Labor Union Blog

UPDATE–Feb. 14–The Senate late last night, approved (60-38) the economic recovery package. Three moderate Republicans–Arlen Specter (Penn.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe (Maine)–broke ranks with party leaders and voted for the bill. All other Senate Republicans followed the lead of House Republicans from earlier in the day and voted against the jobs-creating legislation.

All Democrats supported the recovery package. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), continuing his treatment for cancer, was unable to attend the session. 

President Obama is expected to sign the bill next week.

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Some 3.5 million jobs will be created or saved, financially strapped states will receive fiscal relief to maintain vital services, jobless workers will get improved benefits and help in maintaining health coverage, and working families will have more money in their pockets from targeted tax cuts under a historic economic recovery package passed by the House this afternoon on a 246-183 vote. 

Every Republican House member voted against the jobs bill, as did seven Democrats. Republicans had called for less spending and more Bush-style tax cuts for the wealthy.

The Senate is expected to approve the bill tonight or tomorrow with the support of a handful of moderate Republicans. President Obama is expected to sign it this weekend.

The final version of the bill, reached in conference this week, is a $789 billion package that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says will 

save and create jobs, get our economy moving again and transform it for long-term growth and stability. 

Overall, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1) will:

• Create and save 3.5 million jobs, rebuilding America, including new “green jobs” that will boost the nation’s energy independence and global competitiveness.
• Give 95 percent of American workers an immediate tax cut.
• Invest in roads, bridges, mass transit, energy-efficient buildings, flood control, clean water projects and other infrastructure projects.
• Restore science and innovation as the keys to new American-made technology, preventing and treating disease, and tackling urgent national challenges like climate change and dependence on foreign oil.
• Invest money quickly into the economy.

An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) says the fiscal aid for the states in the bill

provides a quick boost to employment, as it prevents the scaling back of programs that are needed and that employ not only public employees but also an extensive array of private-sector contractors.

The bill also maintains the stronger Buy American language in the Senate-passed version. Scott Paul, executive director for the Alliance for American Manufacturing, says the Buy American provisions is a 

major victory for American manufacturers and workers by preserving Buy America. Tax dollars in the economic recovery package will be invested in American-made materials for public infrastructure and building projects, leading to the creation of new American manufacturing jobs. 

Click here for a detailed look at the recovery package. 

Action on the final bill comes as the nation’s unemployment rate reached 7.6 percent in January, the highest since 1992. The economy has lost almost 1.8 million jobs in the past three months alone, the worst three-month performance since 1974. Overall, 3.6 million jobs have disappeared since the Bush recession began in December 2007. 

The EPI analysis says the recovery package is a “critical step” in slowing the economy’s downward spiral, but adds:

Even with this package, we still have significant economic and policy challenges ahead of us, including stabilizing the housing market and preventing foreclosures; ensuring access to high-quality affordable health care; modernizing financial market regulations; improving our educational system; and much, much more. This is a first step toward righting our nation’s economic ship, but much work remains to be done to promote widely shared prosperity for all.

When disaster strikes, nurses and other first responders go far beyond the call of duty in rescuing and treating victims. Minnesota nurses answered that call in 2007, when the I-35 bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River.

Yet as Elizabeth Shogren, Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) an affiliate of United American Nurses (UAN), health and safety specialist, points out:

“What is not seen, however, are the heart-wrenching tensions and potential danger facing these heroes behind the scenes.”

She was referring to dangers like short staffing that make it difficult or impossible for nurses to provide the quality care patients deserve all the time, including during emergency situations. Now, a landmark agreement between MNA and Allina Hospitals & Clinics establishes emergency response working conditions.

The agreement ensures adequate registered nurse (RN) staffing, the health and safety of nurses and other issues in the event of a natural disaster, catastrophic event, pandemic illness or response to terrorism. Some 5,000 RNs are employed at Allina facilities.

For example, the agreement calls for creation of a group of RNs who would supplement existing staff. Nurses can participate through a voluntary process that removes barriers to involvement and fosters worker safety, says Allina RN Marie Stuewe.

An overwhelming number of employers plan to rely on mandatory overtime or involuntary schedule changes for emergency response, leading to untenable options for nurses whose own family might be subject to the same jeopardy as others. In contrast, the agreement with Allina recognizes employees’ legitimate concerns about safety, liability and conflicting obligations.

The agreement sets standards for adequate personal protective equipment, like respirators, and addresses issues such as worker fatigue and specialized training for RNs who volunteer for the emergency response team.

