Thousands Tell Big Insurance: Blocking Health Care Reform Is a Crime
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| AFSCME members declaring the Ritz-Carlton a crime scene. |
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| AFSCME President Gerald McEntee to Congress: “You better take our side before we arrest you!” |
Thousands of union members, community activists, religious leaders and others turned out in Washington, D.C., today to confront Big Insurance and demand insurance companies stop plotting to kill health care reform even as Congress debates bills to reform the nation’s broken health care system.
The boisterous, energetic, diverse crowd marched from the AFL-CIO and AFSCME buildings and DuPont Circle to the sound of beating drums and shouted slogans like, “Blocking health care is a crime” and “Health care can’t wait.” The crowd was so large, it completely encircled the block-long Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., where the front group for the nation’s biggest insurance companies, the America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is meeting. Health Care for America NOW (HCAN) sponsored the rally and march. We live-tweeted the event here.
Nicole Varma from Arlington, Va., who has no health care insurance because she is unemployed was among those taking part in the rally.
I am unable to get my medications because I can’t afford them. We need to send a message to the insurance companies that they definitely need to listen to the people. We don’t want insurance abuses. We want real health care reform.
AFSCME Members Rally to Save Public Services
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While state and local governments and school districts across the country struggle with budget deficits, AFSCME members are standing up to tell their elected representatives that raising revenues is the best solution to a budget crisis instead of cutting critical public services just when they are needed the most.
State and local governments and school districts have a $178 billion budget shortfall this year alone.
In Illinois, more than 3,000 activists, including hundreds of members of AFSCME Council 31, rallied at the state Capitol rotunda in Springfield this month to demand that lawmakers pass legislation to increase the individual income tax rate and expand the state’s sales tax base.
Airline Pilots, AFSCME Come to Haiti’s Aid
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Wherever there is a need for help, union members are quick to respond. With estimates as high as 100,000 killed and 40,000 buried during this week’s earthquake in Haiti, three crews of pilots and flight engineers of the Canadian airline First Air, all members of Air Line Pilots (ALPA) Councils 240 and 241, are flying relief supplies to the Caribbean for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The First Air crews, who normally work in the arctic, are flying two Hercules aircraft, which have 6,000 cubic feet of capacity and can carry more than 45,000 pounds of cargo. First Air said it also will send a Boeing 767-223 Super Freighter this weekend to deliver relief provisions from Toronto to Haiti. The Super Freighter can haul 98,700 pounds.
Union Movement Rallies in Solidarity with Puerto Rican Workers
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| Thousands of workers rallied in Puerto Rico against the governor’s drastic layoffs. The sign says “Give me back my job.” | |
In states across the country, working people marched and rallied in solidarity today with their Puerto Rican brothers and sisters against draconian budget cuts and cancellation of their collective bargaining rights.
As 200,000 people march in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to protest Gov. Luis Fortuño’s plan to slash the budget deficit on the backs of workers, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka sent a letter of support and solidarity and rallies were held in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities.
In his letter of support, which was read at the San Juan rally, Trumka said:
We are fully aware of the attacks being afflicted on the workers and their families on your island and we will do whatever we can to stop them. We are completely committed to bringing the full force of the AFL-CIO to fighting for the rights and well being of our affiliated unions, their members, and the people of Puerto Rico.
The Time Is Now for Health Care Reform, Safe Workplaces
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The nation’s health care system is broken and now is the time to act to gain real health care reform. With a vote on health care reform coming soon to Congress, delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention today passed two strong resolutions to provide quality affordable health care and another to ensure safe and healthy workplaces.
They also took immediate action on the floor to mobilize against the insurance industry that is profiting by denying health care to patients who need it and raising premiums.
Both AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) told the convention the Senate will vote on a health care bill in the next few weeks. After passing the resolutions, delegates signed pledges to work for real health care reform when they get back home. Many used their cell phones to call their locals to march on the major health insurers between Sept. 22 and Oct. 2. AFT President Randi Weingarten, who was presiding over the debate, called the chief lobbyist for the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, her home local, while on the podium, and with the entire convention listening, convinced him to hold an action.
The mobilization is part of an AFL-CIO campaign to hold insurers accountable, Trumka said,
for denying care and shutting people out and using our members’ premium dollars.
Union Political Mobilization Has Turned Around America
Four years ago, an anti-worker majority in Congress and the Bush administration were conducting a corporate-funded assault on workers and the programs that supported America. They were implementing policies that steered the economy toward the very wealthiest and leaving everyone else behind. What a difference four years makes. Now in the White House, we have Barack Obama, the first African American president and a supporter of unions and working families and pro-worker majorities in both houses of Congress.
Today, at the AFL-CIO Convention, attendees got a chance to examine the successes of union political mobilization and look forward to continuing the fight to elect pro-worker candidates and passing a pro-worker legislative agenda. Delegates adopted a strong resolution in support of continuing an active political program.
AFSCME Preparing Next Wave of Union Leaders
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AFSCME is hard at work preparing the next generation of union leaders. Last month, more than 500 AFSCME members, age 35 and under, met in Chicago for the union’s first national Next Wave Conference—three days of activism, strategizing and learning about the union movement.
During an electronic town meeting, the young AFSCME members talked about their goals and expectations as union activists and ideas on how to promote participation in their local unions.
At workshops, attendees learned how to address the media, conduct local union meetings, develop leadership skills and understand the country’s financial crisis. There even were some sessions for “older and wiser” activists and leaders who are playing a role in mentoring new and young activists.
Thousands Rally, Say We Can’t Wait for Health Care Reform
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Coming from unions, community organizations and all walks of life, nearly 10,000 supporters of health care reform gathered on Capitol Hill today to send a strong message: We demand affordable, high-quality health care for all, and we aren’t waiting any longer.
Every corner of the Upper Senate Park on Capitol Hill was filled this afternoon with union members, health care advocates and community activists from scross the country, and they heard from not only members of Congress and union leaders, but also from nurses, small business owners, workers and parents who told compelling stories about why we need health care reform.
Sebelius: Now Is the Time for Health Care Reform
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This is the year for passing real health care reform and to begin rebuilding the nation’s middle class by passing laws that give workers a free choice to join a union. And union retirees, one of the most active political groups in the country, will play a big role in bringing about change, top government leaders said.
Speaking in the opening session of the Alliance for Retired Americans annual legislative conference last night, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the seniors they can be a big part in the historic shift in health care policy.
This is the time [to pass health care reform]. This is the moment. We cannot let it pass by. This is the year for health care reform to be passed. It’s the president’s number one priority.
Retirees Set to Tell Lawmakers: Health Care Reform Now
For three hours before the formal opening of their annual legislative conference today, members of the Alliance for Retired Americans got down to business by taking part in workshops on health care reform and Social Security. They will be joined by speakers such as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).
Throughout the June 15-18 conference in Washington, D.C., delegates and many high-level officials and union leaders will discuss the best solutions to the nation’s health care crisis and develop strategies to protect and strengthen Social Security.
In her opening address, Alliance President Barbara Easterling said seniors are in a unique position to influence the debate on health care. It is important for seniors to define the health care issue for Congress and the American people, Easterling said.
