Labor Union Blog

Working America members have delivered hundreds of letters to Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Reports are piling in from around the country from union members and their allies in the faith, civil rights, small business and environmental communities who are helping advance the Employee Free Choice Act and workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life. 

In Maine, the Sierra Club, along with Bill Murphy, director of the University of Maine’s Bureau of Labor Education, held a press conference to announce that the environmental community is strongly in favor of Employee Free Choice, which they say will ensure workers have a voice in how businesses operate in their communities. 

In Fort Collins, Colo., the Rev. Daniel Klawitter of Interfaith Worker Justice, led a community meeting in support of the Employee Free Choice Act that helped raise funds for an area food bank. Union members and members of Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate, joined him in supporting the food bank and the freedom to form unions, which Klawitter said was “the most effective anti-poverty program” available to workers.

Steelworkers in Louisiana support Employee Free Choice.

At the community meeting, Sonny Maestas described his personal experience trying to form a union at his workplace. After working at the company for 20 years, Maestas joined with his co-workers to form a union. Although they won their elections with an overwhelming majority, more than two years later, they still are trying to bargain a contract, an experience many workers around the country endure after forming a union. Maestas said: 

“A year is too long, and that’s why I support the Employee Free Choice Act. We need to get that middle class back again, and I think the economy could be on its way back to recovery.” 

In Wilkes-Barre, Pa., small business owners are getting involved in the fight. George Zorgo, owner of Zorgo Printing, says the the Employee Free Choice Act isn’t just about workers who form unions—it matters for everyone in the economy: 

Small businesses depend on each and every one of their customers. When customers have good, well-paying jobs and aren’t worried about the rising cost of health care, then local businesses do better. Small businesses depend on the middle class for business, and the middle class is supported by jobs that have fair wages and benefits. 

In Arkansas, Working America and other allies have gathered more than 10,000 letters and petitions to deliver to Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. In Louisiana, members of the Steelworkers (USW) signed pro-Employee Free Choice Act petitions this week to Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, while UAW members in Indiana are delivering letters to Sen. Evan Bayh and other members of Congress in support of the freedom to form unions. The Employee Free Choice Act also took center stage last week at a meeting of working women in Eau Claire, Wis. 

Alaska state Rep. Harry Crawford, a retired member of the Ironworkers, is one of the many elected officials across the country supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. Crawford says the legislation will give working families a shot at getting what they deserve: 

Without unions, we wouldn’t have the broad middle class that we have today….[Unions are] responsible for all the things we take for granted now, like the eight-hour workday, and having insurance, retirement and a safe and secure system.

A couple of years ago the blue-collar band ETx wrote a song out of the frustration surrounding the off-shoring of jobs and closing of plants in the U.S. As Jesse Russell reports, the band is back with a new effort.

Now the band is back with a new push for their track “Mad in America.” The group has produced a video for the song and frontman Steve Duby explains why:

[Duby]: "We wanted to paint a picture not only musically but we also wanted people to see the effects, to see what’s happened with all of these plant closings now that all of these jobs are going offshore and their not coming back here."

By Doug Cunningham

Lawyers for the new National Union of Heath Care Workers filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board Wednesday against the SEIU over a loan from Bank of America. The NUHW says federal labor law bars loans between employers and unions attempting to organize their employees. SEIU and the NUHW are locked in a struggle over representation of tens of thousands of California health care workers. The SEIU International took over one of its locals - United Health Care Workers West. Ousted leaders of that local then formed the NUHW. SEIU’s Michelle Ringuette denies any wrongdoing in the union’s loan with Bank of America.

By Doug Cunningham

Boston Newspaper Guild President Dan Totten says he’s optimistic about reaching a labor agreement with the New York Times over wage cuts at the Boston Globe. The talks this week have reportedly focused on how to reduce the 23 percent wage cut imposed on Guild members after the union narrowly rejected concessions.

By Doug Cunningham

Workers rallied Wednesday at New York City Hall to protest the layoffs of 2600 school employees. Gwendolyn Burton is an AFSCME member who works with at-risk youth at Passages Academy in the Bronx.

[Burton]: “We have to stop this. They're hiring private contractors to do the jobs that we can do. That's why we're gonna get laid off. That's why they lay us off for jobs that we can do that they're paying hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to people outside the city, from outside our neighborhoods. We know our neighborhoods, we know our children. We should be h

The Great Labor Arts Exchange features artists such as Chris Bricker, a member of the Screen Actors.

For four days next week, the campus of the National Labor College (NLC) in Silver Spring, Md., will reverberate with the sounds of music, poetry and creative chants and art.

