Search Results for 'rick scott'
Organizing & Bargaining |
Sep 15 |
AFL-CIO Delegates: Jazzed and Ready to Rock
| Kathy Scott |
| Sylvia Wilson |
| Rick Bloomingdale |
The Jacob L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh is filled with union members and leaders taking part in the AFL-CIO’s 26th Constitutional Convention, many of them first-time convention delegates like Lisha Thayer from Mine Workers Local 717 member from New York. (See Thayer and many other AFL-CIO delegates at our convention video page here.)
“I’m hoping to bring back ideas to get the union involved more, more women involved in the local, with the idea I’d like to come back and say that each one reached each one of us.”
Another first-time convention participant, AFL-CIO Convention delegate Sylvia Wilson, a member of AFT, the Allegheny County (Pa.) Central Labor Council and the A. Philip Randolph Institute, was among more than 500 participants at the AFL-CIO Diversity Conference Sunday in Pittsburgh.
“I want to see what’s going on in the Diversity Conference that I can carry out and apply to what I’m doing….What way can we reach out to bring more minorities in and what can we do as union members to go into the community and continue to bring more people up and elevate them and their status where they can take care of their families and have a living wage.”
Veteran delegate Richard Shaw, secretary-treasurer of the Harris County AFL-CIO Council in Houston, has been to many conventions and is “very excited about renewed activism in the AFL-CIO.”
“We’re certainly going to be working on health care reform and Employee Free Choice Act and I think the excitement of that and the excitement of the new officers is going to re-energize our labor movement. So I’m looking for new energy and new direction from our officers.”
Legislation & Politics |
Jun 10 |
Get Set to Take Part in June 25 Rally for Health Care Reform
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Several thousand union members and community, health and faith activists as well as small business owners from up and down the East Coast are traveling to the nation’s capitol June 25 to tell Congress to pass real health care reform that works for real people.
Sponsored by Health Care for America Now! the mid-day Capitol Hill rally will be followed by lobbying visits and several town hall meetings in what organizers say will be the largest health care lobbying day ever held. The U.S. House and Senate will be debating health care reform proposals in committee and final bills are expected to be up for votes on the floor in July. Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:
Health care costs are crushing families, businesses and government at all levels. We cannot cover everyone without bringing down costs and we cannot control costs without getting everyone into the system.
Economy, Legislation & Politics |
Jun 2 |
More Health Care Reform Scare Tactics: A 30-Minute Infomercial
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Sunday, the group Conservatives for Patients’ Rights—the extremists trying to sink President Obama’s health care reform efforts—bought 30 minutes of Sunday morning network talk show airtime for a so-called documentary.
In reality, it was a paid infomercial featuring “horror stories” about the Canadian and British health care systems and warning us the U.S. government is about to take over health care here. The production values may have been high, but the truth factor was zilch.
Of course, that should not come as too much of a surprise when the well-paid hack behind the outfit is Rick Scott, who has a $5 million stake in the group’s drive to derail health care reform, according to the Washington Post.
Legislation & Politics |
May 11 |
Health Care Reform Opponent Outed: Scott a Hospital CEO With Shady Past
The former CEO of Columbia/Hospital Corporation of America who was forced to resign in 1997 amid fraud charges, as well as the group that launched the infamous “Swift Boat” attack on the 2004 presidential bid of Sen. John Kerry, are now trying to sink health care reform.
But Health Care for America NOW! (HCAN), which supports health care reform, last week launched a television ad (left) detailing the “dubious past in the health care industry” of anti-health care reform front man Rick Scott.
According HCAN, after Scott was forced to resign from the health care giant in the wake of fraud charges, Columbia/HCA agreed to pay $1.7 billion in fines and penalties—the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history.
Legislation & Politics |
Apr 25 |
Workers Skimp on Health Care While Greedy Millionaires Fight Real Reform
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Here’s the latest example of how far corporations will go to stop real health care reform. Rick Scott, a multimillionaire, is putting $5 million of his own fortune into an ad campaign against President Obama’s health care plan. But what Scott doesn’t say in his ads is that he ran a company that had to pay the largest fine in history for Medicare fraud.
