House Health Reform Bill Would Cover Millions—Affordably
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Today, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a comprehensive reform bill that would guarantee coverage for 96 percent of the U.S. public.
Among other things, the bill, H.R. 3962, includes a public option, expands Medicaid coverage to families who earn up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, provides help for middle-class families to get coverage and sets tough new rules for insurers, making sure that no one can be denied care or be rejected from coverage because of pre-existing conditions. It’s fairly funded through a combination of employer responsibility, cost savings and a surtax on the extremely wealthy—and does not get its funding from taxes on middle-class workers’ benefits. All that, and it will reduce the deficit in the long term.
It’s the kind of change America voted for last fall. You can read the full bill here.
Working Women Speak Out for Employee Free Choice
Here are three great op-ed pieces from around the country—Colorado, Pennsylvania and Maine—that highlight why the Employee Free Choice Act is critical to working women in this tough economy.
Linda Meric, the executive director of 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women, writes a great op-ed about the need for Employee Free Choice in the Denver Post. Meric notes the advantages that the chance to form a union offers to women in Colorado and around the country:
The Employee Free Choice Act is one sure way to address this gender-based pay gap. Unionization can provide important economic security for low-wage Colorado women and their families.
The benefits of union membership for women in low-wage occupations are even greater. Among those working in the 15 lowest-paying occupations, union members not only earned more than their non-union counterparts, they were also 26 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 23 percentage points more likely to have a pension plan than those who were not members of a union….
House Recess Begins, Fight for Employee Free Choice Continues
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Members of the U.S. House return home today for a monthlong recess, and the U.S. Senate is set to adjourn at the end of the week. Back home, lawmakers already are hearing from union activists and our allies in the field who are telling them to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act.
As the AFL-CIO’s Stewart Acuff noted at a rally in Colorado last week, working men and women around the country need to speak out for the freedom to form unions and bargain:
“Victory is in our reach. Turning Around America is up to us…the President can’t do it by himself. It’s up to us to make him a great president. Winning health care for all, creating good jobs and fair trade, and restoring the freedom to organize and bargain are a matter of mobilizing the most effective ground campaign in our history. One and a half million workers signed the Million Member Mobilization, tens of thousands have taken action, it’s up to us to move hundreds of thousands to turn around America, to restore economic health and growth.”
Hightower: Unions the Escalator to the Middle Class
Author and radio commentator Jim Hightower paid a visit to Colorado this week where he met with members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 7 as part of an Employee Free Choice Act mobilization campaign.
Hightower said the freedom to form unions and bargain is crucial to a healthy and fair economy.
Unions are the escalator to the middle class. Unions are the key to America’s productivity. Unions are a real hope for real change—fairness, justice, opportunity.
Hightower told CWA members they need to get involved and get active if the Employee Free Choice Act is to become law:
Now, we’ve put the Employee Free Choice Act on the table…are we going to give working people a chance again? This is when you have got to stand up.
Check out video of Hightower’s speech here.
As Momentum Builds, Workers Speak Out on Employee Free Choice
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| Wisconsin health care workers deliver thousands of postcards in support of Employee Free Choice to Sen. Herb Kohl. |
With momentum building for the Employee Free Choice Act, workers across the country are taking the lead in the fight–speaking out at town hall meetings and rallies and asking their senators to pass this critical bill and make the economy work for everyone.
Here are a few of the ways workers are making a difference:
Ken Bruner, a Vietnam veteran, helicopter pilot and the president of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 107, spoke at a roundtable about the Employee Free Choice Act in Louisiana last week and said the freedom to form unions can benefit workers and businesses alike.
Widespread Support for Employee Free Choice Act in Colorado
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Yesterday morning a group of clergy members delivered a letter in support of the Employee Free Choice Act to the offices of Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet. They represent a coalition of more than 120 faith leaders from around Colorado who have come together to support the legislation, which they see as critical to restoring a fair and prosperous economy for all. The signers of the letter include Protestant ministers, Rabbis, Roman Catholic priests and sisters, an Imam, and a Zen Buddhist priest.”
America’s faith traditions are nearly unanimous in support of the right of workers to organize free from employer retaliation,” said the Rev. Dr. Dana Wilbanks, Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics, Iliff School of Theology. “By using sacred text and tradition, our faith compels us to support the Employee Free Choice Act and to support the freedom of workers to collectively bargain for a shot at a better life for themselves and their families.”
43,000 New Jersey Communications Workers Ratify Pact, and More Bargaining News
Some 43,000 New Jersey Communications Workers of America ratify a revised contract—and more updates here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The
AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,100 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
CWA, New Jersey: More than 43,000 workers in the largest union representing New Jersey state workers, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), ratified a revised contract that defers a raise and swaps furloughs this year for future vacation days. “During these hard economic times, nothing is more important than protecting vital public services and the jobs of working people,” said Hetty Rosenstein, CWA’s New Jersey area director.
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 »
In the Field: High Momentum for Employee Free Choice Act
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Reports are piling in from around the country from union members and their allies in the faith, civil rights, small business and environmental communities who are helping advance the Employee Free Choice Act and workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.
In Maine, the Sierra Club, along with Bill Murphy, director of the University of Maine’s Bureau of Labor Education, held a press conference to announce that the environmental community is strongly in favor of Employee Free Choice, which they say will ensure workers have a voice in how businesses operate in their communities.
In Fort Collins, Colo., the Rev. Daniel Klawitter of Interfaith Worker Justice, led a community meeting in support of the Employee Free Choice Act that helped raise funds for an area food bank. Union members and members of Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate, joined him in supporting the food bank and the freedom to form unions, which Klawitter said was “the most effective anti-poverty program” available to workers.
Employee Free Choice: Snippets from Op-Eds Around the Nation
Here are a few highlights from newspapers around the country that make the case for why we need the Employee Free Choice Act.
In Maine, Bill Murphy, director of the University of Maine’s Labor Education Program, writes a great op-ed in the Bangor Daily News explaining how our current labor laws are broken and how the Employee Free Choice Act can fix the system for workers:
The central legal principle of the National Labor Relations Act, or NLRA, is to provide workers in the private sector with the democratic right to organize unions in the workplace…. However, for large numbers of workers, the rights established under this law no longer exist, because of willful employer violations and a lack of adequate statutory enforcement.
For all too many workers, the right to obtain justice on the job through unionization has been either denied or delayed. Enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act will enable workers and their organizations to remedy this injustice.
