Clear-cutting begins in Pennsylvania for Constitution Pipeline
2016Michael Schreiber 2016-03Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 3 →
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Despite protests by residents and environmental groups, clear cutting of trees has begun in north eastern Pennsylvania for the 128-mile Constitution Pipeline, designed to carry fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale to New York and New England.
Megan Holleran says that the loggers are destroy ing about 90 percent of her family’s sugar maple trees, devastating their syrup business. Her family maintained in court that the pipeline construction outfit, led by Williams Partners LLC, had no right to seize their land under the rules of eminent domain since the gas is destined to be exported, rather than being used for the “public good.” Over a hundred protesters came to the Hollerans’ Susquehanna County farm in February to support the family’s at tempt to stop the clear cut.
On Feb. 18, U.S. District Court Judge Malachy Man nion in Scranton, Pa., dismissed the Hollerans’ court suit and gave the go-ahead for the loggers to cut down the trees—just as harvest time is about to be In addition, Pilgrim Pipeline is planning to build pipelines to transport volatile fracked Bakken shale oil and possibly tar sands crude through New York
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(Left) Over 300 janitors rallied in front of Macy’s department store in Minneapolis.
ing committee to call an unfair labor practice strike, as their employers continued to stall and intimidate workers in bargaining over a new contract for the 4000 janitors in the Twin Cities.
Workers have been fighting for a $15 floor for all workers, a fix to a growing workload crisis, and poli cies that support healthy families. In response, they have only seen stalling from employers.
The bargaining committee announced a Feb. 14 deadline to reach a contract that allows for healthy families and addresses income and racial dispari ties plaguing our state. That deadline came and went without any real progress towards a deal. Janitors have held 11 negotiating sessions since October with their employers. After the walk-out, no more bargain ing sessions were immediately scheduled.
“At a time of increasing wealth for a small few, we are fighting for a fair contract that will not only help our families, but start to roll back the racial and economic inequalities facing our state,” said Brahim Kone, a St. Paul janitor and leader on the bargaining team. “We are contracted to clean the buildings of some of the most wealthy corporations in the world, yet our calls for a fair contract are being ignored.