Letters to the Editor | Sept. 4, 2023

Labor shortages after COVID-19 put a spring in the step of labor in the U.S. Joe Biden’s appointment of pro-labor members to the National Labor Relations Board was another kick in the pants to anti-labor big business. Thanks for all you’ve done, President Biden. The infrastructure bill is great. But people need more to pay bills. The National Labor Relations Act needs amending: It’s ridiculous that farm and domestic employees are excluded from NLRA protections. Why? Imagine working outdoors in hot summers without ready access to water, or FedEx drivers without air-conditioning. Let’s stop bonuses for CEOs as they announce more worker layoffs. Let’s include hearing, vision, and dental in Medicare and Obamacare. Let’s work toward cheaper prescriptions and free preschool care. Don’t let any politicians off the hook who try to stop benefits for working people — we’re the ones who pay their salaries. Have a thoughtful Labor Day.

Janet Kestenberg Amighi, West Chester

For many of us, our morning routine is the same: We get on SEPTA, drop the kids off at school, and grab our morning coffee. By the time we get to work in the morning, we have likely interacted with multiple union workers. Your SEPTA driver is a member of Transit Workers Union Local 234, your child’s teacher is a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and that Starbucks barista who makes your latte just right is likely bargaining for a contract as a member of Starbucks Workers United. Across the region, we are seeing union activity on the rise. In a city that prides itself on being the “City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection,” it should come as no surprise that so many of us involved in the city’s labor movement feel so strongly about our union siblings and their working conditions.

Now, as we head into general election season, the phrase “union interests” is starting to appear more often. Sometimes, those simple two words bear some negative connotation with little consideration for the working men and women whose interests the unions represent. But when you refer to union interests, you’re talking about PFT members who are on the front lines dealing with everything from gun violence to asbestos as they work to provide students with a safe place to learn. That is a union interest.

Our transit workers see firsthand the dangers and trauma of the opioid epidemic and the housing crisis — a safe public transit system is a union interest. As you make your plan to vote in the forthcoming election, remember who supports you and your family every day. It is not a millionaire CEO or the head of a right-wing think tank. It’s your coworkers, your neighbors, and your friends. Union members are everywhere, and our interests are the interests of the over 150,000 workers we represent.

Daniel P. Bauder, president, Philadelphia Council, AFL-CIO

The Inquirer’s recent editorial, “Join the Pa. legislature and start making money today!” is the perfect satirical job description of a Pennsylvania lawmaker. You get a cushy six-figure starting salary, 10 weeks paid vacation in the summer (holidays and winter break, too), unlimited access to gifts, and you can even work a side job. It’s also a stark reminder of how our legislature is steeped in a corrupt lifestyle that urgently needs to be reformed. March On Harrisburg, an anticorruption, pro-democracy group, has been fighting for a gift ban — the lowest hanging fruit on the rotten money in politics tree — since 2017. There is a laundry list of democracy reforms that need to happen in Pennsylvania, and the gift ban is the first that needs to be checked off the list. Our lawmakers need to act and pass HB 484, this session’s gift ban bill, and make bribery illegal.

Andrea Pauliuc, Philadelphia

Last Monday’s Inquirer article on the rising cost of home insurance was disturbing. However, the dramatic increase that it describes is the direct result of facts that make the headlines with increasing frequency: global warming caused by a buildup of carbon in the atmosphere, which is fueling stronger and more destructive storms and wildfires. As more homes are damaged and destroyed, the rising costs of repairs are falling on insurance companies. We, the ratepayers, are now being hit with steep hikes as yet another effect of a warming planet.

This is one more reason to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and transition to clean energy. This transition needs to be gradual to minimize disruptions in the economy. Some rational steps include reducing subsidies to the oil and gas industry and phasing in a price on carbon emissions, with proceeds returned as a refund to American families to help in the transition. The oil and gas industry has reaped huge profits in the past two years. It is only fair that it starts helping to cover the cost of the damage. A price on carbon emissions would encourage businesses and consumers to explore renewable energy options.

Don Campbell, member, steering committee, Philadelphia chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, CCLPhilly@gmail.com

I just read The Inquirer’s “Not quite 24 hours in Atlantic City’s 24/7 bars” and felt compelled to write in. An article reviewing bars is fine. An author describing driving to each bar as she gets increasingly drunk is not. I’m assuming she had a designated driver or used Uber, but I didn’t see mention of that. Fittingly, the print version has an error, and the article ends midsentence — as if the writer is so intoxicated and exhausted that she can’t even finish her thought. Unfortunately, she’s driving out of the parking garage at that moment. I hope the safety of everyone is considered next time.

Lori Naser, Berwyn

Apparently, after years of operation, the Stafford Woods disc golf course has been deemed an inappropriate use by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The property is deed-restricted for “passive recreational uses,” which are defined as nonconsumptive uses such as wildlife observation, walking, biking, and canoeing. The intention is to leave the land pretty much the way it was when it was preserved.

Since there were no plans or funding to improve the property for walking or biking or anything else, today the property would be an overgrown, uncared-for, essentially vacant property that no one would be using for any purposes. But thanks to the extensive and expensive efforts of the disc golf course, there exists a viable public resource. What is notable is that a deed restriction on a preserved property may be vacated by getting a judge to agree that circumstances have changed and that the original restriction is no longer appropriate.

You can be certain that if Voorhees needed additional soccer fields or basketball and pickleball courts, the restriction would be amended. Certainly, a disc golf course is a much less intensive use of the property, and the current course is open to the public. Disc golf play does not prevent anyone from walking around the property, observing wildlife, or sitting and watching the players. Bill Green, owner of the adjacent Saddlehill Winery and the person who complained to the state, would have been better served to market his business to the disc golf players, rather than drive them away.

Gregory Lackey, Medford Lakes

The recent case of a man and woman charged with animal cruelty and child endangerment in connection with more than 30 dead dogs, multiple other sick animals, and a child living in a Burlington County home serves as another grim reminder of why it’s so important to pay attention to animal abuse in our communities. Research shows that animal abuse can be an indicator of intimate partner and family violence. Moreover, children who perpetrate or witness animal cruelty often are victims themselves and/or future perpetrators of violence, with lifelong adverse consequences.

Pennsylvania must join other states, such as Ohio and Connecticut, in passing cross-reporting legislation. This would require veterinarians, social service professionals, and counselors who encounter abused animals in the course of their work to report these incidents to law enforcement or animal control officers. In turn, law enforcement and animal control officers would have to notify social service personnel if they suspect child abuse while investigating animal cruelty in a home. With improved and consistent communication, more lives will inevitably be saved.

Margie Fishman, public relations manager, Animal Welfare Institute, Philadelphia

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