Good Afternoon everyone, 

Welcome back to another edition of The Keystone Labor Report. 

It’s Tuesday, Nov. 4th, and you have until 8pm to vote this evening in this year’s Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention election. 

So much has been going on the past couple of weeks, and I wanted to take a couple of moments to welcome everyone who attended our recent event in Philadelphia at the end of last month. 

We had well over 100 people join us for our happy hour at the Philadelphia Brewing Company in Kensington and sign up for our newsletters.

It was amazing meeting everyone there, and thank you to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Act Blue for sponsoring the event. You can see some of the content here, here and here. 

Sponsored Message

Our PA Supreme Court is a protective barrier for our rights, having made recent rulings that expanded abortion access and workers’ overtime and sick leave pay. Make your voice heard—vote yes or no by Nov. 4 to decide if we keep our justices. Learn more.

(Photo: Sean Kitchen)

For better or for worse, one of the things I love most about the labor movement, and this job, are the full circle moments that sometimes take years to experience.

Professors and faculty members at Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) went on strike Monday and headed back to the picket line on Tuesday after facing a yearslong union-busting campaign that started at the onset of their organizing efforts. This is an issue I’ve been covering since 2021, when they were first in the process of forming their union. 

HACC’s administration has been against the formation of the union going back to when they were just collecting signatures to schedule a union election. You can see how Dr. John Sygelski, President of HACC, encouraged faculty members to avoid joining the union in 2020. 

(Screenshot of a 2020 email from Dr. John Sygelski)

Here’s a short breakdown of some of the union-busting tactics HACC professors have faced since organizing their union in 2020. 

👉 HACC’s administration was caught inflating the number of professors and faculty members on a bargaining unit list in order to stymie the signature collection process to hold a union election. 

👉 HACC’s administration had two union organizers with the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) arrested in Aug. 2023 because they were informing members about their union rights. It’s still one of the most viewed videos on our TikTok account. 

👉 HACC professors and faculty members have gone more than 40 months without a raise because the administration claims it would violate status quo agreements and labor law. 

I have spent part of the past two days talking to HACC professors and faculty members on the picket line and they all reiterated that they don’t want to be on strike but are on strike due to stalled contract talks. You can read my story about HACC’s prolonged union fight below.

Following up on our reporting from last week, the New York Times confirmed that Jeffrey Yass donated $2.5 million to President Donald Trump’s $250 million, Marie Antioniette-style White House ballroom. 

Yass, who is the country’s largest American investor in TikTok and has benefitted from Trump’s delayed enforcement of the TikTok ban, attended the event with Tony Sayegh, a former official in the first Trump administration, who now works at Yass’ investment firm, Susquehanna International Group. 

(Photo: Sean Kitchen)

With fall foliage season starting to come to an end in Central Pennsylvania, I went out to Hawk Rock, one of my favorite hiking spots in the midstate, to soak in some of the last autumnal views. 

Hawk Rock and Cove Rock offer some amazing views of Perry County. You can also check out where the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers meet. 

It may be a short and strenuous hike with rocks covering the trail the whole way up the hill, but it’s one of the best views this region has to offer.