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U.S. gender wage gap grows for first time in a decade; Trump has embraced NC's Mark Robinson, calling him 'Martin Luther King on steroids'; Volunteers sought as early voting kicks off in MN; Women's political contributions in congressional races fall short of men's.

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Rising threats of political violence, a Federal Reserve rate cut, crypto industry campaign contributions and reproductive rights are shaping today's political landscape.

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A USDA report shows a widening gap in rural versus urban health, a North Carolina county remains divided over a LGBTQ library display, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

PA Healthcare Workers Bus to St. Louis to Save Their Jobs

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Tuesday, September 7, 2010   

PHILADELPHIA - Twenty workers from a Pennsylvania-based mail order pharmacy are just back from a bus trip to St. Louis. They went there to try to convince their employer that concessions the company wants are not fair to nearly 1,000 employees in Philadelphia.

Pam Rogers, a data entry technician at Express Script Inc. (ESI), says the company is asking close to 1,000 unionized workers - including pharmacists, production and clerical workers - for cuts in wages and fewer health and retirement benefits. If that doesn't happen, she says, they're threatening to close the Bensalem plant down.

"They have made record earnings, and they're coming to me, the single mother of two who lives paycheck to paycheck, and asking me and my co-workers to give them $10 million."

A company spokesman says ESI is trying to balance the wages and benefits it pays to workers in Bensalem so the company won't have to pull up stakes and do the work somewhere else.

While in St. Louis, Rogers says, she and her co-workers went to bus and train stations, and talked to people on the street about their situation.

"Here I am, I'm from Pennsylvania, and I have to come here. We need your support and your help to keep the jobs, during the recession. I don't want to be on unemployment, I don't want to be another statistic."

Rogers says she hopes the road trip isn't misconstrued by the company.

"I'm hoping they're going to see it for what it was, and it wasn't a threat, it wasn't anything to intimidate anybody, but it was something to say, 'You know what...enough is enough. We can't give you everything.'"

Rogers and the rest of the workers involved are members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Pennsylvania. She says while those who went to St. Louis didn't meet with the company's top brass, the trip was an effort to show ESI the faces of those affected by the cuts.





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