Share Your Photos from the Fight for Health Care
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| Union members are fighting for health care across the country. |
Union activists across the country are taking part in the National Week of Action for Health Care, and you can see what’s happening on the ground and share your own experiences with our new health care photo site.
You can submit your own photo here and vote for your favorite photos here.
Don’t forget to call your members of Congress using our easy call-in tool here. Your efforts will make the difference in finally winning affordable, high-quality coverage for everyone.
Health care reform means real benefits for working families—lower costs, better coverage and a fairer system. We can’t wait, and thousands of grassroots union members have been leading the way in making sure we get reform.
Maine, Washington Defeat Referendums on Tax Extremism
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In Maine and Washington State, voters Tuesday overwhelmingly told the extremist right-wing, anti-worker crowd to take their efforts to cripple state governments and slash vital services and shove them.
In both states, the so-called Taxpayer Bills of Rights (TABOR)—long a part of the reactionary holy grail—went down by double-digit margins. Maine voters said “No” by a 60-40 margin and TABOR was defeated in Washington 55-45. It was the third time in recent years Mainers saw through the hype and said “No” to Tabor.
According the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC):
The Grover Norquist, Club for Growth, Glenn Beck, Tea Party crowd tried to use the bleak budget picture as an opportunity to ratchet down even harder as states look to find the revenue necessary to protect priorities, create jobs, and get their economies going—but voters rejected that failed approach again….
AFL-CIO, NFL Players Association and United Way Team Up in Detroit
Tomorrow, local union leaders, current and retired NFL players in Detroit will join the United Way to hold a food drive benefiting families affected by the economic crisis. The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) organized the food drive. Saundra Williams, president of the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO, will be among those joining Detroit Lions offensive lineman Stephen Peterman at the food drive.
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker says the food drive is an important way for union members to reach out to hard-hit communities:
In these times of crisis, it’s heartwarming to see my union brothers and sisters joining together to help those in need. The proud residents of Detroit are suffering from some of the highest unemployment rates in the country and they need our help now more than ever. What the people of Detroit need, and all of America’s working men and women need, are quality, family-supporting jobs.
For those of you in the Detroit area, bring your non-perishable items to the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO building at 600 West Lafayette Blvd. between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and you’ll be entered in a prize giveaway.
Shuler in Pennsylvania: We Must Inspire Next Generation
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Speaking at last night’s annual dinner of the Southeastern Area Labor Federation of Pennsylvanian, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told the state’s union members we must get energized and active so that we can address the needs of a generation of young workers left behind by an economy that isn’t working:
We need to reach out to millions of unorganized workers who just don’t see us as the answer to their problems. To tell you the truth, they don’t see us at all. Above all, that means young workers in their 20s and 30s….They don’t have a connection to the union movement….No wonder young workers don’t realize what we have to offer them.
Shuler, who has been traveling nearly non-stop since becoming the youngest person ever elected as a top AFL-CIO officer last month, cited the AFL-CIO report “Young Workers: A Lost Decade,” which found that workers under age 35 have been hit especially hard by the economic crisis. The economic hardship damages their earning power now and well into the future.
California Carwash Workers Win Another Victory
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Carwash workers in California are fighting for justice and an end to the exploitation many workers suffer at the hands of abusive carwash owners. One of the workers’ major protections—the Carwash Worker Law—was set to expire this year. But the workers and unions supporting them mobilized for its renewal. Chole Osmer, of the Clean Carwash Campaign sent us this update.
This week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed into law AB 236, a bill to renew the state’s “Carwash Worker Law” and extend it to 2014. The California Labor Federation and the Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) Carwash Campaign worked hard to win the bill’s passage.
Sponsored by Assembly member Sandre Swanson (D), the law requires all carwashes to register with the state, enabling the state to prevent employers who have violated labor laws in the past from continuing to do so. It also requires that carwash employers purchase a surety bond as wage insurance and contribute to the “Carwash Worker Restitution Fund,” both of which provide workers with a means to collect owed wages.
Health Care Action: Union Activists Visit Congress, Deliver Letters from Consumers
This morning, more than 100 local and state union activists and leaders kicked off a two-day National House Call on Congress action, delivering the first batches of more than 42,000 letters from union members demanding real health care reform.
An Arkansas couple is personally delivering to Capitol Hill their story of a near fatal accident and a four-year struggle with their insurance company that’s led to their bankruptcy.
The union leaders, from more than two dozen states, also are reminding lawmakers that the union members and working families who worked so hard on their campaigns last fall are the same people who strongly back health care reform. They are telling senators that reform must control costs, not tax benefits, include a strong public option, require employers to pay their fair share and hold insurance companies accountable.
Send a Letter Today Urging Congress to Pass Quality Health Care Reform
Local unions, central labor councils, state federations and national unions are redoubling their efforts to ensure health care reform legislation—which could be on the Senate floor as early as Oct. 13 and in the full House later in the month—is real reform that
- Controls costs.
- Provides guaranteed coverage.
- Holds insurance companies accountable.
- Includes a public health insurance plan option.
- Requires all employers to pay their fair share.
- Rejects new taxes that would hurt working families—who already are being crushed by soaring health costs.
Please join union members across the nation in writing your senators and member of Congress to tell them to pass real health care reform. It’s critical working families speak up and provide a loud counter voice to the health insurance industry’s money and influence. Congress needs to hear from people who can tell their lawmakers about their personal struggles with a broken health care system and why we need real health care reform.
Michael Moore Gets ‘People’s Oscar’
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The Metropolitan Washington (D.C.) Council, AFL-CIO and the American Film Institute in Silver Spring, Md., co-sponsored last night’s showing of “Capitalism: A Love Story,” Michael Moore’s fantastic new documentary that some of us were fortunate to see at its U.S. premier in Pittsburgh during the AFL-CIO Convention. Below is a cross-post from the central labor council.
Calling it “The People’s Oscar,” Michael Moore (left) enthusiastically accepted the Tony Mazzocchi Labor Arts Award at last night’s D.C. preview of his new film Capitalism: A Love Story. “I knew Tony and he was a remarkable man,” an obviously touched Moore said after being presented with the award by DC Labor FilmFest Co-Chairs Jos Williams and Mark Dudzic, “this really means a lot to me.” (Mazzocchi, president of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, was a driving force in establishing the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1970.)
Labor Leader Slain in 1907 Honored in Massachusetts
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The staff of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO sent us this great report.
In 1907, Edward Cohen, the president of the Massachusetts American Federation of Labor (AFL) and crusader for strong child labor laws, workers’ rights and workplace safety, was shot and killed by a man attempting to assassinate Gov. Curtis Guild Jr.
This week, a huge bronze plaque honoring Cohen’s achievements and labor’s contributions to Bay State workers was unveiled at the Massachusetts State House. Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes says the dedication of the plaque “is one of the greatest moments in our history.”
Where else is there a plaque that is dedicated to a slain labor leader and which captures all the amazing contributions of the labor movement in such a prominent location as between the offices of the governor and the speaker in our esteemed State House?”
Are Industry Lobbyists Raising Our Health Care Premiums?
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While the Senate Finance Committee is slogging through more than 530 amendments to Sen. Max Baucus’ flawed health care reform bill, more than 2,700 lobbyists are working overtime to protect the private health insurance industry and other health care corporations.
Protecting their health industry clients means blocking a public health insurance plan option, derailing strong health care cost controls and gutting tough new health care rules that would put people before profits.
In trying to kill the public option, insurance industry lobbyists are thumbing their nose at the American public, who strongly support a public option. A New York Times/CBS poll released today found that 65 percent of respondents want a public health care option, while only 26 percent oppose such a plan.
