) The bill is to be introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in the Senate. AFSCME has launched the Get Organized campaign to fight for workers amidst attacks from billionaires and anti-union extremists. The GO campaign is about making sure everyone understands what’s at stake in this fight, and about defeating any efforts to gut Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. It’s about bringing more workers without a voice on the job into the AFSCME family and increasing engagement among current working members and retirees alike.
Local News: The DAs’ Race Is Heating Up – Cast Your Ballot May 20
April, 2024
Excerpts From: WHYY · Monday, April 28, 2025
Larry Krasner was elected as part of a wave of reformist prosecutors amid a national trend toward prosecutorial approaches that reflected a shift in public sentiment on issues of crime and punishment. Krasner has regularly made national headlines for policies aimed at reducing mass incarceration and holding law enforcement accountable, such as the curtailed use of cash bail for nonviolent offenses and aggressively prosecuting police misconduct.
A Philadelphia native, Patrick Dugan was born in Fairmount to a single mother and attended St. Joseph’s Preparatory High School on scholarship, according to his campaign website. After his first return from military service, he obtained his Juris Doctor from Rutgers-Camden Law School and practiced law for over a decade, focusing on cases involving children and the underprivileged. at reducing mass incarceration and holding law enforcement accountable.
Philadelphia Primary Election 2025
Philadelphia voters will decide the future of the city’s criminal justice system in a high-stakes Democratic primary for district attorney. Incumbent Larry Krasner, a progressive reformer, faces his latest challenge from Patrick Dugan, a former municipal judge who presents himself as a pragmatist prioritizing law and order. The outcome of the May 20 primary election will determine the city’s top prosecutor. No Republican candidate has entered the race. The contest pits two competing philosophies against each other: Krasner’s commitment to continuing to overhaul a historically punitive system and Dugan’s pledge to restore a sense of safety.
What The DA Does
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office was established in 1850 to represent Philadelphia and the state in the prosecution of local criminal cases. Since then, it has become one of the largest prosecutor’s offices in the country, with 600 lawyers and other staff. The office also aids victims and their families, offering resources such as counseling and guidance throughout the legal process, and engages in community outreach programs aimed at preventing crime and improving public safety. The district attorney has been an elected position since the beginning and a launching pad for other political positions.
Larry Krasner, a Short Biography
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Krasner attended the University of Chicago and graduated from Stanford University Law School. He relocated to Philadelphia to become a public defender and later opened his own law firm. Throughout his 30-year career as a defense attorney, he represented protest groups including Black Lives Matter, Occupy Philadelphia and Act Up for free. He’s also filed over 75 civil rights lawsuits against the police department. Krasner said his run for DA was fueled partly by a broader national wave of reaction to police shootings of unarmed individuals and the pro-law enforcement policies of President Donald Trump. Many voters viewed Krasner’s progressive platform as a direct counter to the earlier Trump administration’s tough-on-crime stance and its efforts to roll back criminal justice reforms.
Patrick Dugan, a Short Biography
A Philadelphia native, Dugan was born in Fairmount to a single mother and attended St. Joseph’s Preparatory High School on scholarship, according to his campaign He enlisted in the Army Reserves in 1981 as a Nuclear Biological Warfare Specialist and served active duty from 1983 to 1989 as an airborne infantryman. At 42, Dugan reenlisted following 9/11, serving in Iraq where he conducted democracy training programs and served as a judge advocate general. Over the course of his military service, he earned the bronze star, combat action badge, parachutist badge, expert infantryman’s badge and the global war on terrorism service medal.
Dugan was appointed to the Philadelphia Municipal Court in 2007 by then-Gov. Ed Rendell and was later elected to a full term. As a judge, he specialized in veterans’ affairs, helping establish Philadelphia’s Veterans Court, which provides alternative sentencing and rehabilitation programs for military veterans facing criminal charges, which Dugan touts as becoming a “national model.”
“I’ve led the nation in restorative rehabilitative programs and the vast majority of the people that come in front of me are people of color,” he said at a recent forum. “So I’ve been in the front lines and I want to continue to do that.” Dugan resigned from the bench in December 2024 to run for District Attorney, arguing that the city’s criminal justice system had tilted too far toward leniency and that it needed recalibration.
Federal Protections Notice sent to Membership
June, 2024
Leadership of AFSCME Local 1739 issued its annual notice of the rights guaranteed to employees in Section 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act,.
The Act gives employees the following rights:
- To organize to form or join a union and bargain collectively.
- To act together for mutual aid and protection
- To refuse to participate in any of these activities.
The notice includes direct language of the Labor Relations Act established in 1935 to encourage collective bargaining that would protect worker’s rights to freedom of association. The NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) is a key tool in the process of securing fair wages, benefits and decent working conditions for the nation’s employees. This notice is provided annually by 1739 leadership and describes the payment of union dues as well as the benefits that accrue to non-union members. Please refer to the June 2024 edition of Local Net, the union Newsletter, for details.
Academy House Staff Join 1739
January 2023
President Fredrick Wright proudly announces a new chapter of Local 1739, the service employees of the Academy House in Center City in Philadelphia.
Housekeepers and maintenance staff as well as Front Desk Service employees won an election in November of
2022, certifying AFSCME Local 1739 as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Academy House workers. Organizing efforts at Academy House consumed nearly 6 months and it is expected that many challenges remain to get the chapter established and operating.
The Academy House, with 552 residences, is one of the largest condominium communities in Center City and boasts of the services provided by our new members: “exceptional people dedicated to keeping the building well-maintained, running smoothly, and delivering a high
level of personal service [with]…..attentive front desk staff, skilled in-house maintenance team, meticulous housekeeping crew…” caring for the building and its residents. Welcome Academy House staff to the AFSCME family!
