AFL-CIO, NNU Back New Universal Health Care Bill
Last year, when Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, it was a “historic milestone on our path toward a more just society,” says AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, “But we also know that much work is left to be done.”
That work includes moving to a single-payer, universal health care model as called for by the AFL-CIO Convention in 2009 and today in the America Health Security Act, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.).
Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference, Holt Baker said:
We in the labor movement have long insisted that health care is a fundamental human right and an important measure of social justice. And for more than 100 years, we have fought for universal health care coverage based on a social insurance model, an approach that has proven to be cost-effective and efficient in countries across the globe and in this country to provide health security for seniors.
Jean Ross, R.N., and co-president of National Nurses United (NNU), says the bill will “create a more just health care system.”
Could Simpson or Boehner Pass the Social Security Test?
AFSCME President Gerald McEntee has a great idea for a reality television show. He suggested it as part of a conference call today where participants outlined efforts to strengthen Social Security and combat attempts by the federal budget deficit commission and others to raise the retirement age, cut benefits or even privatize Social Security.
The show would star three people: Deficit Commission co-chair Alan Simpson, who has called seniors “greedy geezers”; House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) who wants to raise the retirement age to 70; and former Lehman Brothers chief executive Peter Peterson, who has bankrolled a major PR campaign to convince the public Social Security is on the brink of disaster. But McEntee admits it might be short-lived.
Give each of these guys the average annual Social Security benefit of $14,000 and make them live on it for a year. But deduct $100 a month for Medicare part B premium and $200 a month for Medigap insurance. When do you think they will stop calling for benefit cuts? Probably after the first episode. Read the rest of this entry »
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders Meets with Kentucky Union Leaders
Nate Byer, AFL-CIO communications director in Kentucky, sends us this report.
As part of his congressional August recess, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was in Kentucky yesterday to witness firsthand how residents of the Bluegrass State have risen to the challenging economic realities that face the region. During his first-ever trip to the Commonwealth, Sanders, who was joined by Rep. Jim Yarmuth (D-KY), stopped in at the UAW Local 862 union hall to hold an informal roundtable with union leaders and interested members.
Kentucky AFL-CIO President Bill Londigran briefed Sanders on how the state’s implementation of federal stimulus funds and where union leaders see the greatest potential for job growth in the state. Yarmuth contributed valuable insight into the political challenges friends of labor face across the state and made it clear that he believes the progressive community will be geared up for the upcoming November elections. Says Londrigran. Read the rest of this entry »
Trumka: Boost Fairness and Revenue with Estate Tax Reinstatement
New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and hundreds of other multimillionaires (and some billionaires, like Steinbrenner) who have passed away this year disproved the old adage, “the only two things certain in life are death and taxes.”
They couldn’t dodge death, but their estates have dodged taxes—some $14.8 billion so far this year, according to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). The federal estate tax that in the past applied to multimillion-dollar fortunes fully expired at the end of 2009, after President George W. Bush’s 2001 $1.35 trillion tax cut package for the wealthy exempted larger and larger estates from the levy each year.
Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, philanthropist and Walt Disney heir Abigail Disney and others called for a reinstatement of the tax. Read the rest of this entry »
A Tax on Health Care Benefits: The Wrong Policy
Members of Congress, union members and working family activists rallied in Washington, D.C., today in support of health care reform—and against funding it with a new tax on health benefits.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who has introduced an amendment to remove a benefits tax from the Senate bill—and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) were joined by workers from across the country who would be hurt if a new benefits tax became law, as well as leaders from across the union movement.
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker attended the rally and said placing a tax on working people’s health benefits would be a step in the wrong direction for health care:
Some in the Senate are now proposing that workers who already have it so hard should have to pay more for the health care they have. We’re here to say that’s just plain wrong. This is not just a union issue. Taxing benefits would hurt all workers—we know that one in five workers would be hurt by this tax and that’s a lot more people than union members.
Tomato Workers Score Huge Victory
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In a huge win for farm workers, one of the nation’s top food service and management companies reached an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to improve working conditions and give a raise directly to Florida’s tomato harvesters.
The pact between Compass Group North America and the CIW calls for the company to pay an additional 1.5 cents per pound for all the tomatoes it purchases each year, with 1 cent per pound passed directly from the supplier to the workers. The agreement boosts workers’ wages from 50 cents for a 32-pound bucket to 82 cents per bucket, a 64 percent increase.
This is the first agreement where the money goes directly to the workers. Previous agreements called for the money to go into an escrow account.
Two Farms Agree to Better Wages, Conditions for Florida Tomato Workers
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The campaign of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to bring better wages and improved working conditions to Florida’s tomato fields took a big step forward this week.
Whole Foods Market announced that two of the largest organic growers in Florida—Lady Moon Farms and Alderman Farms—have signed agreements to implement the principles of the “penny-per-pound” program to improve wages for tomato harvesters. That means workers on those farms will get 72 cents to 77 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, up from 40 cents to 45 cents.
These agreements effectively break a stalemate that began nearly two growing seasons ago when the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange threatened to levy a $100,000 fine on any member who participated in the CIW agreements. At that time, two Florida growers who had been passing on the penny-per-pound increase under a 2007 agreement with Taco Bell agreement ceased doing so.
Although fast-food companies such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway and Yum! all agreed to the CIW principles, no farms in the area dared buck the Growers Exchange until now.
Pelosi: Congress Committed to Passing Employee Free Choice
Congress is “committed to passing the Employee Free Choice Act” and President Obama is “ready to sign it into law,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today told more than 3,000 union members and leaders from 13 unions at the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) in Washington, D.C.
According to The Hill blog, Pelosi told delegates to the BCTD’s 2009 Legislative Conference:
Our work in Congress is based on two truths: America’s economy is only as strong as America’s middle class; America’s middle class is only as strong as America’s unions.