From June 20-23, some 100 union and social justice activists will participate in the annual Great Labor Arts Exchange and Conference on Creative Organizing, programs that combine union mobilization and outreach with songs, skits, art, poetry, theater, posters, cartoons and film. 

For 31 years, the Great Labor Arts Exchange has celebrated the rich cultural heritage of working people and served as a forum that brings together talented labor artists, activists, cultural workers, educators and students.

Last year, the Great Labor Arts Exchange featured a wealth of new, young talent. Some of last year’s featured events included a giant puppet show by two members of the United Steelworkers (USW) who showed participants one way to use street theater to deliver a message. Tayo Aluko, a Nigerian who now lives in Liverpool, England, performed a one-man show on the life of actor and human rights activist Paul Robeson.

Another presentation, by the group “Teaching For Change,” demonstrated strategies for educating children, parents, teachers and the community about social justice by having them work jointly on a quilt depicting different social issues.

The Conference on Creative Organizing trains union staff, organizers and activists to use songs, chants, skits, game shows, costumes, theater and other creative tactics when reaching out to working people. Participants exchange experiences, brainstorm about specific union campaigns, share resources and return home with a battery of new ideas and tools that will make their campaigns more compelling. 

On June 23, participants from the two conferences will converge on Washington, D.C., to join in a day of action to focus attention and energy on issues currently facing working people, such as the Employee Free Choice Act, immigration reform, poverty, health care reform and education reform.

At the “Raise Your Voices and Be Heard Concert” that evening, artist Ricardo Levins Morales will receive the Joe Hill Award, which honors leaders and artists who have contributed to the successful integration of arts and culture in the labor movement.

Both events are sponsored by the Labor Heritage Foundation and NLC. Click here for more information.

The health care reform debate is now on center stage on the national level. But for several years, state lawmakers have fought to develop health care reform initiatives to ensure affordability, quality and fairness in health care. One thing they have learned, says Christopher Donovan, speaker of the Connecticut state House, is that

we know that America wants the choice of a public plan because we’ve been out there in the trenches for years now coming up with models for one. We’ve been going door to door talking to our constituents. We’ve been drafting legislation that creates public insurance options and opens employee insurance pools to the private sector. We’ve passed these things, so we know people like them.

A public insurance plan option for workers and families who either have private insurance coverage or no coverage at all is one of the AFL-CIO’s key health care reform principles.

Donovan and several other state lawmakers took that message to the White House and Capitol Hill today. Organized by the Progressive States Network, they delivered a letter backing a public health insurance plan option, signed by more than 700 state legislators, to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). The letter says:

Americans recognize that the private sector alone has proven incapable of creating a high-quality, fair, and accountable health care system that works for all families. Therefore, a key priority for reform is the choice of a public health insurance plan that is available to businesses, individuals, and families.

The action comes as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where Harkin is a senior member, is crafting its version of health care reform legislation. At the same time, the private insurance industry, its hired guns and anti-reform lawmakers have launched a multimillion-dollar propaganda and scare campaign to scuttle any proposed public plan option.

Harkin says the grassroots voices the state lawmakers represent are an important tool to fight back.

The signatures of over 700 state legislators speak loud and clear for numerous Americans who want us to act now to give them a full range of choices of the best quality, affordable care our country can offer.

It doesn’t matter if you’re shopping for a car or a washing machine or health insurance. Your best bet for getting a good deal is if two things are present: choice and competition. And that’s exactly why Americans need to have the option of a public plan as they shop for insurance under a reformed health system.

Texas state Rep. Garnet Coleman says the lessons in health care reform states have learned can be a valuable lesson on the national level.

For decades, states across the country have done the best we can to help working families cope with a broken health care system. We’ve learned many lessons about what works and doesn’t work, and we’re looking forward to sharing them with our colleagues in the White House and Congress.

Opponents of a public plan option are recycling the same shrill attacks and lies they used to kill health care reform in 1993. On Monday, President Obama, in a speech to the American Medical Association, said:

We know that there are those who will try and scuttle this opportunity no matter what, who will use the same scare tactics and fear-mongering that’s worked in the past. They’ll give dire warnings about socialized medicine and government takeovers; long lines and rationed care; decisions made by bureaucrats and not doctors. We’ve heard it all before—and because these fear tactics have worked, things have kept getting worse.

…no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away.

Let me repeat—if you like your health care, the only thing reform will mean is your health care will cost less. If anyone says otherwise, they are either trying to mislead you or don’t have their facts straight.

Don’t forget: On June 25, join thousands of union and health care activists on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., for the largest-ever rally for health care reform. Click here for more information.