According to The New York Times, Scott was ousted as head of Columbia/HCA by his own board of directors in 1997 amid the nation’s biggest health care fraud scandal. The company pleaded guilty and paid $1.7 billion to settle charges, including the overbilling of state and federal Medicare programs.
Scott’s plan for a market-driven health care system likely won’t find much support among the millions of Americans who work every day and have to choose between buying groceries or taking care of serious health issues. Workers like “mosnowbird,” who is losing his sight but can’t afford to visit a doctor.
In the States, Legislation & Politics |
Jul 22 |
At Worksites and Doors, Union Members Get Out the Message
In key states around the country, the union vote will make the difference this fall. As part of the Labor 2008 program, the largest union voter mobilization in history, union volunteers are working hard to educate other members about why they support Sen. Barack Obama and intend to elect a pro-working family Congress this fall.
Worksite leafleting is just one of the ways Colorado union members communicate with fellow members about Obama’s record of supporting working families, says Phil Hayes, Labor 2008 state director. Last week, SMWIA Local 9 President Scott Jorgensen and NATCA staffer Chris McKeever spent hours at Denver construction sites talking to IBEW, SMWIA and UA members, Hayes reports.
Corporate Greed |
Apr 11 |
Wal-Mart: Everyday Low Behavior
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Wal-Mart has been laying low, trying to spruce up its image in recent months. But two recent items show that fancy window dressing can’t hide the mega-giant retailer’s ugly anti-worker underbelly. First, Wal-Mart’s unjust treatment of its female workers. Second, a court decision that pretty much lets Wal-Mart proceed with its eight-year battle to bust a union in Texas.
Pride at Work, an AFL-CIO constituency group, pointed out this great video from a Wal-Mart company party, which pretty much speaks for itself. As PAW points out:
Considering that Wal-Mart now faces the largest class-action gender lawsuit in the history of the United States, their little drag show is just not that funny.
The video, taken by a now-disgruntled contractor who has posted it on YouTube with a few clarifications, shows Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott patting the posterior of a male employee parading around in a dress and wig.
Organizing & Bargaining |
Mar 24 |
10,000 CNA/NNOC Nurses in California Reach Tentative Agreement
In California, 10,000 registered nurses represented by CNA/NNOC reach a tentative three-year contract and more from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
CNA/NNOC, University of California Medical Centers: Some 10,000 registered nurses at University of California medical centers, represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), reached a tentative three-year agreement. The contract provides across-the-board 6 percent wage increases this year with future increases to be negotiated in the fall of 2008 and 2009, respectively, and maintains current pension and retiree health care benefits.
Legislation & Politics |
Nov 21 |
Bush FAA Policies Lead to Flight Delays, Near Misses
If you’re flying somewhere for Thanksgiving dinner and your plane is late, more than likely it’s because there aren’t enough experienced controllers to handle the volume of air traffic this holiday weekend—the busiest travel season of the year.
In an ad this week in USA Today, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) shows the link between Bush administration’s policies, which have forced controllers to retire in large numbers, and the abysmal on-time records of the nation’s airlines.
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According to NATCA, since 2002, the percentage of veteran controllers on the job has decreased by 12 percent and the number of late arrivals has more than doubled at 105.9 percent.
And what about President Bush’s much ballyhooed decision to open military airspace to commercial flights for the holiday? Won’t make a bit of difference, NATCA President Patrick Forrey says:
This will have no real effect whatsoever. This is because there are fewer veteran, fully trained air traffic controllers on staff at air traffic facilities nationwide this holiday season than in 2006, handling 4 percent more traffic. If anything, delays will increase this holiday season, not decrease.
Legislation & Politics |
Nov 7 |
Dirty Tricks Mar Election
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| The AFL-CIO fielded hundreds of volunteers for our Voter Protection Program, including at this polling place in Detroit. |
Throughout the country, Republicans used dirty tricks to try to suppress turnout and intimidate voters in close races. Fake robo-calls were reported in 20 congressional districts, and Republicans used intimidation calls in several states.
Voters in heavily Democratic precincts received phone calls telling them to vote at the wrong polling places, and voters were sent misleading literature. In Virginia, the FBI is investigating phone calls made to voters in Democratic precincts telling them their voting places had been changed, which wasn’t true.
