Today’s Health Care News
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Here’s the latest news from the battle for health care reform:
• While much of the media focuses on the Senate, the House bill is expected to be released tomorrow, with a vote coming soon. Call your members of Congress and ask them to support real reform.
• In the Washington Post, Harold Meyerson writes that a health care excise tax could hurt middle-class families because companies
have the power to impose health care costs and cutbacks on workers, who have little or no power to resist. if employers opt for cheaper policies to avoid the excise taxes on more expensive plans, their savings may not be passed on to workers as higher wages but simply kept by the employers. Out-of-pocket health costs for workers would rise, but into-pocket wage increases to cover those costs might not be forthcoming.
The senators’ version of health care finance assumes that workers will pocket the benefits of a cost-conscious system. The senators assume wrong.
Op-Ed Highlights: Building Worker Power
Here are two great op-eds on the continuing fight for the Employee Free Choice Act.
In North Carolina’s News & Observer, Arne Kalleberg, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, calls the Employee Free Choice Act an “effective tool” for workers to improve their own lives and communities.
The Employee Free Choice Act, Kalleberg says:
…would help to level the playing field by giving workers a real opportunity to decide whether or not they wish to be represented by a union. Studies by sociologists and economists have demonstrated conclusively that unions raise wages and benefits for working people and protect them from discrimination and unsafe workplaces.
It would provide some ballast to out-of-control business lobbying influence and it would help us to resume the long American march toward a more humane and democratic society. It protects America’s employees’ freedom to choose whether or not to form a union and provides them with the opportunity to improve their economic situation.
Congress Hears Demands for Health Care Reform in Town Hall Meetings
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| Sen. Arlen Specter says health care is a right. |
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| “Nothing is more important to me than ensuring that President Obama passes health care reform.” |
Members of Congress met in town hall sessions Thursday with constituents who were on Capitol Hill to rally and demand health care reform. Read dispatches from some of the meetings.
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Ohio Weighs In
After the rally, more than 250 activists from Ohio met at the Columbus Club at Union Station to plan for an afternoon of lobbying and hear from members of Congress about health care reform.
The session was introduced by Tim Burga of the Ohio AFL-CIO, who decried the “free market run amok” in the current health care system and affirmed that we must have a serious public health insurance option.
He introduced Hattie Wilkins, who made one of the most moving speeches of the event. Her situation illustrates the deep problems working families have with the way the current system operates. Hattie is a member of the United Steelworkers (USW) union who worked for 35 years for Brentwood Originals, a pillow factory in Youngstown, Ohio. The USW struck Brentwood Originals in 2008, and more than three-quarters of the workforce has been laid off. She was fired because of her strong support for the union, Hattie said. She has been collecting $887 a month in unemployment since then. She has COBRA coverage, and now pays $275 per month—31 percent of earnings from unemployment—for her health insurance. She pays another $450 per month for her mortgage payment, leaving her only $162 each month for food, utilities, transportation and all her other expenses. Now her unemployment payments are ending and she doesn’t know what she is going to do.
At 58 years of age, Hattie is searching for another job at places like McDonald’s but has to compete with applicants much younger than she is. She gave us her cell phone number, though she wasn’t sure how much longer she would have it. Hattie came to Washington, D.C., to participate in the rally and make sure her elected representatives heard her voice on this critical issue.
The Latest on Pennsylvania Town Hall
Sen. Specter has arrived, and compliments the crowd on its tenacity and commitment. Specter says he agrees that health care is a right and believes health care legislation will pass and will include a public option component. Of course, in a room full of union members, the Employee Free Choice Act came up. Specter says he is working hard to find an answer for early union certification and gaining first contracts.
Pennsylvania Update
The folks at Capitol City Brewing Co. are waiting for Sen. Arlen Specter to arrive. We hear reports he’s been at the White House.
