Archive for August, 2007
AFL-CIO Launches Campaign for America’s Health Care
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It’s a simple proposition and poll after poll shows most people agree that:
In America, No One Should Go Without Health Care.
Today, as new figures from the federal government show there are 2.2 million more Americans, including children without health care coverage—a record 47 million with no coverage—the AFL-CIO launched a mobilization drive to fix our broken health care system.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington, D.C., today to describe the new campaign, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the effort will:
…put the full-force of the 10 million union members and three million union retirees behind winning high quality, secure health care for every person in America by 2009.
Machinists Hear from Four Presidential Candidates
Some 600 local and national Machinists (IAM) officers and leaders heard from a quartet of presidential candidates at the union’s annual planning meeting this week in Orlando, Fla.
On Monday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) addressed the union members. Yesterday, former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) took the podium.
Fire Fighters Back Dodd for President
The Fire Fighters (IAFF) today announced their endorsement of Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) in the 2008 presidential election. The announcement comes a day after the United Transportation Union threw its support behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Fire Fighters have launched a new website, Fire Fighters for Dodd, and will be mobilizing members around the country in support of Dodd’s race. The site touts Dodd’s “proven, demonstrated ability to lead” on the issues important to the nation’s Fire Fighters.
Two Years After Katrina: ‘Our National Shame’
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In the two years since Hurricane Katrina came ashore on the Gulf Coast, the Bush administration has failed miserably to deliver on the president’s promise to rebuild the area, especially New Orleans.
Instead of acting quickly to provide the aid needed to bring the Crescent City back, the administration is using the rebuilding effort to promote its conservative agenda and to push poor people out of New Orleans, according to several experts.
Consider that two years after Katrina, 213,000 people evacuated from the city still have not been able to return home because there are no places for them to live.
Bush’s Medicare Drug Program Fails to Cut Costs
The first report card on Bush’s Medicare prescription drug program is in—and it shows a failing grade for controlling the cost of medication for seniors.
Seniors in Medicare’s Part D prescription drug program are more likely to pay at least $300 a month for medicines than those on other plans, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs.
United Transportation Union Endorses Clinton
The United Transportation Union (UTU) has offered its endorsement to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) in the 2008 presidential election. The UTU is the first AFL-CIO union to make an official endorsement in the 2008 election.
In a statement released today on the endorsement, UTU International President Paul Thompson said:
The UTU has a long history of picking winners early. Hillary will be a president that America’s working families can count on. Time and again, as a United States senator, she has stood with us.
The UTU intends to devote our considerable resources to encouraging our 125,000 active and retired members, their families, friends and neighbors to register to vote and cast ballots on Election Day 2008 for Hillary.
Washington, D.C., Residents Ride for Freedom to Vote
The Freedom Rides of the 1960s played a pivotal role in building support for civil and voting rights for people of color across the South. Next month, activists from across the Washington, D.C., area will join their own “D.C. Freedom Ride” to demand voting rights for the residents of the nation’s capital.
D.C. Vote, a group backing democracy for D.C. residents, is sponsoring a bus tour through three states—Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia—Sept. 15–17. Some 100 people are expected to ride on two buses covered with the slogans “We Demand the Vote” and “Taxation Without Representation.”
MSHA Refuses Crandall Canyon Families’ Request for Mine Workers Representation During Investigation
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) refused a request from Crandall Canyon miners and their families that the Mine Workers (UMWA) represent them in the upcoming federal investigation into the Aug. 6 collapse that trapped and presumably killed six coal miners and the ensuing underground rescue attempt that cost the lives of three of the rescuers.
Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts says MSHA’s action is a “travesty” and is “outrageous.”
This action means that there will be no independent voice at the table in MSHA’s investigation, questioning the actions of both the company and the federal government in this disaster….These families should have the right to be full participants in this investigation, and they should be able to designate whoever they want to be their representatives.
Casino Workers Say ‘Pay the Dealer’ and Vote for UAW Card
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Nearly 1,000 Atlantic City, N.J., casino workers won a voice at work last week when they voted to join the UAW. By more than a four-to-one margin, some 950 full- and part-time dealers and dual rate employees said “Yes” to UAW representation Saturday. On Thursday, 35 slot machine technicians at Caesars voted to join UAW.
Last week’s casino victories were the fourth and fifth election wins for Atlantic City casino workers this year. Earlier, dealers at Caesars, Bally’s and Trump Plaza voted to join the UAW. On Saturday, cashiers at Caesars are set to vote for a voice at work.
Got a Second? Take Our Labor Day Quiz
It’s not as tough as the medical boards and if you answer all the questions correctly you won’t win a license to practice medicine. But if you are the first to answer our daily health care quiz question correctly (you can take a crack at today’s question now), you’ll win a nifty T-shirt or a gift certificate to The Union Shop Online™ and be armed with a knowledge-nugget you can drop into discussions with your friends and family next time folks are railing against the nation’s failing health care system.
Starting today and running through Labor Day, Sept. 3, on our Labor Day website, we will post a multiple choice question. It may ask about health insurance, health care costs, quality care and other aspects of health care that Americans say is one of the top issues in the upcoming 2008 race for the White House. Working families know that rising, irrational health costs are crippling families, companies and communities, while drug and insurance company CEOs are raking in money as never before.
