Rally Today Against Insurance Company Greed, and Other Health Care News
Today, health insurance industry bigwigs are meeting in Washington, D.C., to plot out their strategy to defeat health care reform. We’ll be rallying to show them that we won’t accept anything less than affordable, high-quality coverage for everyone.
Here’s what else is happening in the fight for health care:
- Health insurance companies, drug companies and their front groups have been breaking records in their fight to keep control over our health care, spending millions this summer on TV and lobbying in D.C.
- Senators are looking to rein in the insurance industry by ending the industry’s exception from anti-trust laws.
Nurses Back Franken Bill to Eliminate Heavy Lifting
Direct care registered nurses are injured at a higher rate than laborers, movers and truck drivers because they reposition, move and lift patients, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A proposed bill would protect the health of RNs, ensure patients get the care they need and decrease work injuries, say leaders of the United American Nurses (UAN) and the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA).
The Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2009 (S. 1788), introduced by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), requires the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop and implement a standard to eliminate, as much as possible, manual lifting of patients through the use of mechanical devices. The bill is a companion measure to H.R. 2381, introduced this session in the House by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).
Shuler to Help Kick Off Minnesota AFL-CIO Political Efforts
Today and tomorrow, the Minnesota AFL-CIO is holding its 2009 Political Conference, and newly elected AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will be on hand to mobilize and energize delegates to win all across the state.
Today, the conference will hear from a number of candidates for governor, and Shuler will kick off tomorrow’s session. State AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson, the first woman elected to head the state federation, will lead the conference.
The grassroots volunteer efforts of Minnesota union members and Working America members were critical to electing Sen. Al Franken, a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, in the nation’s closest Senate race last fall. Over the next year they’ll focus on the 2010 race for Minnesota governor as well as key races for the U.S. House.
You can follow the Minnesota AFL-CIO on their blog and on Twitter.
The Employee Free Choice Act: From 2003 to Today
Members of Congress soon will cast votes that show us where they stand on the Employee Free Choice Act. As key senators engage in negotiations over the bill, supporters of workers’ freedom to form unions aren’t backing down on three key principles:
* Workers need to have a real choice to form a union and bargain for a better life, free from intimidation.
* We have to stop the endless delays and make sure workers can get a fair first contract.
* There have to be real penalties for violating the law.
Over the past few months, opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act have more than once declared the bill dead, but in fact we’re still working hard to to ensure labor law reform happens this year. We’ve come along way from where we were several years ago.
Private Equity Firms, Our New Corporate Masters?
Workers returned Tuesday to the job at Stella D’oro Biscuit Co. in the Bronx after a judge ordered the company reinstate the 136 employees who had remained strong throughout a brutal 11-month strike. But before they could even walk through the doors, they were greeted with the anti-union response by the company’s private equity firm owners, the 21st century’s mutation of the robber barons: Brynwood Partners announced it would shut down operations in October. (”Private equity firms” is the euphemism those leveraged buyout corporations adopted after leveraged buyout got a bad name in the 1980s.)
Established more than 75 years ago, Stella D’oro is a nationally known maker of specialty baked goods and until recently was a family-owned business. But a series of corporate buyouts ultimately resulted in Brynwood’s 2006 purchase of the company. And a private equity firm’s only reason for existing is to make money-lots of it. Even robber barons ultimately had to ensure they had enough workers on the job because those companies made money by making things. Not so for today’s private equity firms. Closing shop and making off with the profits is what they do.
Sen. Franken Joins Senate, Co-Sponsors Employee Free Choice Act
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Yesterday, after a long, hard campaign and almost eight months of vote counting and litigation, Al Franken was sworn in as the newest U.S. senator representing Minnesota. Then he signed on for the first time as co-sponsor of a bill—the Employee Free Choice Act.
Franken announced his co-sponsorship at a reception last night at the AFL-CIO, where Minnesota leaders like former Vice President Walter Mondale, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Minnesota AFL-CIO President Ray Waldron helped union members and leaders welcome him to Washington, D.C.
