Senate Hearing Room Erupts into Chant: ‘We Are the 99 Percent!’
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Today’s National Day of Action, called by Rebuild the Dream, the Alliance for Retired Americans and embraced by members of the Occupy movement, took an unlikely turn on Capitol Hill, as working and retired Americans joined together to tell lawmakers not to balance the budget on the backs of the 99 percent, as a joint congressional committee has threatened to do through proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
In a packed hearing room at the U.S. Senate, participants in a “Jobs, Not Cuts!” rally, keynoted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), erupted into the chant that has come to identify the Occupy movement: “We are the 99 percent!” Most of the chanters bore little resemblance to the stereotyped image of an Occupy protester—many were senior citizens, and the young people in the audience bore a distinctly clean-cut look.
It all served to prove Sanders’ point that mainsteram American wants the wealthiest Americans to pay more taxes, and they want Congress not to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Sanders said: Read the rest of this entry »
Paid Sick Leave Cuts Health Care Costs
If the nation’s workers had access to paid sick days—today, 44 million workers don’t—it would mean a dramatic drop in hospital emergency room visits and save about $1 billion a year in health care costs, according to a new study due to be released this week.
The report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) says paid sick days are associated with better self-reported health, fewer delays in medical care and fewer emergency department visits for adults and their children. Says IWPR Research Director Robert Drago:
We have known for decades that individuals without health insurance are more likely to use costly emergency room services. This study establishes that, regardless of whether someone has health insurance, having the flexibility provided by paid sick days reduces use of emergency departments.
The report finds that workers with access to paid sick days have an easier time getting to a doctor during normal business hours to care for themselves or family members. Access to paid sick days can help to decrease the likelihood that a worker will put off needed care and increases rates of preventive care among workers and their children.
In other news on paid sick days, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told a forum, sponsored by the National Partnership for Women and Families and the coalition Family Values @ Work, that the lack of paid sick leave disproportionately impacts low-income workers.
AFL-CIO on Colombian Labor and Human Rights
The AFL-CIO issued this statement today on the congressional benchmark document on Colombian labor and human rights.
The Colombian Labor and Human Rights document released by Reps. Jim McGovern, George Miller, Rosa DeLauro, Mike Michaud, Jan Schakowsky and Linda Sanchez is a detailed, thoughtful, and powerful document.
We thank these representatives for their tireless efforts to outline the numerous essential steps that must be taken, on the ground in Colombia, before the U.S.-Colombia trade deal should be considered by Congress. We hope that the Obama administration will insist that the Colombian government comply with all the recommendations contained in the letter, especially those that focus on ending violence and impunity and undertaking comprehensive labor law reform prior to sending the agreement to Congress.
Workers Under Attack Will Tell Their Stories to Congressional Hearing
Workers from the front lines of the corporate-led assault on America’s middle class, including working people from Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin, will be on Capitol Hill tomorrow to describe their struggles to keep their bargaining rights so they can bargain for a middle-class life.
Courtney Johnson is among those testifying before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Johnson has dedicated her life to serving the poorest kids in the Columbus (Ohio) City Schools for a decade. Outside the classroom, she volunteers as the senior class adviser and newspaper and yearbook adviser at the local arts academy where she teaches English and Humanities. Johnson says that no one goes into teaching for the money, but she expects to be able to provide a middle-class life for her family. That will not be possible if Ohio Gov. John Kasich succeeds in his efforts to take away bargaining rights for public employees.
Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), co-chairs of the Steering and Policy Committee, say this will be the first hearing on Capitol Hill to bring together workers from these three states where intense state workers’ rights struggles are under way.
The workers will be joined by experts from academia and progressive organizations who will give an overview of the economic and budgetary impact of these rollbacks of workers’ rights.
To find out more about the hearing, click here.
Hyatt Hotel Housekeepers in 12 Cities File Injury Complaints with OSHA
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When you check into a luxury hotel, you expect a clean room and a nicely made bed. But the work it takes to make that room sparkle often is back-breaking and dangerous for the housekeepers who do it.
Today, housekeepers at 12 Hyatt hotels in eight cities across the United States, with the assistance of UNITEHERE!, filed injury complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for repetitive motion and other kinds of injuries sustained on the job. Complaints were filed by workers in Hyatt hotels in San Antonio, Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Honolulu and Indianapolis. In a telephone press call, the housekeepers pointed out that some of the hotels do not have union contracts. Having a union would be one way to get safety issues resolved, they said.
Public Supports Paid Sick Leave
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Three-quarters of Americans say paid sick leave should be a “basic workers’ right” and Congress should pass legislation that guarantees workers paid sick leave, according to a new survey by the Public Welfare Foundation (PWF).
PWF President Deborah Leff says the overwhelming support for paid sick leave legislation shows
that a majority of people in every racial group and every income level, every age group, every part of the country, both political parties see paid sick days as a basic worker right.
Wage Gap Between Women and Men Bad, Women of Color Suffer Most
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The pay gap between female and male workers in this country got a hearing in a Senate committee yesterday. But you wouldn’t even know the hearing happened: The issue apparently doesn’t rank up there with the antics of drunk superstars or foolish golfers to get attention by the corporate media.
Right now, U.S. working women receive 77 cents for every dollar paid to a male worker. The ratio has remained nearly unchanged for years. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has been pushing for more than a decade to pass a paycheck fairness bill, and yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 12/S. 182).
Lack of Paid Sick Leave Sped Swine Flu Spread
In 2009, nearly 26 million workers were likely infected with the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. The spread of the virus may have been aided by lack of paid sick leave, which prompted more than 8 million of those workers to take no time off from work, according to a new study.
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) study, “Sick at Work: Infected Employees in the Workplace During the H1N1 Pandemic,” used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It found that workers in industries with no or poorly paid sick day coverage were the most likely to go to work while sick.
Nearly half of all private-sector workers—and 76 percent of low-income workers—have no paid sick leave. Many low-wage workers have jobs that require direct contact with the public, such as in the food service, hospitality and health care industries and in schools.
Create Jobs, Rebuild Infrastructure with National Infrastructure Bank
A broad coalition of union, business, government and academic leaders has called for creation of a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) that not only would propel the rebuilding of the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, but also would be a major job-creating engine.
At a Capitol Hill press conference this week, Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), told reporters:
History has shown that when our nation invests in its core infrastructure needs, economic progress inevitably follows. This is important to remember as we grapple to address the twin problems of economic growth and job creation.
Paid Leave Key to Slowing Spread of H1N1
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one worker sick with the H1N1 (swine flu) virus will infect one in 10 co-workers if he or she goes to work while infected with the virus. Even more frightening, another recent study predicted that 63 percent of Americans will be infected with the virus by the end of December.
Today, family advocates and heath care professionals told the House Education and Labor Committee that along with vaccinations, and good hygiene practices, the best way to protect workers and slow the spread of the H1N1 virus is through guaranteed paid sick leave legislation, such as the Healthy Families Act.
The CDC’s guidelines to employers and workers to slow the spread of the virus says workers who suspect they have the swine flu or another influenza-like illness should stay home and employers should allow workers to stay home “without fear of reprisals or…losing their jobs.”