Says RN Robert Pandiscio:

Nursing skills are essential to the lives exposed to unexpected tragedy. This plan frees us to do our best work under the worst possible circumstances and recognizes the unique needs of individual nurses.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has threatened to filibuster any of President Obama’s cabinet and judicial nominees unless they meet a brand new set of conditions that McConnell laid out in a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call (subscription required) reported.

These unilaterally developed “standards” from McConnell, who is married to former Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, once again have delayed action on the confirmation of Obama’s nominee for secretary of labor, Hilda Solis. The full Senate vote on her nomination, which was scheduled for today, now won’t come until after Congress returns from the Presidents Day recess.

Earlier this week, the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions committee approved the Solis nomination, more than a month after her conformation hearing. Republican senators forced the delay because of their objections to her support of workers and their unions, especially the Employee Free Choice Act.

CQ Today (subscription required) reports there is no official hold on Solis and that McConnell’s office claims his latest muscle flexing isn’t aimed at Solis. But it’s hard  to believe this latest incident in Republican obstruction isn’t specifically designed to embarrass Obama and Reid. It’s also a pretty good sign that the president’s call for bipartisanship is falling on deaf ears.

By the way, the McConnell letter went on to say he plans to issue “additional requirements” for any judicial nominees. Who’s in charge here?

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, members of the UAW have sent a “love-note” to Sen. Bob Corker, a highly conservative Republican from Tennessee.

Corker, as you recall, introduced a pay-cut amendment to the auto rescue package last December that would have required the UAW to accept deep concessions. Far be it from Corker to try to save the jobs of thousands of autoworkers at a time when the nation’s jobless rate is worsening at an alarming rate.

Members signed a giant-sized card letting Corker know what they thought of his union-busting tactics and then delivered the valentine to Corker’s Nashville office.

On a local TV newscast, Dale Bradford, a retired UAW member, summed up the workers’ sentiments this way:

[Corker] needs to get over his prejudice against the UAW. The hardworking men and women of the UAW helped build the middle class. We won’t take this prejudice lying down.

The highlight of the protest undoubtedly was the sight of Tennessee House Democratic Caucus Leader Mike Turner, who joined the workers in an “electric slide” across the state capitol entrance, one day after being released from the hospital for chest pains.

Check out Turner’s dance routine and see more of the workers’ protest here.

The fringe right wing, including a cigar-smoking, former pill-popping radio talker and a skinny, venom-spewing blond author, are giving us a preview of how they and the big drug makers hope to derail comprehensive health care reform.

Lies. Big lies. Preposterously big lies.

They’ve latched onto two provisions in the economic recovery bill and are using them for target practice until the full health care battle heats up—competitive effectiveness research and health information technology.

The economic recovery package contains funds for both and those investments, which will create jobs and improve the quality of health care for all of us.

While “competitive effectiveness research” certainly is a wonky phrase, it’s not dangerous. It will help doctors and patients, through research, studies and comparisons, understand which drugs, therapies and treatments work and which don’t and which one could save your life—or your grandma’s.

There is nothing in the competitive effectiveness research provision that says what treatments, tests and therapies you can and cannot have, or what your doctor can prescribe for you. Contrary to the extremists’ claims, your grandma will not be, and cannot be, denied end-of-life care or medicines.

“Health information technology” (also known as health IT) is just what it sounds like, using technology to streamline the health care system, especially record keeping. Health IT’s goal is to help doctors and hospitals convert paper records into electronic records that will help reduce medical errors and save time and money your doctor has to spend on paperwork.

The economic recovery bill funds the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology that in fact was created several years ago by former President Bush via an executive order. This merely formalizes the post.

Health IT does not give the government access to your medical records. They remain confidential between you and your doctor. The government cannot monitor your care and then penalize you or your doctor for so-called unapproved treatments, as the rumor mongers are hollering. Big Brother will not be in the examination room and will not be designing your treatment according to a government health care menu. You and your doctor decide what’s best.

Absurd claims about both these provisions have fueled a barrage of panicked e-mails and calls to Capitol Hill from those who don’t realize they’ve fallen for the lies by Big Pharma’s Astro-Turfing (phony grassroots) efforts and front groups.

Once a wildfire of lies starts, the flames are awful hard to tamp down. But armed with truth, and some good old-fashioned common sense, you can slow the spread. So the next time a co-worker, friend or relative starts echoing what most of us turn off when we accidentally punch the wrong button on the radio—hose him or her down with the truth.