skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Medical copays reduce health care access in MS prisons; Israel planted explosives in pagers sold to Hezbollah according to official sources; Serving looks with books: Libraries fight 'fast fashion' by lending clothes; Menhaden decline threatens Virginia's ecosystem, fisheries.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

JD Vance calls for toning down political rhetoric, while calls for his resignation grow because of his own comments. The Secret Service again faces intense criticism, and a right to IVF is again voted down in the US Senate.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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 Governor Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

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

play audio
Play

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.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
Including the $236 million in federal funding for wildland fire management recently announced for 2025, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has invested a total of $1 billion to the cause, according to the Department of the Interior. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

This month, the federal government announced funding for next year's wildfire management, totaling $236 million and experts hope threatened …


Social Issues

play sound

From gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson to Superintendent of Public Instruction hopeful Michele Morrow, some Republicans running for office have …

Social Issues

play sound

California is home to more than 181,000 people who are unhoused, with 75,000 in Los Angeles alone, so the Los Angeles Food Policy Council will host a …


The California Department of Conservation is holding a public meeting online on Sept. 24, to update the public on its progress in plugging abandoned oil wells. (Alizada Studios/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Groups concerned about pollution and climate change are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a trio of bills dubbed the "make polluters pay" package…

Social Issues

play sound

This week, National Voter Registration Day was another timely reminder for Ohioans preparing for the 2024 general election. The latest reports from …

The American Heart Association said caregivers often experience personal and spiritual growth, discovering their own resilience, competence and capacity for sacrifice as they help a friend or loved one. (Justlight/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

September is Self-Care Awareness Month and the American Heart Association in Missouri is urging caregivers to take some much-needed time for themselve…

Environment

play sound

In Virginia's waters, the decline of a small but critically important fish is causing growing concern among conservation groups and fishermen alike…

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado voters will decide whether to change the state's constitution to ensure families have school choice as a fundamental right. Kallie Leyba…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021