Metro Philadelphia Labor Power Players

Adam Rizzo is serving his second term as president of AFSCME Local 397, which represents workers across departments at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Workers won their election in August of 2020 with 89% voting yes. The union is currently negotiating their first contract with museum management. At the museum, he is the coordinator ofcCollege and pre-professional programs and museum educator. Adam teaches K-12 students at the museum, facilitates professional development for teachers, and develops classroom resources. He also oversees and teaches the museum’s robust medical humanities offerings.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
Museum workers.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
Wages in the cultural sector are wildly depressed and lack equity and transparency. Additionally, staff were routinely sexually harrassed and physical harmed by managers and HR, and senior management did nothing about it until stories leaked to the press.

How will Pennsylvania’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
I hope that we continue to see unionization drives spreading to new sectors, whether it’s cultural institutions or cafe baristas. There is great power in collective bargaining.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
Organized labor improves economic conditions for working people, fosters community, and also increases civic engagement.

​​Silas Russell is executive vice president and political director of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania and has devoted his professional and personal lives to advancing the cause of justice for all people – regardless of race, gender or where they are born – through organized political power. Working closely with elected leaders, Silas advances administrative and legislative action that impacts workers, public health, and the community’s access to quality affordable healthcare.

Susan Schonfeld has been the executive director of Community Integrated Services for over 25 years. This employment agency for people with disabilities services over 2,000 people a year in both Delaware and Southeastern Pennsylvania. The mission of CIS is to empower those with disabilities through employment opportunities attained through partnerships with businesses, public agencies, schools, universities, and community organizations. Ultimately their vision is to build a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive workforce. Susan also sits on the board of Pennsylvania’s APSE chapter and was the recipient of National APSE’s Best Practices Award in 2014. 

Tori Shriver is the political director of the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. The union represents over 41,000 blue collar workers in Pennsylvania and four other states. The union includes those who work in pile driving, residential carpentry, mill cabinet work, heavy highway work, floor layering, and trade show construction. Tori is instrumental in the mobilization of the union members to speak up and vote about workers issues. 

Drew Simpson III is the regional manager of Carpenters and Joiners Local 445 and the vice president of the regional council, managing activities in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America for more than 23 years. He is also a member of the Pennsylvania Joint Task Force on Misclassification of Employees, which addresses employee misclassification and fraud. 

Devan joined Philadelphia Jobs With Justice as director in 2017. Under her leadership, Philly JWJ collaborated with the National Domestic Workers Alliance to launch the NDWA-PA chapter, won a $100 million commitment from UPenn to remediate lead and asbestos in public schools, and launched a new campaign for safety protections for Philadelphia warehouse workers. Devan is the communications vice president for the Philadelphia Coalition of Labor Union Women and a member of the PhilaPOSH board of directors.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
Philly JWJ is a broad coalition of unions and community organizations representing many sectors and constituencies.

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
At Philly JWJ, we believe that unions are the members. Unions are one way (but not the only way) that workers can come together to build power on the job and in their communities.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
I first became involved in building worker power in 2012 when I joined the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) for a protest in my home state of Florida.

How will Pennsylvania’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
The future of Pennsylvania’s labor force depends on our ability to shape effective new strategies. This is a critical time for testing new blueprints for building power that center Pennsylvania’s most exploited and marginalized workers.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
Billionaires like Jeffrey Yass and corporations like Comcast are pouring billions of dollars into anti-worker interests in Pennsylvania. Organized labor must play an active role in fighting for our communities and fighting back against corporate interests.

Arthur Steinberg was elected president of AFT Pennsylvania in 2019, then re-elected in 2021. He represents 36,000 teachers, school staff, paraprofessionals, school nurses, community college faculty, and state workers across 64 local unions. Since 1986, he’s served as chief trustee of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. He started his career as a special education teacher in 1979. Arthur has advocated the rehabilitation of toxic school buildings, reforming the state’s charter laws, and fair funding of public education.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
Education.

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
Prescription and dental coverage, discount graduate courses, professional development.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
I was raised in the labor movement. My parents were both active in their union, and once I became a teacher, I saw what educators needed.

How will Pennsylvania’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
Pennsylvania will either try to compete with neighboring states with a higher minimum wage, protections for LGBTQ+ people, and fully and fairly funded education, or its workforce will continue to age out.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
Teachers unions have a stabilizing effect on communities. When teachers can make a career out of shaping the minds of young people, they become part of their community for the long term. More generally, unions improve wages and work conditions.

Mike Stephenson is the president of the Pennsylvania Postal Workers Union, which is located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Mike was instrumental in making sure that Postal Support Employees receive a 20% per hour pay increase, which was put into effect in May of 2021.