Letters: Kenney's soda-tax campaign divides unions

ISSUE | SODA TAX

Unions divided

Now that City Council has approved the beverage tax, winners and losers will be tallied ("Soda tax makes history," Friday).

Teamsters Local 830 lost big. As sales plummet once the tax is enacted, we will feel a corresponding loss of jobs.

The beverage companies lost as sales of sugar-sweetened and diet drinks will tank. Consumers lost since they'll absorb the tax. The business community lost because it's another antibusiness levy.

But the hidden cost is the damage it has done to the labor community.

Mayor Kenney promised goodies to certain unions in exchange for their support. The building trades were promised $100 million in construction. AFSCME District Councils 33 and 47 and the police and firefighters were promised cash for their pension funds. The teachers and the Service Employees International Union were promised jobs.

Those unions and the local AFL-CIO chapter knew the damage the tax would do to the Teamsters, but they didn't care about our fate or didn't have the guts to take a stand against the levy. Those deals got the mayor his tax, but they have destroyed union solidarity in Philadelphia.

Those unions most responsible for this betrayal will face a difficult time securing our support for their issues.

|Daniel H. Grace, secretary-treasurer, Teamsters Local 830, Philadelphia, dgrace@team830.org