Please come out to 40th & Market this Saturday, July 9th starting at 3pm for Philly 4 Housing Fest: a rally and Protect the Block Party! Stand with your neighbors in UC Townhomes (some of the last designated affordable housing in the area) in their ongoing protest against displacement from their homes, and stay for a kid-friendly, all-ages block party. Hope to see you there!
On June 21, members of at least nine campus and local unions along with several regional organizers and national trade unionists got together outside for drinks and solidarity on the rooftop garden at Cira Green. We hope this Labor Solidarity Happy Hour will be the first of many meet-ups of organized and organizing workers at Penn and in Philly so that we can stay connected, support each other’s campaigns, and build strong coalitions across job categories and institutions. Cheers to everyone who joined us, and let’s do it again soon!
Please mark your calendars and plan to come on Tuesday (6/21) 4:30–6 to Cira Green rooftop park/bar to have a drink together with AAUP–Penn members and many friends across unions at our first Labor Solidarity Happy Hour! Feel free to share the flyer and bring friends, kids, etc.
It should be a nice, relaxed occasion to catch up and to connect with library workers, grad workers and faculty across ranks, staff, Penn Museum and Philadelphia Museum of Art workers, maintenance and grounds workers and bus drivers in Teamsters Local 115, and folks from other locals and campus orgs. Excited to see you there!
N.B. We’ve chosen an outdoor location with Covid safety in mind, and masking is encouraged when you’re not eating or drinking. Alternatively, if you are out of town or avoiding in-person social events and would like to attend a separate zoom happy hour: please let us know via this form.
Get ready for a week of rallies at Penn and in Philly!
Let’s show these workers at the Museum and on our campus that we stand with them!
Members of Teamsters Local 115 (representing Penn housekeeping, maintenance workers and more) and the Philly Security Officers Union rallied together in front of College Hall today (June 2, 2022) for a fair contract with wage increases, no givebacks of their benefits, and an end to the racist two-tier wage system that pays different hourly rates for the same work. AAUP–Penn members came out to rally in support of this coalition of more than 700 essential workers who have kept our campus running through a pandemic and whose work deserves respect. We stand in solidarity with them as they demand equal pay for equal work at Penn and a fair contract now.
This Thursday 6/2 at 11am, there will be a labor solidarity rally on our campus in support of university workers (maintenance and housekeeping workers, building security workers, and more) in Teamsters Local 115 and the Philly Security Officers Union. This recently forged Coalition of Essential Workers United for a Fair Contract represents more than 700 campus workers at Penn who are fighting against harassment from management and for a fair contract that protects their benefits and puts an end to the racist two-tier wage scale.
Let’s give them our support by joining the rally on College Green. Wear your AAUP shirt or button and make a sign if you can, but either way please come out and show your solidarity with everyone who works at Penn!
Our friends at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have asked for AAUP–Penn’s support in their rally for a fair contract. Philly’s excellent art museum couldn’t run without these excellent museum workers, but many of them can’t afford the museum’s health insurance, earn 30-60% below median pay for their jobs, and haven’t had a raise in years despite rapid inflation and unstable working conditions. Please come out with us to the PMA this Friday, April 1 at 5pm to stand with them!
A group of us will be there in our new AAUP t-shirts, and we’re asking everyone who can to join us and help show our chapter’s solidarity. We will meet on the west side of the museum facing the Waterworks and Boat House Row. Hope to see you there!
P.S. If you can’t make it, you can still help out by emailing the PMA’s Board of Trustees here; it’s very easy.
Please join us on Friday, March 25th at noon behind Fisher-Bennett for AAUP–Penn’s Pizza & Solidarity lunch! We’d love for you to bring a friend too. RSVP greatly appreciated (though not required) so we can coordinate the pizza order and reserve t-shirts for members.
Please come out with us to 40th & Market on Saturday, March 19th from 12-5pm for a protest and block party (with food and family-friendly activities for kids) to support our neighbors in UC Townhomes in their fight against being displaced from their homes—some of the last affordable housing in the area, now set to be sold to the highest bidder. Rally begins at 1:30.
Please join AAUP–Penn and HEARD-GSE via zoom on Thursday, March 3rd at 5:30pm Eastern for a teach-in on Penn’s impact on West Philly and the city, featuring residents, youth leaders, and members of the Coalition to Save the University City Townhomes and of Penn for PILOTs. All are welcome! You can register for this event for free here.
