Massachusetts Union Members to Insurance Industry: Don’t Derail Health Care Reform
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More than 300 union activists surrounded the office of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans (MAHP), in downtown Boston yesterday, to protest the insurance industry’s tactics in opposing national health care reform.
MAHP and other industry groups, such as America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), have mounted a multimillion-dollar campaign of TV and radio ads, phony town hall meetings and lobbying to scuttle comprehensive health care reform. Says Rich Rogers, executive secretary of the Greater Boston Labor Council:
We sent a strong message today in Boston that we can’t allow the insurance industry to derail reform. It is time to stand up to the insurance companies and show them that we mean business.
Workers Memorial Day 2009
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The very real threat of being killed or seriously hurt on the job hangs over every worker and workplace in the nation. In 2007—the year with the latest available figures—5,657 workers lost their lives on the job and more than 4 million other workers were hurt or made ill, according to the AFL-CIO’s 18th annual “Death on the Job” report.
“Death on the Job” reports that another 50,000 to 60,000 workers died due to occupational diseases. On an average day, 15 workers lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and disease, and another 10,959 are injured. Yet little has been done in recent years, says the report, to improve job safety and protect workers.
For eight years, the Bush administration failed to take action to address major safety and health problems. Many OSHA and [Mine Safety and Health Administration] MSHA rules were withdrawn or blocked. The rules that were issued were largely in response to court challenges, congressional mandates or tragedies. New and emerging hazards were not actively addressed. Voluntary efforts were favored over strong enforcement.
