Maine Union Members Tell Snowe to Support a Public Option, and More Health Care News
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When Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) suggested she would block health care reform if it included a public option, Maine workers took action: The Maine AFL-CIO put its convention on hold so attendees could call her and tell her that a public option is essential to make reform work. (Recent polls in Maine suggest Mainers strongly support a public option.)
Here are some of the latest developments in the fight for real health care reform:
- Momentum is building for a public option in final bills being crafted in the U.S. Senate and the House. This is a critical time to contact your senators and representatives.
- Big companies like Wal-Mart are lobbying hard to exempt the coverage they provide from health care reform. That would leave tens of millions of workers stuck in the same high-cost, no-guarantee system we have today.
- 55 members of Congress who oppose giving America the choice of a public option are actually getting government-administered health care through Medicare.
Rally Today Against Insurance Company Greed, and Other Health Care News
Today, health insurance industry bigwigs are meeting in Washington, D.C., to plot out their strategy to defeat health care reform. We’ll be rallying to show them that we won’t accept anything less than affordable, high-quality coverage for everyone.
Here’s what else is happening in the fight for health care:
- Health insurance companies, drug companies and their front groups have been breaking records in their fight to keep control over our health care, spending millions this summer on TV and lobbying in D.C.
- Senators are looking to rein in the insurance industry by ending the industry’s exception from anti-trust laws.
Shuler to Minnesota AFL-CIO: Let’s Engage the Next Generation
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| AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, right, and Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson. |
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler gave a powerful address earlier today to the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s 2009 political conference, saying union members and their allies need to work together to ensure a bright future for the generations to come.
Since being elected Sept. 16, Shuler has been traveling the country to energize union members and listen to the concerns of workers hit hard by the economic crisis. Shuler told Minnesota delegates that all of us in the union movement need to work together to address their concerns and build a strong, active and relevant movement.
The union movement built the middle class, but if we want to sustain a strong economy and a strong union movement in the future, we need to engage young workers and let them know that they, too, can benefit from having a voice on the job, Shuler said.
Shuler to Help Kick Off Minnesota AFL-CIO Political Efforts
Today and tomorrow, the Minnesota AFL-CIO is holding its 2009 Political Conference, and newly elected AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will be on hand to mobilize and energize delegates to win all across the state.
Today, the conference will hear from a number of candidates for governor, and Shuler will kick off tomorrow’s session. State AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson, the first woman elected to head the state federation, will lead the conference.
The grassroots volunteer efforts of Minnesota union members and Working America members were critical to electing Sen. Al Franken, a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, in the nation’s closest Senate race last fall. Over the next year they’ll focus on the 2010 race for Minnesota governor as well as key races for the U.S. House.
You can follow the Minnesota AFL-CIO on their blog and on Twitter.
UA Out Front in Building Green Houses
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As the green revolution picks up steam, more and more homeowners are either building new energy-efficient homes or retrofitting their current dwellings. The members of the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) are working hard to be among the unions in the forefront of residential green building.
When a homeowner in Minneapolis wanted to build an energy-efficient home recently, he called on the journeymen and apprentices of Plumbers Local 15 and Pipe Fitters Local 539 to create a showcase, an energy efficient house complete with all the latest technology.
According to the UA Journal, the entire house uses radiant heat. The sidewalks and driveway are equipped with snow melting capability—a big help in Minnesota. Twenty-seven roof drains send water into two pipes that empty into a 5,000-gallon cistern, which irrigates the 3,000 square-foot living roof. Plumbers installed nearly 4,000 feet of piping and tubing for the house.
LabourStart and the U.S. Union Movement: Making Connections
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This week, at the first LabourStart conference ever held in the United States, one of the most important topics of conversation centered around strategies for connecting the United States and global union movements and the active, energetic community that LabourStart represents.
It’s an important question, participants agreed, because of how workers across the world are increasingly tied together by globalization. Workers in different countries, but working for the same company, could have much more in common than they realize, and workers across the world are facing many of the same issues that workers in the United States face, as is obvious from a look at LabourStart’s headlines.
Sen. Franken Joins Senate, Co-Sponsors Employee Free Choice Act
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Yesterday, after a long, hard campaign and almost eight months of vote counting and litigation, Al Franken was sworn in as the newest U.S. senator representing Minnesota. Then he signed on for the first time as co-sponsor of a bill—the Employee Free Choice Act.
Franken announced his co-sponsorship at a reception last night at the AFL-CIO, where Minnesota leaders like former Vice President Walter Mondale, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Minnesota AFL-CIO President Ray Waldron helped union members and leaders welcome him to Washington, D.C.
Franken, a strong supporter of workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain, said his membership in four unions—AFTRA, SAG, WGAE and DGA—gave him, wife Franni and his family the opportunities that all working families deserve:
Because of my membership in those unions, Franni and I had health care during the campaign. Because of my membership in those unions, we have a pension.
We need to level the playing field. Unions built the middle class in this country, but we’ve seen the playing field become a steep hill. We’ve seen a great risk shift in this country.
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 »
Minnesota Supreme Court Rules Franken Winner in Senate Race
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UPDATE 4:41 p.m.: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has announced he will certify the election.
UPDATE 4:02 p.m.: Former Sen. Norm Coleman has conceded. Al Franken will be the next senator from Minnesota.
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The Minnesota Supreme Court, after nearly eight months of counting and appeals, has ruled that Al Franken won the election to be Minnesota’s next U.S. senator.
Franken was endorsed by the AFL-CIO last year and union members worked hard on his behalf.
In the ruling, available here, the five state Supreme Court justices unanimously agreed:
For all of the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under Minn. 32 Stat. § 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.
UPDATE: Here’s what AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney had to say about this important decision:
America’s workers congratulate Al Franken—and the people of Minnesota who have gone 226 days without a second Senator—for their unanimous victory today in the Minnesota Supreme Court.
How Do We Build an Enduring Progressive Voting Majority?
At the America’s Future Now conference, nearly all of us are focused on one Big Picture question: How can we build on the progressive election victories of 2008 so we can make long-lasting change that improves people’s lives?
At one of the day’s sessions, “A New and Enduring Progressive Majority?” experts agreed that, while demographic trends are pointing in the right direction for progressives, it’s important to give constituencies the information and the tools they need—not only during the election cycle but also during battles over policy and governance.
One of the panelists, Karen Nussbaum, executive director of Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate for workers who don’t have a union on the job, spoke about ways to reach voters who have deep economic concerns but who don’t have the advantage of being a union member to help mobilize them as a voting constituency.
Union members have access to two things that their neighbors don’t—good, reliable information and a sense of power in the economy.
