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Employee Free Choice Would Mean Millions More Get Health Insurance |
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If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, 3.5 million more people could receive health insurance and 2.7 million more could gain pension benefits, according to a report released yesterday by the Campaign for America’s Future.
The U.S. House passed the Employee Free Choice Act on March 1. The bill, S. 1041, is now in the Senate. Under the bill, an employer would have to recognize the workers’ choice of a union if a majority signs union authorization cards (also known as majority sign-up). Currently, employers can reject the workers’ cards and demand a National Labor Relations Board election in which the bosses hold all the cards.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who released the report along with co-author Eric Lotke, said:
More than 47 million Americans lack health insurance, and even those with coverage find that if often covers less and less. This should not be happening in America. By passing the Employee Free Choice Act and giving workers a seat at the table, we can start to reverse these negative trends. Union participation in the workplace means everybody wins. When employees have a voice—when they can ask for better wages and benefits and make suggestions about how to do things better—employers benefit, too.
Building on the work of economist Susan Johnson, who found majority sign-up increases union membership, authors Alex Carter and Lotke estimate an additional 10 percent of workers would join a union after the Employee Free Choice Act is enacted. That would dramatically increase the number of workers likely to get access to employee-paid health insurance and retirement benefits. Union workers are 31 percent more likely to have health insurance and 33 percent more likely to have pensions.
Opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act and workers’ freedom to choose a voice at work continue to work overtime on a disinformation campaign to kill the bill, as Isaiah Poole reports today on TomPaine.com:
Their latest weapon is a report by The Heritage Foundation that alleges that if [the bill] is passed, a binding arbitration provision in the bill—which would kick in only if employers and employees fail to come to terms on a union contract on their own—“would empower government officials to set workers’ wages and working conditions” and “could force workers into multiemployer union pension plans, many of which are severely underfunded and cannot pay promised benefits.”
The over-the-top allegation, with its insinuation that union leaders would use the opportunity to pad union finances at the expense of retirees, mirrors outright lies told by such business-funded groups as UnionFacts.com, which uses television and newspaper ads to repeat the falsehood that [Employee Free Choice Act] would “eliminate voting rights” or “secret ballots” for workers.
You can take action now to help workers make a free choice to join a union. Click here to urge your senators to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
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[...] New Blog Posts Employee Free Choice Would Mean Millions More Get Health Insurance Employee Free Choice Act — AFL-CIO If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, 3.5 million more people could receive health insurance and 2.7 million more could gain pension benefits, according to a report released yesterday by the …The Health Insurance Industry Employs Minority Groups to Protect … The Democratic led Congress is looking hard at cutting payments to insurers participating in the Medicare Advantage business. With both the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) saying …Paying for Health Care - But Not Getting It According to market theory, for-profit providers and the 1500 private health insurance plans in the US are supposed to control costs. They clearly are not doing so. Instead of restraining costs they are restricting care. …Health Insurance The obvious question… if I’m going to try to make it as a trumpeter without a steady day gig, what’s the best way to go about getting health insurance? I checked with the union here and they don’t really offer anything. …Small Business Health Insurance News: Less Offering Health Benefits Many in the small business community have joined the universal health care fray due to the rising cost of premiums and the subsequent dropping of benefits by a growing number of small businesses. A recently released survey by the … [...]
[...] New Blog Posts Health Insurance The obvious question… if I’m going to try to make it as a trumpeter without a steady day gig, what’s the best way to go about getting health insurance? I checked with the union here and they don’t really offer anything. …The Health Insurance Industry Employs Minority Groups to Protect … The Democratic led Congress is looking hard at cutting payments to insurers participating in the Medicare Advantage business. With both the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) saying …Employee Free Choice Would Mean Millions More Get Health Insurance Employee Free Choice Act — AFL-CIO If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, 3.5 million more people could receive health insurance and 2.7 million more could gain pension benefits, according to a report released yesterday by the …Paying for Health Care - But Not Getting It According to market theory, for-profit providers and the 1500 private health insurance plans in the US are supposed to control costs. They clearly are not doing so. Instead of restraining costs they are restricting care. …Small Business Health Insurance News: Less Offering Health Benefits Many in the small business community have joined the universal health care fray due to the rising cost of premiums and the subsequent dropping of benefits by a growing number of small businesses. A recently released survey by the … [...]
[...] New Blog Posts Employee Free Choice Would Mean Millions More Get Health Insurance Employee Free Choice Act — AFL-CIO If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, 3.5 million more people could receive health insurance and 2.7 million more could gain pension benefits, according to a report released yesterday by the …Paying for Health Care - But Not Getting It According to market theory, for-profit providers and the 1500 private health insurance plans in the US are supposed to control costs. They clearly are not doing so. Instead of restraining costs they are restricting care. …Health Care for Kids From 1998 through 2004, the number of children without health insurance across the country dropped to 7.9 million, from 11.1 million… That was largely because of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a state-federal partnership …Fewer employers offer health benefits: study Fewer US employers are offering health benefits, mostly because many new small employers have chosen not to pay for health insurance, the US Government Accountability Office reported on Monday. The GAO found an 8 percentage point drop …Small Business Health Insurance News: Less Offering Health Benefits Many in the small business community have joined the universal health care fray due to the rising cost of premiums and the subsequent dropping of benefits by a growing number of small businesses. A recently released survey by the … [...]
In a separate email, I have urged my senators to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. My question is: “What happens to the millions of families now who do not have medical or pension benefits while waiting to be unionized?”.
[...] Employee Free Choice Would Mean Millions More Get Health Insurance – If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, 3.5 million more people could receive health insurance and 2.7 million more could gain pension benefits, according to a report released yesterday by the Campaign for America’s Future. [...]
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