One of the oddities of this week’s public employee pensions debate is how so many of the state’s major public sector unions are sitting it out.  They have, after all, reliably opposed most pension reform measures since passage of Act 120 in 2010. Until now, the combined forces of their Democratic and Republican allies in the state House have been just enough to stop other bills in their tracks.  This time?  No pitchforks. Just crickets.  And that, so far at least, is giving more labor-sensitive Republicans and some Democrats license to support the current bill, which passed the state Senate on a 40-9 vote Monday afternoon.  Later Monday, the bail passed a preliminary vote in the House State Government Committee, keeping on course for a final passage vote in that chamber on Thursday.  Major public-sector unions like the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; Service Employees International Union (both state workers) and the Pennsylvania State Education Association (school teachers), have all agreed to stand silent on this bill.  Only one major union is singing in a different key – the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, which sent a letter opposing the bill to lawmakers last Friday.  There appear to be two major reasons for this mass stand-down by organized labor, according to sources familiar with the discussions:

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Source: Penn Live BY CHARLES THOMPSON  cthompson@pennlive.com Updated on June 5, 2017 at 9:19 PM Posted on June 5, 2017 at 5:54 PM.