Archive for March, 2008
Union Members Highlight Sen. Coleman’s Anti-Worker Votes
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Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) kicked off his campaign for re-election yesterday—and he was met by union members who are trying to tell the truth about Coleman’s poor record when it comes to issues that matter to working families.
Coleman flew to three events around the state and at each one, union members were out in force to confront Coleman about his anti-worker record. In St. Paul, Rochester and Duluth, labor leaders and activists talked about Coleman’s tight ties with big-money special interests and his deeply flawed votes.
Laura Askelin, president of the Southeast Minnesota Area Labor Council, points to Coleman’s voting record and his allegiance to the Bush agenda and says that Coleman won’t make the changes needed (see video above).
Author of ‘Going Down Jericho Road’ at AFL-CIO on March 31
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Martin Luther King Jr. was killed 40 years ago while trying to help striking sanitation workers in Memphis gain dignity and respect on the job. On March 31, historian Michael Honey, whose book Going Down Jericho Road chronicles King’s last campaign, will share stories from the workers and discuss the strike’s impact on the civil rights movement during a presentation at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C.
Those in the Washington area who can attend the event also can take a look at an exhibit of photos and quotes in our lobby that commemorate the sanitation strike and King’s commitment to working people. The AFL-CIO exhibit runs through June 30.
In a Point of View guest column on the AFL-CIO website, Honey says we should remember King not only for his “I Have a Dream” speech and his leadership of the civil rights revolution, but also for his quest for economic equality.
Student Labor Week of Action Spotlights Tomato Workers’ Struggle for Fair Wage
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Progressive students have been deeply involved in issues of worker justice on campuses and in their communities. So much so, that those involved are forgoing spring break on the beach so they can take action in support of low-wage workers’ struggle for fair wages and freedom to form unions.
The ninth annual week of action, sponsored by the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) and co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO and several unions, takes place March 28–April 4 between the anniversaries of César Chávez’s birth and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Many student events will support the struggle of tomato workers, members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), who are reaching out to 1 million people to sign a petition demanding that Burger King and food industry leaders improve wages for workers who pick tomatoes and help eliminate slave-like conditions and human rights abuses from Florida’s fields.
Food for Your Children or Medicine You Need. What Would You Choose?
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Like most parents, Marie from Wisconsin puts her children’s welfare above her own, even when it means foregoing the medicine she needs so she can feed her kids.
Employed and with health insurance, Marie told the AFL-CIO/Working America 2008 Health Care for America Survey that the nation’s broken health care system has failed her, as it has for too many millions of others in the nation.
What would you do if you had to choose between food or medicine? Because of rising health care costs, that is a question that is frequently asked in my home. I work full time and have health care through my employer, but only a percentage is paid by them. I need a better-paying job, but as a single parent…I cannot go to school and work at the same time—I need the money to pay for myself and my two children to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. Adding extra things to our budget is devastating.
I recently needed medication for an ailment, but did not get the medicine—I couldn’t. What would I choose? I chose my children and what they need, whether it be food or medicine. I am the one who will go without before they suffer.
Unions’ Campaign Against Verizon Sale Nets Better Deal for Consumers, Workers
Verizon workers mounted a strong campaign against the sale of the company’s landlines in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. As a result, when regulators approved the sale, the workers’ efforts created a better deal for consumers and the workers.
The Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which together represent 2,500 Verizon employees, reached a tentative agreement yesterday with FairPoint Communications, the North Carolina-based company that will take over Verizon’s landline operations in the three states March 31.
The unions say the five-year deal includes wage and pension increases, continues health care benefits for employees and retirees and improves 401(k) benefits. The two unions, along with political leaders and community organizations, had urged regulators to reject the proposed deal.
McCain: Working Families to Blame for Mortgage Mess
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Across the country, the collapse of the housing market has created a crisis of foreclosures that is dragging down the economy. Finding a fair solution for this mess should be a top priority of the next president.
So presidential candidate Sen. John McCain must have a plan to address the crisis, right? Not so. In fact, the Republican from Arizona blames the millions of America’s working families who have lost their homes. They, says McCain, caused the economic downturn.
Of those 80 million homeowners, only 55 million have a mortgage at all, and 51 million are doing what is necessary—working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets—to make their payments on time. That leaves us with a puzzling situation: How could 4 million mortgages cause this much trouble for us all?
26,000 Share Top Health Concerns in AFL-CIO Survey
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In Veneta, Ore., Dorene relies on a unique form of health care coverage. The laid-off manufacturing worker, whose job was shipped overseas in 2006, says she is:
on the faith-based health care system. I pray I don’t get sick. Oh yeah, I’m a cancer survivor and I haven’t done the yearly check-up in three years.
Dorene counts on prayer for her health care because she and the nearly 27,000 other men and women who took the AFL-CIO/Working America 2008 Health Care for America Survey have lost faith in the nation’s health care system. The survey, released today, is one of the largest opinion pools available on health care. Of those who took the survey, nearly 7,500 submitted personal stories. The survey and stories are available at www.healthcaresurvey.aflcio.org.
PBS Series Looks at How Inequality Is Making Us Sick
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Americans spend more money on health care than any other country, but the benefits of our health care system are distributed unequally. We know 47 million Americans have no health care and the health care system is broken. Ninety-five percent of the 26,000 people who responded to the AFL-CIO/Working America 2008 Health Care for America Survey released today (click here) say the system needs fundamental change or to be completely rebuilt. Now, a growing body of research finds the social conditions in which Americans live, work and are born into also affect our health and how long we live.
A groundbreaking new PBS documentary series shows that economic and social inequality play a significant role in the nation’s health. The documentary, “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?” airs nationally March 27 at 10 p.m., but check your local listings to find out exactly when the series will air in your area.
Act Now to Stop Colombia Free Trade Deal
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With the U.S. economy in near free fall, President Bush has said he will send the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to Capitol Hill and demand a vote before he leaves office next January. Bush has made passing this agreement, which will do next to nothing for the failing U.S. economy, a priority.
Despite objections by the Democratic congressional leadership, the administration may formally send the agreement to Congress as early as next week when Congress returns from its Easter recess on March 31. Under Fast Track trade authority rules, the House of Representatives would likely face an up-or-down vote on the Colombia deal before the end of July.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is calling for an all-out nationwide mobilization to let members of Congress know that working Americans oppose this deal because it is wrong for workers in both countries. (Click here to tell your representative to oppose a trade deal with Colombia until their government makes real progress in protecting the lives and rights of union members.)
A Matter of Priorities
Last night, we passed another horrific milestone in Iraq: 4,000 U.S. men and women killed nearly five years to the day the war began. As Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) points out in this guest blog, the fiscal year 2009 federal budget George W. Bush is proposing includes billions of dollars to keep up the war, yet refuses to fund critical programs like children’s health care.
Just like he does every year, President George W. Bush submitted his budget proposal for 2009 to Congress last month. And just like every other year, his Republican allies in Congress were there to cheer him on.