Franken, a strong supporter of workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain, said his membership in four unions—AFTRA, SAG, WGAE and DGA—gave him, wife Franni and his family the opportunities that all working families deserve:
Because of my membership in those unions, Franni and I had health care during the campaign. Because of my membership in those unions, we have a pension.
We need to level the playing field. Unions built the middle class in this country, but we’ve seen the playing field become a steep hill. We’ve seen a great risk shift in this country.
Maine GOP State Legislator Supports Employee Free Choice Act, and Other Highlights from Around the Country
Guess who’s joining the campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act in Maine?
It’s state Rep. Jim Campbell, a Republican who is defying the expectations of pundits and corporate shills by supporting workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain. He has appeared at public events around the state and written in local news outlets to show his support for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Here’s what Campbell says about the need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and its importance to rebuilding the economy:
Common-sense solutions should be used to create good jobs that can support a family and put money back into our economy. Historically, no institution has been as effective at improving the quality of life for working families as membership in a union. Union members earn better wages, have better health care coverage and can count on a more secure retirement than nonunion workers.
Read the rest of this entry »
Minnesota Supreme Court Rules Franken Winner in Senate Race
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UPDATE 4:41 p.m.: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has announced he will certify the election.
UPDATE 4:02 p.m.: Former Sen. Norm Coleman has conceded. Al Franken will be the next senator from Minnesota.
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The Minnesota Supreme Court, after nearly eight months of counting and appeals, has ruled that Al Franken won the election to be Minnesota’s next U.S. senator.
Franken was endorsed by the AFL-CIO last year and union members worked hard on his behalf.
In the ruling, available here, the five state Supreme Court justices unanimously agreed:
For all of the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under Minn. 32 Stat. § 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.
UPDATE: Here’s what AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney had to say about this important decision:
America’s workers congratulate Al Franken—and the people of Minnesota who have gone 226 days without a second Senator—for their unanimous victory today in the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Big Business Blocks Working Family Bills by Keeping Franken’s Senate Seat Vacant
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It’s April 2009 and we’re still checking back in to see who won in Minnesota’s hard-fought 2008 Senate race between incumbent Norm Coleman and AFL-CIO-endorsed challenger Al Franken—because corporate front groups are dumping money into delaying and dragging out the process.
When last we visited Minnesota, the state was just beginning to recount the votes in the excruciatingly close race. The recount was an exhaustive, transparent process, with every step open to the public and examined closely by Minnesota’s judiciary. And this week, a three-judge panel—in a 68-page decision issued after extensive consideration—ruled that Franken “received the highest number of votes legally cast” and is “entitled to receive a certificate of election.”
Yet Franken can’t be seated, because ex-Sen. Coleman is planning to appeal to the Minnesota state Supreme Court. Although election-law experts suggest that Coleman’s arguments are unlikely to have any more effect on the state Supreme Court than they did in front of judges from around the state who have heard them throughout this long process, Coleman is still keeping his team of lawyers busy and well-paid. And who’s paying for those mounting legal bills? The same corporate front groups bankrolling the fight against the Employee Free Choice Act.
Franken Still in Contention as Minnesota Counts the Votes
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Election 2008 isn’t quite over yet. The closest Senate race in the country is still up in the air, as Minnesota is recounting ballots in the contest between Sen. Norm Coleman and AFL-CIO-endorsed Al Franken. While the recount is scheduled to finish tomorrow, final decisions on thousands of ballots are still pending, which means it could be another week before we know who will be the next senator from Minnesota.
On election night, the initial count showed that, out of some 2.86 million votes cast, just over 200 separated Coleman and Franken—a difference of less than 0.01 percent. Under Minnesota state law, a recount is required in any statewide race where the difference is less than half of 1 percent. The recount is under way and will be completed sometime tomorrow.
So who’s ahead, and who is likely to wind up leading when the counting is finished, as required under state law, tomorrow? That’s a good question, and one that nobody seems to be able to answer.
