Philadelphia, PA –George Ricchezza and Gabe Morgan, leaders of the Philadelphia School Workers Union 32BJ SEIU, will testify alongside public education advocates at City Hall Tuesday in support of a one-year moratorium on school closures. The union leaders will demand that City Council stands up to a plan to close 37 schools that could leave buildings abandoned for years.

According to a Pew Charitable Trusts report, “selling or leasing surplus school buildings, many of which are located in ‘declining neighborhoods,’ is usually extremely difficult.”

VISUAL:  AT PUBLIC HEARING, UNION MEMBERS SHOW PHOTOS OF ABANDONED SCHOOLS IN PHILADELPHIA

WHERE:        City Hall

1450 John F Kennedy Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA

WHEN:  11:00 AM, Tuesday 12, 2013

WHO:    George Ricchezza, 1201 District Leader for 32BJ SEIU

Gabe Morgan, Vice President of 32BJ SEIU

32BJ SEIU represents more than 10,000 workers employed in K-12 school districts in Philadelphia, New York City, and other districts throughout New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. With more than 125,000 members, including 10,000 in the Philadelphia area, 32BJ is the largest property services union in the country.