Letters to the Editor | May 25, 2023

As a highly trained early educator, I am setting the foundation for future generations, but I wonder if I am doing this work in vain. I deserve a thriving wage, and my 3-year-old child deserves an equitable educational system based on justice. But in my childcare business, I work 15 hours, sometimes 20, per day educating and caring for children, preparing lesson plans, attending meetings, cleaning, meal prepping, and more. I am tired of being burned out. Do I not deserve a wage I can live on? Can you not see that I am an essential worker? I am impacted every day by decisions made by policymakers who put childcare on the back burner. I invite any elected official who is making budget decisions to step in my shoes for one day and see me and my work. I know after even one day that you would prioritize investments for childcare.

Abiguel McMillan, Philadelphia

As professionals who have dedicated our careers to expanding the rights of workers, we are appalled at the dramatic misrepresentation of the role of unions in Jennifer Stefano’s May 8 column. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ passage of HB 950, which enshrines the right to bargain collectively, is a victory for those fighting to protect the rights of workers. In her column, Stefano describes HB 950 as providing union leaders the right to “bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours and working conditions, and to protect their economic welfare and safety at work.” This quote is taken out of context, as the rights are provided to employees, not to union leaders.

Much of Stefano’s piece focuses on union leaders who are elected to their posts by union members and have worked tirelessly on issues that matter to workers, such as equal pay, fair treatment, safe working conditions, and paid family leave. While Stefano incorrectly surmises union officials recently started considering paid family leave for members, unions have been fighting for this crucial right for decades. There is a lot that Stefano’s column got wrong. There is a lot that HB 950 gets right. The legislation is a huge victory for the labor movement and shows Pennsylvania lawmakers will show up and fight for workers’ rights.

Angela Ferritto, president, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, and Daniel P. Bauder, president, Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO

While no city department is responsible for removing campaign signs, it isn’t cost-effective to have the Streets Department remove them, either. Instead, why not charge every candidate a signage fee of $300 when he/she petitions to be on the ballot? After the election, the city could offer a bounty of a dollar or so per sign to anyone who turns one in to the city. However, removing the signs should wait until after the November election if the primary winners remain candidates in the general election.

Paul L. Newman, Merion Station

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