Health Care Reform Is Personal for Longtime Trade Unionist
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Max Hall has seen the fight for health care reform from both sides—as an advocate and a patient. In a Point of View (POV) guest column at the AFL-CIO website, Hall (no relation to me) writes how he first saw passing health care reform as part of the principles of fairness he believes in. But later, the issue turned personal for the 30-year veteran trade unionist when, in September, he confronted serious medical issues.
The writer and editor for the AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department (MTD) lost the lower portion of his right leg due to a blood infection. His union health care covered his hospitalization and rehab, and for that he’s thankful.
But he warns that “what happened to me can happen to anyone. If not an amputation, then cancer, a stroke, renal failure, a car accident or a heart attack.”
These days, when I hear a cable TV personality mischaracterize President Obama’s health care program, I wonder: What would have happened to me if, like 47 million people in this country, I didn’t have insurance? And what will happen if opponents of the plan are able to get it overturned?
Hall says, “I would rather not find out.”
And so, I’m going to help get the word out…with the new Congress now sworn in, I’ll be setting the record straight, whenever I can. Hopefully, I’ll also be walking on my new prosthesis. Either way, I’ll continue to thank my lucky stars that the union movement made a difference on an issue of such supreme importance, to me and millions of other American workers.
Union Plus Will Match Your Haiti Relief Donation
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You can double the power of your contribution to Haiti relief. Click here and Union Plus will automatically match your contribution to the Solidarity Center’s AFL-CIO Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers’ Campaign. You do not need to use a Union Plus credit card for the matching donation.
You also can take action now to help the Haitian survivors by clicking on the AFL-CIO Haitian Disaster Relief site here.
Union Plus has committed $100,000 through this dollar-for-dollar donation match to help Haitian earthquake relief efforts. Says Union Plus President Leslie Tolf:
Despite the millions of dollars raised already, the people of Haiti continue to have an ongoing need for our help. That’s why we are committing $100,000 to double the donations made by union members to the Solidarity Center.
AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Salutes Maersk Alabama Crew
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The AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department (MTD) salutes the courageous efforts of the all-union crew aboard the Maersk Alabama for maintaining control of their vessel, as well as the heroic efforts of the U.S. Navy in rescuing Capt. Richard Phillips from his Somali captors.
Union members like John Cronan, third engineer and son of a merchant sailor, who summed it up this way on NBC’s “Today” show:
We didn’t have to retake the ship because we never surrendered it. We’re American seaman. We’re union members. We stuck together and did our jobs.
The eight licensed officers and engineers aboard the U.S.-flag vessel are members of either the Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P) or Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (MEBA), while the 12 unlicensed crew members are represented by the Seafarers (SIU). Cronan is a MEBA member and a former Seafarers member.
