Dear Senator: Please Support Public Option and Save My Life
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Today, state and local union activists are continuing to deliver the more than 42,000 personally written letters from union members and Working America members calling on Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform legislation.
The letters are part of a massive nationwide week of health care action. Union leaders and activists are spending two days in Washington, D.C., delivering the letters and talking with their senators and representatives about the need for strong health care reform legislation that provides guaranteed coverage for all, includes a public health insurance option and more.
Yesterday, working Americans across the country took part in the National Call-In Day for Health Care Reform, sending their senators strong messages.
RNC Chair Steele Tries to Scare Seniors with the Latest Lie About Health Care Reform
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After years of trying to gut Medicare and turn health care for the nation’s seniors over to the private health insurance industry—the same industry that’s done such a fine job for the rest of us—Republicans today announced they will “protect” Medicare with a brand new “Seniors Health Care Bill of Rights.”
Oh, puleeze!
Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee chairman, unleashed this latest scam in a desperate attempt to derail health care reform, writing an op-ed in today’s Washington Post that is chock-full of lies and falsehoods about President Obama’s health care reform efforts.
Steele claims health care reform will cut vital Medicare programs, prevent seniors from making their own medical and health decisions, and echoes the rest of the anti-reform litany. (Steele also tried to falsely portray himself as part of the Steelworkers union by setting up a misleading Facebook page. Buy land from this guy in Florida? Think not.)
AFL-CIO Launches New Online Voting Record Tool
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Our new AFL-CIO Voting Record online tool makes it faster and easier to access congressional votes on key working family issues and offers a range of options to fine-tune your search.
The congressional scorecard tracks every vote cast on important working family issues since 2000. Find out if your U.S. House member supported the jobs-creating economic recovery package this past February or whether your senator was on the side of low-wage workers in the 2007 vote on a minimum wage increase.
With the online tool, you can:
- Search by ZIP Code, year, state or key word.
- Find voting records by individual and congressional delegation.
- Get current and lifetime voting records.
- Read detailed descriptions.
- Keep up to date with this year’s interim voting record.
RNs on Capitol Hill Urge Passage of Employee Free Choice, RESPECT Act
Some 100 registered nurses (RNs) from a dozen United American Nurses (UAN) affiliates across the country were on Capitol Hill yesterday urging lawmakers to protect patient safety and workers’ rights.
They called on U.S. Senate and House members to approve legislation setting minimum RN-patient staffing levels and urged passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and the RESPECT Act (expected to be introduced later this year).
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In 2006, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision known as the Oakwood cases that redefined which workers could be classified as “supervisors” and therefore ineligible to join a union. Nurses could be especially hard hit by the ruling and some hospitals have reclassified nurses. The RESPECT Act would protect nurses and other workers from reclassification. Says UAN President Ann Converso, RN:
We are already seeing the negative impact of the Oakwood decision, which has potentially jeopardized the union rights of thousands of staff nurses who serve charge duty in their hospitals our ability as staff nurses to strongly and effectively advocate for our patients is protected by our union. That’s why it’s so important that we enact legislation like the RESPECT Act and the Employee Free Choice Act safeguarding the right of every RN at the bedside to choose a union.
