This Labor Day, Steve Skvara Speaks for America’s Workers

by Mike Hall, Sep 3, 2007

When Steve Skvara is introduced Thursday at a congressional hearing on corporate bankruptcy and its impact on workers and retirees, the retired United Steelworkers (USWA) member and active member of the Alliance for Retired Americans will cap off a busy month in the spotlight as the face of our nation’s failed health care system.

Last month, standing before 18,000 people at Chicago’s Soldier Field (see video) and millions more on national television, Skvara leaned on his crutches and told the eight candidates at the AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum:

After 34 years with LTV Steel, I was forced to retire because of a disability. Two years later, LTV filed bankruptcy. I lost a third of my pension, and my family lost their health care. Every day of my life, I sit at the kitchen table across from the woman who devoted 36 years of her life to my family, and I can’t afford to pay for her health care.

What’s wrong with America and what will you do to change it?

Columnists and commentators quickly agreed Skvara’s appearance was the most powerful moment of the night. The straight-forward, from-the-heart question came from someone who played by all the rules for decades—worked hard, paid his bills and raised his kids—only to have the rules changed on him when he most needed them. He could have been your neighbor, your uncle or yourself.

When Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s “Hardball” (see video clip), introduced Skvara on his show the following night, he asked if his question:

…wasn’t a moment that was going to change American political history?

It certainly was one of the most talked about political moments so far this year. Following the AFL-CIO forum, national media outlets sought him out. He’s made two appearances on Matthews’s show and appeared on Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown.” Olbermann moderated the AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum.

Skvara, who lives in Valparaiso, Ind., has appeared on the “CBS Evening News” and all three major Chicago stations and Indiana Lakeshore Public Television, not only to tell his story but to call for health care reform that holds corporations accountable. Versions of his video appearances were posted to YouTube, where more than 20,000 took a look.

Skvara also was a featured speaker at a health care rally with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), where he asked the crowd:

Who is going to change America? Whose America is it? Is it the corporations’ America or is the citizens who vote?

He was asked to appear on “Oprah,“ but initially turned down the invitation because it conflicted with his plans to attend the Alliance for Retired Americans legislative conference this week. The show’s producers made arrangements to fly him to Chicago for a taping and back to Washington so he wouldn’t miss important conference sessions. The show, dealing with health care,  will air later in the fall.

Skvara says the instant fame serves a much bigger purpose than telling his own story.

I’m glad that the message has been sent out and heard by so many people. Health car is a viable issue and needs to be addressed.

In an interview with the Northwest Indiana Times, Skvara says:

This isn’t a story about my wife and the situation we’re facing, its about the millions of women, heads of households, people without health insurance, who are working hard to raise their families, but whose lives can be changed overnight, because they can’t afford health insurance.

We need national health care.

As Jerry Davich, a reporter for the Gary (Ind.) Star Tribune, points out in an Aug. 15 column, Skvara—who is a district board member of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR)—has addressed the issue out of the spotlight and under the radar for years. Davich says he wrote the piece to set the record straight after hearing from some that Skvara, was a “whining baby boomer” and perhaps even a phony. Several far right-wing blogs attacked Skvara’s credibility.

I’ve known Skvara for several years, wiring about his single-minded crusade along the way, from pension issues to the new Medicare plan.

For years he has been a vocal activist and visible street soldier for better health care, especially for local seniors and retirees.

He has written letters to the editors of local newspapers. He has attended countless rallies. And he’s revealed his personal situation to illustrate his points…

…I knew Skvara was the ideal person—the perfect person—to represent this region and its blue collar, lunch bucket constituents, so many who have walked in his bootsteps.

To learn more about health care, visit AFL-CIO’s new health care website.

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