Let’s Have a Real Senate Debate on Health Care
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Next week, the U.S. Senate is expected to begin debate on long-promised health care reform legislation. We’ve waited decades and fought hard for this moment—but progress could be blocked if a minority of senators refuses to allow a fair debate and a fair vote.
That’s right: Despite huge wins for pro-working family, pro-health care reform candidates in the House and Senate and the election of a pro-health care reform president, a few senators can do the bidding of insurance companies and prevent a bill from getting to the floor or getting a vote.
Now is the time to contact your senators and tell them: Health care can’t wait. It’s time for action.
Here’s more news from the fight for real health care reform:
- The Alliance for Retired Americans offered thanks to members of the U.S. House who voted to pass a health care reform bill that will improve Medicare and help the young and seniors alike. Alliance members also are protesting insurance companies like Humana that have used scare tactics and falsehoods to try and stop reform.
Dingell Explains Decades-Long Quest for Health Reform, and Other News
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Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) has been fighting for health care reform for more than 50 years, and he’s seen the situation become even more dire over the past decade. In a great new op-ed, he explains the hard truths of our broken system and why we can’t wait any longer for health care reform:
This is not a time to give into fear….Reform is neither easy nor cheap, but the cost of inaction is far greater—in terms of lives lost, quality of life, and dollars. Make no mistake, if we don’t reduce costs we face certain economic disaster.
I will tell my fellow members, when you explain a vote like this one to the generations that live with the consequences of these decisions there is no poll, not even an election result, that can justify your decision. You will be asked about this vote until the day you die. Years from now, none of these things we put so much stock in now will matter. All anyone will want to know is: did you do the right thing when history called on you? It is time for health care reform. We can’t afford to wait. We can’t afford to think small. We can’t afford to fail.
AFSCME Members Make ‘House Calls for Health Care’
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Across the country this weekend, AFSCME nurses and community leaders made house calls, getting their neighbors mobilized to pass health care reform that provides affordable coverage to everyone. These nurses and volunteers asked the people they visited to contact their senators and House members and demand health care reform that really works.
Clad in green scrubs, the AFSCME members went door to door in key states, including Arkansas, Nebraska, Maine, Ohio, North Dakota, Louisiana, Indiana and Delaware. Working America members also took part in door-to-door canvasses for health care reform.
Valentina Zamora-Arreola, a registered nurse in Arkansas, said that health care workers see every day the need for a fairer system:
One of the most important things that we want to see is that healthcare reform is done right. We want to make sure that nurses have their voice out there. We deal with the people when they are sick and we want to make sure that we are looking at healthcare reform options and that we have a public health option.
Lots of Action in Lots of States in Support of Employee Free Choice
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| Hundreds of Colorado union members turned out to show their support for Employee Free Choice at a town hall meeting with Sen. Michael Bennet. |
At a town hall meeting in Colorado and events in key states, union members and allies are asking their senators to quickly pass the Employee Free Choice Act and make the economy work for everyone.
Don Slaiman, who’s working on the Employee Free Choice Act campaign in the critical state of Colorado, reports that recently appointed Sen. Michael Bennet visited Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 68 hall to hear from workers about the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s one of several town hall meetings Bennet has held around the state, and workers are showing him how strong and broad their support is, Slaiman says:
We had over 400 union members in attendance, representing…almost every local and every part of the state. The appearance, energy, sentiments, diversity and breadth of participation were tremendous.
Vets, Small Business Owners Back Employee Free Choice
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Many of America’s veterans have come out in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act, among them, active and retired union members who have served in the armed forces. In Arkansas, these vets got together Wednesday for a briefing to talk about the Employee Free Choice Act. They discussed how the freedom to form a union and fairness and respect in the workplace are among the values for which they fought.
David Anderson, a Vietnam-era Air Force veteran and president of the Arkansas State Association of Letter Carriers, said the Employee Free Choice Act is needed to give workers who serve their country and community the opportunities they deserve:
The same workers who helped make these companies successful are intimidated and sometimes fired for trying to organize the workers in their job. What a sad way to treat those workers, especially the veterans.
IBEW Video, Op-Ed Separate Fact from Fiction on Employee Free Choice
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With millions of dollars being dumped by corporate groups into scare tactics, misleading ads and disinformation against the Employee Free Choice Act, here are some excellent resources that help make the case for why we need this bill to protect workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain.
In a great new video, the Electrical Workers (IBEW) union responds to several of the misconceptions about the Employee Free Choice Act that have been promoted by corporate front groups and the pundits and politicians doing their bidding.
The video raises some of the questions posed by opponents of Employee Free Choice and responds with facts and studies:
- The Employee Free Choice Act would put the choice of majority sign-up or a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election in the hands of workers, not their bosses.
Grassroots Actions Build Momentum for Employee Free Choice Act
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The Employee Free Choice Act has become one of the most-debated political topics in the country, as working people push to protect their freedom to form unions and deep-pocketed corporate groups spend big on anti-worker ads and disinformation campaigns. Over the past two weeks, union members and allies took part in more than 350 events in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, drawing attention all around the country to this critical bill. Here’s a sample of the grassroots actions supporting the national campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act.
* The Alaska Journal covered a heated debate over the Employee Free Choice Act, where economist John Schmitt and state AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami argued their case against two representatives of corporate anti-worker groups.
* An op-ed in the Arkansas Times from a historian pointed to the need for Employee Free Choice to revitalize the economy.
* In the Denver Daily News, the “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act” campaign was featured, while in the Denver Post, small business owner Terri Monley said the Employee Free Choice Act would strengthen the economy.
Two Busy Weeks in the Fight for Employee Free Choice
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Nearly 100,000 phone calls to Congress. More than 27,000 letters to Congress. More than 400 community events. The fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act is the biggest grassroots union mobilization since the election, and it’s happening across the country.
The “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act” campaign, with billboard trucks traveling around key states, showed the faces of workers whose stories express the need for the Employee Free Choice Act. These trucks put in more than 5,000 miles around the country, joining workers and supporters of the freedom to form unions at rallies, at town hall events and outside the offices of senators. Union members, community allies and small business owners in Colorado toured their state with a billboard truck, as did union members and allies in Arkansas. Another truck toured Pennsylvania, joining union members and Employee Free Choice Act supporters at rallies in cities across the state.
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Apple Pie and Employee Free Choice
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| The Colorado AFL-CIO is focusing on passing the Employee Free Choice Act this year. |
Would you like your campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act with a side of pie or a giant billboard? Between last week and this week, over the congressional recess, more than 350 events will take place in support of Employee Free Choice, and they’re showing off the creativity and energy of the workers and allies taking part.
In Colorado, union members are traveling the state as part of the “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act” campaign. Dan Luevano, a Keenesburg electrician fired for trying to form a union, was joined by other union members as they thanked co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act and challenged other members of Congress to get behind this critical bill.
From the Field: Employee Free Choice Actions Everywhere
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| USW members Ed Sadusky and Ken Matz struggled for three years to form a union and get a first contract. |
With members of Congress at home for the April congressional recess, the grassroots campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act is in high gear, with more than 300 events taking place around the country in support of workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain. Here are some highlights of this nationwide effort.
Last Tuesday, hundreds of workers rallied for Employee Free Choice in Harrisburg, Pa. Among the speakers were Ed Sadusky and Ken Matz, two workers at a steel plant in Cressona, Pa., who were subjected to intimidation, harassment and management roadblocks in their attempt to form a union. Their efforts to bargain for a better life were thwarted by corporate pressure and delays, and it took them two and a half years to get a fair first contract. Their story illustrates why we need the Employee Free Choice Act.