For Betty Smith, today is the day she gets to teach a new group of students: lawmakers from her home state of Pennsylvania. A retired teacher and AFT member from Elkins Park, Pa., near Philadelphia, Smith is one of the nearly 550 retirees at the Alliance for Retired Americans‘ annual legislative conference, who traveled to Capitol Hill today to lobby their home state elected officials in advance of key votes on health care reform.

While she has retirement security because of her union contract, Smith says she knows there are millions of seniors who must choose between paying for prescription medications and buying food. 

It’s not fair in this country, which is so rich, that something like this exists. It’s just wrong.

Smith also believes that the minimum wage is too low and she wants to see it raised. She questions how employers who oppose an increase in the minimum wage expect their employees to make ends meet.

They say [raising the minimum wage] will hurt small business, but I say what about the workers? The [low] wages are hurting them.

Before heading to Capitol Hill, members of the Alliance gave their Leadership Award to Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a longtime champion for the nation’s seniors.

As they take part in some 200 scheduled appointments with the members of Congress, Alliance members like Smith will outline the retirees’ stake in this year’s health care debate. Specifically, they will advocate for:

• Ending taxpayer subsidies to private insurance companies that run Medicare Advantage programs. This 20 percent overpayment costs all Medicare beneficiaries an extra $3 per month in premiums.
• Maintaining tax-free health care benefits. Taxing health care benefits would cause a reduction in health care benefits and penalize both workers and retirees who currently have coverage.
• Repealing the prohibition against Medicare negotiating volume discounts with the pharmaceutical companies.
• Creating the opportunity for early retirees (ages 55-64) to buy into Medicare.
• Establishing a public plan option to compete against private health insurance plans.
• Including the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act in health care reform to help Americans with the daunting costs of long-term care. The bill, introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.), would create an insurance program for adults who become functionally disabled.

Also today, Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans President Leon Burzynski will testify at a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on “Social Security: Keeping the Promise in the 21st Century.”

The members of the Alliance for Retired Americans are lifelong activists, who bring energy, enthusiasm and passion to their work, says Alliance President Barbara Easterling.

They will be educating and mobilizing their neighbors in the coming weeks because they know that our country will never be a just society until every American has access to quality, affordable health care.

The nation’s crisis in patient care stems from routine understaffing of  registered nurses in hospitals—and that understaffing, say nurses unions, leads to thousands of unnecessary patient deaths a year.

In a move to raise public awareness and build support for national safe staffing level standards, the nation’s three major nurses unions have launched a new TV and online advertising campaign. The campaign coincides with the debut of “HawthoRNe,” one of the new TV shows debuting this season that features nurse characters.

The ad from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), United American Nurses (UAN) and Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) asks viewers to imagine a world without nurses.

When nurses disappear, so does patient safety….If you’ve ever been a patient or will be one in the future, insist on safe staffing levels—because it’s our registered nurses who put the care in health care.

Earlier this year, the three nursing organizations announced the formation of a national union of RNs by combining the strength of their 150,000 members, the United American Nurses—National Nurses Organizing Committee. The ad features direct-care nurses from all three unions.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) recently introduced the National Nursing Shortage and Patient Advocacy Reform Act (S. 1031), to guarantee safe staffing in hospitals across the nation, as well as to give nurses whistle-blower and patient advocacy protections. UAN President Ann Converso, RN says the legislation provides

concrete solutions to the nurse staffing crisis on the table. We must make safe RN staffing ratios the law of the land; anything less puts our patients at risk.

Along with reaching out to the public, the ad asks viewers, especially nurses, to visit a new website, www.RNvoices.net, where nurses will be asked to offer their opinions of the show, which will be forwarded to the appropriate producers. The website will update RNs on the key legislative issues, such as the new federal patient safety bill establishing safe nurse staffing in hospitals.

Deborah Burger, RN, co-president of CNA/NNOC, says she welcomes the portrayal of nurses in prime-time entertainment and if the shows draw from real-life nursing situations, they can offer a good look into the daily problems nurses face in providing quality care.

We know these shows are Hollywood entertainment….Will these shows reflect the struggle of nurses to care for their patients in the face of heartless insurance and hospital bureaucracy? Will they reflect the terrible burden of being overloaded with too many patients who are too sick? We look forward to finding out.

Says MNA President Beth Piknick, RN:

As patient advocates, we have to take this opportunity of these new television shows to press our agenda of safe staffing. Nurses have seen too many patients suffer unnecessarily because of the crisis in care caused by hospital understaffing. We are delighted for the chance to make this connection for our fellow nurses and the public.

Click here to view the ad and check out www.RNvoices.net.