Sen. John McCain is hopping from state to state, touting his new health care plan. And everywhere he goes, union members are there to tell him his plan won’t work for working people.
Yesterday, McCain traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, for a town hall meeting on health care, and more than 40 union members and allies gathered outside to let people know about McCain’s proposal and demanding real health care reform.
Outside the town hall, union members, including Iowa Federation of Labor President Ken Sagar, carried signs asking for real solutions to the health care crisis. The action is just one part of the union movement’s campaign to turn around Iowa and the country.
One of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about Wal-Mart is the mega-retailer’s shoddy treatment of workers, including its sorry job safety record.
Over the years, Wal-Mart has been fined for blocking emergency exits, and so endangering workers, and for several years, implemented a “lock-in” policy at night so no one could enter or leave the building, leaving workers inside trapped.
But while Wal-Mart may not always follow federal job safety and health laws, the $315-billion-a-year corporate behemoth never would turn down the opportunity to make a buck. Even if that means selling posters that highlight federal and state labor laws.
Like workplace safety and health.
Phil Hayes, Colorado Labor 2008 state director, just returned from an event in Denver, where working families rallied outside a town hall meeting Sen. John McCain held to talk about his health care plan, which experts say would raise taxes rather than cutting costs, and it could push millions out of the health insurance they already have.
Taking a page from George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, McCain refused to allow Colorado residents to take part in his town hall meeting in Denver unless they were McSupporters. Maybe that’s so we wouldn’t point out how the McCain proposal would mean fewer people have health care coverage and would tax the benefits of those with job-based coverage.
Christine Rampolla, communications director for the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, describes how key lawmakers, who also are union members, moved a paid family leave law through the state legislature, which was signed into law today. The New Jersey experience illustrates the importance of workers building political strength, especially electing union members and other worker-friendly allies to offices at all levels.
Twelve years ago, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO began an effort to pass legislation that would ease the burden of workers struggling to balance the needs of work and family. To build support for a state law similar to the national Family and Medical Leave Act and other pro-worker initiatives, the state federation created the Union Candidate School. Since the program began in 1997, some 495 New Jersey union members have been elected to public office as members of the state Senate and Assembly, county freeholder boards and as mayors, aldermen, committee and council members, fire commissioners and school board members.
Sen. John McCain arrived in Cleveland yesterday for a high-priced reception at the Intercontinental Hotel. Inside, he met with his wealthy corporate donors. Outside the ritzy event, workers gathered to ask for real solutions to the problems they face.
More than 30 union members brought hundreds of signed band-aids from their fellow workers, a symbol of the need for real solutions to America’s health care crisis.
McCain’s heath care plan, as we’ve noted, doesn’t begin to address the problems facing our nation’s health care system. Instead, policy experts say McCain’s plan is a radical change to health care that would raise taxes rather than cutting costs, and it could push millions out of the health insurance they already have and leave them at the mercy of the insurance companies.
While McCain’s offering band-aid proposals, the AFL-CIO’s 2008 Health Care for America Survey shows Ohioans overwhelmingly say serious changes are needed. Among Ohio residents who responded to the survey, 95 percent say the U.S. health care system needs fundamental changes, 74 percent are concerned they’ll lose their job-based health care and 97 percent worry about health care costs. McCain’s plan does nothing to answer the concerns that Ohio’s working families have.
Samantha Tate of the Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) describes a new video produced by Delta flight attendants to thwart management’s campaign to prevent them from forming a union. After seven years of intense outreach and worker-to-worker contacts, the 13,500 flight attendants at Delta are close to joining AFA-CWA.
Flight attendants at Delta Air Lines, who currently are voting to join AFA-CWA, are developing creative ways to counter management’s anti-union campaign. The mail-ballot voting, which closes June 3, is going on at the same time Delta is in merger talks with Northwest to create the nation’s largest air carrier. But without key protections, employees at both companies could suffer, and last week they urged Congress to send a strong message to the carriers that the merger cannot be an excuse to bust unions or abrogate contracts.
The economy shed another 20,000 jobs in April, the fourth monthly decline this year, further confirming that a recession is under way. However, because many economists had predicted an April job loss in the 75,000 range, news headlines and broadcasts are breathing big sighs of relief.
But an improvement in excessively low expectations does not necessarily result in good news. Looking a bit deeper into the report, more troubling signs emerge:
Employees also appear to be working fewer hours, and for less pay. Among rank-and-file workers, who make up about three-quarters of the workforce, average weekly salaries fell 0.2 percent in April, and average hourly earnings rose an anemic 0.1 percent. [snip]
Charles Taylor, coordinator for the Research Recruitment Program in the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Research, encourages college students interested in working for the labor movement to take part in an upcoming summer school training on strategic corporate research.
Preparations are under way for an annual training on strategic corporate research, which has served as an effective point of entry for students who are interested in working in the labor movement. The 2008 summer school will be June 8–13 in Ithaca, N.Y. Registration deadline is May 9 and credit scholarships are available.
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