During a question-and-answer session, Boyer said he was planning to meet with the president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to discuss his concerns about underperforming public schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna be very honest, they\u2019re not a big fan of mine,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, I\u2019m gonna meet with [president] Arthur Steinberg next week of the school teachers union. I\u2019m a union guy, but if your product isn\u2019t good, then I\u2019m not going to support you. And right now, your neighborhood product, you wouldn\u2019t send your child there. So why do you want me to send mine?\u201d<\/p>\n
Boyer subsequently explained that he was planning to meet with the union to discuss his advocacy for school choice, a term that typically encompasses charter schools and public funding for private education.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most charter schools have non-unionized teachers. In addition, Republican demands that the state fund vouchers<\/a> for families to pay private school tuition<\/a> are staunchly opposed by teachers unions and most Democratic lawmakers, and have played a role in the current state budget impasse.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been public [about supporting] school choice, and they don\u2019t like school choice, and I could be persuaded not to support school choice, if the district-run schools will have some innovation and some change on their own,\u201d Boyer told Billy Penn. \u201cI actually prefer that more, because philosophically, I\u2019m not for school choice, but I understand how desperate some people are to get their child educated.\u201d<\/p>\n However, PFT spokesperson Jane Roh said no such meeting with the union\u2019s leader has been scheduled.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Steinberg has repeatedly extended invitations to Mr. Boyer to discuss their differences one-on-one,\u201d she wrote in an email. \u201cWhile disappointed that Mr. Boyer has so far declined the hand the PFT has extended, President Steinberg remains open to opportunities to initiate a dialogue with Mr. Boyer directly (as opposed to through the press following business association functions).\u201d<\/p>\n She also forwarded a link to a social media post<\/a> she made in May. It shows a photo of public schools advocate Lisa Haver standing next to Boyer at a meeting and holding up a sign that reads, \u201cCharter schools are non-union shops.\u201d \u201cBless you,\u201d Roh wrote in the post, and tagged Haver.<\/p>\n Union vs. union<\/p>\n Boyer was interviewed by PR consultant Quincy Harris about his life and career, including his rise to leadership positions at Laborers Union Local 332 and the Laborers District Council. He discussed his advocacy for pro-business policies and economic growth in the city, and his efforts to create career paths for young people and improve educational opportunities.<\/p>\n He repeatedly criticized the public schools, saying they should be modernized and reoriented to provide training for jobs in construction and the trades, where he said there aren\u2019t enough skilled workers to satisfy demand.<\/p>\n \u201cMy phone in 2025 looks a lot different than my phone looked in 1989 when I graduated high school, yet the classroom looks the same. It should not be that way,\u201d he said in response to a question from Harris. \u201cAmerica is moving forward. The world is moving forward. We must educate differently.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t sit [our children] in the room and say, OK, let\u2019s just give the school districts more funding. Yes, they need funding. No question, they need funding, but they also need a different curriculum for this day and time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Boyer praised his mother for fighting to get him into a special-admission public school in Philadelphia rather than his neighborhood school, and noted that he sent his own kids to schools outside the city. He recently lobbied for establishment<\/a> of Early College Charter School, which will be the city\u2019s first new charter in nearly a decade when it opens next year.<\/p>\n His positions have led him to ally with conservative critics of traditional public education, and illustrated long-standing splits in the broader labor movement between private-sector and public-sector unions.<\/p>\n In 2023, for example, a political action committee funded by the Laborers District Council contributed $25,000 to another PAC called the Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth, the Inquirer reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The PAC was primarily funded by conservative megadonor and charter school advocate Jeffrey Yass<\/a>, a leading bogeyman for the PFT and other teachers unions. It paid for ads opposing the campaigns of two progressive City Council candidates, Councilmember Kendra Brooks and pastor Nicolas O\u2019Rourke of the Working Families Party, and mayoral candidate Helen Gym, who was heavily supported by teachers unions. (Brooks was subsequently reelected and O\u2019Rourke also won his race.)<\/p>\n Members of Boyer\u2019s union have also reportedly crossed picket lines, a major taboo among unions. During the strike in July by sanitation workers<\/a> and other city employees with AFSCME District Council 33, some Laborers Union members did preparatory work for the city\u2019s annual Wawa Welcome America concert, per the Inquirer<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Steinberg said at the time that scabbing \u2014 crossing a picket line \u2014 \u201cis deplorable, traitorous conduct, and cannot be tolerated by organized labor for one second.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Touting gas as a \u201cbridge fuel\u201d<\/p>\n Boyer spoke on a number of other topics, including rising regional demand for electricity and his hopes of seeing a new, gas-powered power plant built at the Bellwether District, an industrial campus<\/a> being built on the site of the former South Philly oil refinery.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bellwether District provides a great place where we could put some cogeneration plants,\u201d he said, referring to facilities that produce both electricity and heat. \u201cWe have an amazing opportunity with PECO and PGW to make sure that we build energy resilience in the Bellwether District, maybe some down in the Navy Yard.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose are things that I\u2019m talking about to the CEO of [Bellwether developer HRP Group], the CEO of PGW and the CEO of PECO. Those are conversations that we\u2019re having \u2026 We all want to go to renewables, but you need a bridge fuel to get to that. We think that natural gas may be the cleanest and safest alternative, or bridge fuel, while we get to wind and solar and renewables,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n HRP Group and PGW declined to comment on the prospect of a power plant at the site or confirm that Boyer had spoken with their CEOs. PGW referred questions to HRP Group.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we are aware of public discussions regarding a potential cogeneration facility at the Bellwether District, we cannot comment on the plans of other parties involved,\u201d PGW spokesperson Candice Womer said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are committed to supporting solutions that help meet the evolving energy needs of our region, especially those that would enhance energy supply as demand continues to increase exponentially,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are working with stakeholders on approaches that will help enable more generation to be added to the grid to further ensure reliability and to help address rising energy supply costs for customers.\u201d<\/p>\n Any plan to build a power plant would likely face stiff opposition from environmentalists<\/a> and others who point out that use of natural gas is a major contributor to climate change. It might also be fought by nearby residents who say they were harmed by decades of air pollution from the old refinery and have raised concerns about the site\u2019s ongoing environmental impact<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Bellwether District currently consists of two unoccupied warehouse-type buildings that could be used by logistics or e-commerce companies like Amazon, and HRP Group has said the site would also be appropriate for cold storage, large-scale manufacturing, and other non-residential uses.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Roh-Boyer-post.png\")
A post by Philadelphia Federation of Teachers spokesperson Jane Roh from May 2025. (Jane Roh\/Bluesky)<\/p>\n