With America 250 celebrations planned across the country to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the country’s independence, workers in Philadelphia are celebrating the milestone with one goal in mind:Make the next 250 years belong to the working class, and not the billionaires.
“ As we approach the 250th anniversary of our founding…We want to declare our independence from those billionaires, from those corporations that are destroying us, destroying our social services, our benefits, and keeping us poor,” said Daniel Bauder, president of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, at a press conference outside of Independence Hall on Monday.
“ The current system that we have is built for and run by billionaires. It doesn’t work for the working people that keep it running,” he said.
Labor leaders and immigration advocates from across the Philadelphia region ratified the Working People’s Vision for Philadelphia, a 10-point platform that prioritizes working Philadelphians over billionaires this past May Day. They have actions planned for the Fourth of July weekend throughout the city to fight for that vision.
UNITE HERE Local 274 hosted the Workers World Cup outside of the Sheraton Downtown Philadelphia hotel, where workers successfully went on strike for nine days in order to win a new contract.
“ I’ve been at the Sheraton Hotel for over two and a half years now. I am here fighting not only for better wages, better health care for our families, but I’m also fighting for people who have worked there for ten– not ten years, twenty years, but over forty plus years,” Tanya Wilson, a Sheraton Downtown Philadelphia employee, said.
Workers at the Sheraton Downtown Philadelphia hotel, which is the largest unionized hotel in the city, and at other hotels throughout the city used the FIFA 2026 World Cup to bargain a $30 per hour minimum wage by 2026. On Monday, they reached a tentative deal with the hotel.
“ We are here just asking for what we deserve. The contract had not been signed for over two years now. We’re only asking for what we deserve,” Wilson added.
With temperatures approaching 100 degrees this week, workers from PECO Energy Company are preparing to walk off the job for the first time in the company’s history on July 4.
“This strike is about fairness and pushing back against corporate greed,” Larry Anastasi, union president and business manager with IBEW Local 614, said. “We’ve exhausted every avenue to reach a deal.”
If PECO workers walk off the job on Saturday, the strike will include linemen, gas technicians, mechanics, and other employees. They are pushing for higher wages, better working conditions and better benefits, and according to the union, PECO employees make 30% than their counterparts at other utility companies.
“The tyranny this country faced 250 years ago was dealt very close to this location, and men far greater than me decided that they were going to fight those kings and that tyranny,” Anastasi added.
