Good evening, 

It’s Thursday, Jan. 22, and welcome back to another edition of the Keystone Labor Report. 

Are you ready for this weekend’s snow storm? If not, it’s time to start stockpiling on bread, milk, eggs and all of the other essentials. This storm is looking like a big one. 

Going back to when I was a kid and remembering the blizzard of 1996, I’ve always enjoyed when we get hit with large snow storms that dump a foot (or three) and shut everything down for a few days.

(Tassanee Vejpongsa / AP Photo)

Is it worth it to pursue a general strike?

All eyes will be on Minneapolis, and Minnesota at-large, tomorrow as workers prepare to hold a one-day strike and boycott after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent killed Renee Good and sparked massive protests across the country. 

Hundreds of local businesses are expected to close their doors in support of Friday’s strike, which is being organized by local faith leaders and unions representing teachers, transit workers, hospitality workers, janitors, security officers, and graduate students. It also has the backing of the Minneapolis AFL-CIO, which represents 175 unions with over 80,000 workers in the region.  

Nationally, demonstrators are planning to hold solidarity rallies in 43 cities, which include Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

(Keith Srakocic / AP Photo)

Hundreds of union workers across Pennsylvania are laboring around the clock preparing for a potentially historic snow storm this Sunday, and I reached out to one who’ll be plowing the streets once the white stuff starts falling from the skies. 

James Kleiner, President of AFSCME Local 2160 in Northampton County—and close to 60 of his coworkers with PennDOT—are getting their plow trucks ahead of Sunday’s storm. They will be working 12 hour shifts – midnight to noon and noon to midnight – to keep the roads clear.

“ I think it’s important that people know that, us operators, we care about what the roads look like. We care for our job, we care for the public safety,” Kleiner said in an interview. 

“ AFSCME Council 13 really takes pride in public safety and this is just one of the things that they take care of. They take care of us and we try to take care of everybody else.”

(Sean Kitchen / The Keystone)

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. held a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) rally in the Pennsylvania Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, kicking off his tour promoting real, healthy food – whatever that is supposed to mean. 

While taking questions from the press, Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaxxer, who falsely believes that vaccines cause autism and other disorders, defended his decision to abruptly change the vaccination schedules for children, which widely ignores advice from doctors, hospitals, public health officials, and government officials. 

You can click on the link below to read the pushback from Democratic lawmakers and doctors.