Grassroots Action Around the Country for Employee Free Choice
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| The fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act continues in Arkansas and other states. Below, Tim Strong, president of CWA Local 4900 in Indiana, explains the bill. |
As the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act takes place in Washington, D.C., union members and allies are hard at work around the country to help pass this critical legislation to level the playing field for workers seeking to form unions.
At the Huffington Post, the AFL-CIO’s Stewart Acuff reports that members of the Arkansas Conference of Black Mayors are joining civil rights leaders, religious leaders, small business owners and union members from across the state in asking their senators to support workers by voting for the Employee Free Choice Act.
In North Carolina, Larry Murray of the Steelworkers (USW) says the fight for employee free choice is a top priority throughout his union and the entire union movement because its passage means an economy that works for everyone:
“The Employee Free Choice Act is vitally important because on top of the poor economic situation, the playing field is not level. Companies have an enormous advantage in the current system.”
Veterans, Small Business Owners Step up Fight for Employee Free Choice
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Military veterans in Maine, Arkansas and around the country are calling for quick passage of the Employee Free Choice Act this week. In cooperation with national veterans groups, these veterans are holding meetings, writing letters and speaking about the need to restore the basic freedom to form a union and bargain for a better life.
Stephen Jackson, a Vietnam veteran from North Carolina who is both the commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 4312 and a member of Steelworkers (USW) Local 1283, took to the pages of the Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald in a great op-ed on the Employee Free Choice Act:
The men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our country deserve a chance to be a part of the American dream. They deserve a job that puts food on the table and a roof over the family’s heads. They deserve benefits so that they and their families can be healthy and thrive. They deserve the right to join any organization that will help improve their situation. They deserve to have the chance to be a part of the middle class and help rebuild our economy…
The Employee Free Choice Act will give veterans a better chance when they get back home to get better jobs with better benefits, and a better shot at the middle class. I support the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s my way of honoring those who served our country.
Senior Activist Honored for Community Service
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| Jack Marion and North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue |
The Alliance for Retired Americans is proud of a recent honor given to one of its members, reports Marcie Kohenak, communications associate for the 3 million-member organization.
Alliance for Retired Americans North Carolina field organizer Jack Marion received the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute’s 35th Annual Community Service Award for his lifelong activism through the Machinists union and the Alliance. Said Marion, who discussed his involvement with the Alliance and other local retiree clubs:
I feel extremely honored to be recognized by the A. Philip Randolph Institute for my community service. Through the Machinists union, the AFL-CIO and now the Alliance for Retired Americans, I have had the opportunity to help my community become a better place to live.
In North Carolina, Making the Case for Employee Free Choice
Support for the Employee Free Choice Act is growing across a range of faith groups. The Rev. Gail McAfee, a North Carolina minister, is among religious leaders who say that the Employee Free Choice Act is important to workers, to communities and to the cause of a strong, fair economy. McAfee, one of many allies of workers in the religious community, joins with state AFL-CIO President James Andrews in The Fayetteville Observer to back the Employee Free Choice Act.
They explain clearly how the process of forming a union is broken today, and how the Employee Free Choice Act would level the playing field and give workers the chance they deserve to bargain for a better life.
Working people are hit harder than any other group by today’s economic hardships. With health-care costs rising, jobs disappearing and hard-earned pensions slipping away, the people are losing faith in that fabled vision—the American Dream.
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.
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.
7-Year-Old Joins Thousands Writing to Congress for Employee Free Choice
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Among the thousands of people writing letters to Congress in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, we had to point out this one. The author, Alycia Melvin, is just 7 years old.
Alycia is the granddaughter of a Machinists (IAM) member from North Carolina, and she tells Sen. Kay Hagan that when she grows up, she’d like to have the same choice they did: to join a union. She asks Hagan to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
Alycia Melvin deserves to grow up in a world where she has the opportunity—just as her grandparents did—to join a union and bargain for a better life. She deserves the chance to have a say in her future workplace, and the power to get a fair contract, good benefits, good pay and equal treatment.
