Archive for December 1st, 2008
Obama Transition Team Wants to Hear from You on Health Care
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How’s this for change in Washington? Instead of listening exclusively to the heath insurance industry and other corporate interests, as the Bush administration did for eight painful years, the soon-to-be Obama administration wants to hear from you on how the nation’s health care system can be reformed to provide health care for all.
President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team last week launched the online health care reform discussion. In a video introduction, Dora Hughes, a transition team health care adviser, says:
A critical part of our health reform efforts is making sure that every American voice is heard.
Attacks on Cleland, Votes in Senate Show Chambliss No Friend of Georgia Vets
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In tomorrow’s runoff election between Jim Martin and Sen. Saxby Chambliss for Georgia’s seat in the U.S. Senate, there’s a clear difference on the issues that matter to veterans and their families.
Chambliss has voted to undermine veterans health care, and he continually has voted with President Bush on key economic issues that affect the lives of veterans, from retirement security to trade. Martin, a Vietnam veteran, has pledged to fight on behalf of working families and America’s veterans.
In a message to union veterans, Mark Ayers, chairman of the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council and president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department, pointed out the differences between Martin and Chambliss on veterans issues. The message was co-signed by Ann Converso, president of the United American Nurses, and J. David Cox, secretary-treasurer of AFGE. Converso and Cox serve as vice chairs of the Union Veterans Council.
Topping Bush’s List: A Rule Making It Harder to Regulate Toxic Substances
The nation’s voters may have cast their ballots overwhelmingly for change Nov. 4, but the Bush administration’s drive to weaken worker safety laws and reward its corporate friends is far from dead.
In November, we reported on the Bush administration’s last-minute assault on the public with a slew of end-of-term, no congressional-approval-needed regulations that could roll back or weaken rules on job safety, family leave, airline safety and pollution.
Tomorrow: Georgia’s Senate Runoff Race
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Tomorrow, Georgia voters go to the polls to vote in the runoff election for U.S. Senate. AFL-CIO-endorsed Jim Martin is in a close contest with anti-worker incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss in a race that could determine the ability to pass a pro-working family agenda in 2009 and beyond.
Union volunteers are putting in long hours and mobilizing around the state to get out the vote in the Senate runoff. If Martin wins, he’ll be the 59th pro-worker vote in the Senate, providing a critical voice for policies that will rebuild America’s middle class and strengthen the economy. Chambliss would continue to stand in the way of progress on health care, job creation and the Employee Free Choice Act.
91 Trade Unionists Murdered in 2007
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A total of 91 trade unionists were murdered for fighting for workers’ rights worldwide in 2007, according to the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC’s) Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights, released late last month.
Colombia, where 39 union members were killed in 2007, again tops the list of most dangerous countries to be a union member. While there was a slight reduction in killings in Colombia compared with the previous year, ITUC says many attempts to kill Colombian unionists failed, and there was a notable increase in forced removals, arbitrary arrests, illegal raids and threats, especially in agriculture, health and education.
In Guinea, 30 unionists were murdered. ITUC says the regime of President Lansana Conte was directly responsible for the killing of 30 unionists during the brutal repression of union-organized public demonstrations against corruption and violations of fundamental rights.
