Labor Union Blog

Nearly 300 young activists and students came to Washington, D.C., last week for the A Better Deal 2009 conference, and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler was on hand to let these young people know that the labor movement is here to fight for them.

Sponsored by Demos and an array of youth and progressive organizations, A Better Deal 2009 looked at jobs, debt, education, health care and other issues facing young people in a challenging economy. The Electrical Workers (IBEW) were there as well and have a great new video on the conference and young people’s concerns about building a strong economic future.

Here’s what Shuler has to say on the need to make the union movement accessible, relevant and attentive to the next generation:

I think now is the perfect time to reach out to young people, because of the economic devastation that we’ve been experiencing. I think young people have been disproportionately affected, and we need to connect the dots for them and make sure they know that the labor movement is the best answer to their economic troubles.

They have in their minds that the labor movement is something their grandparents were involved in, but we have a lot to offer young people today, and we just need to educate them.

To hear more from young people who attended the Demos conference, check out the IBEW at Daily Kos.

One of the principles that must be at the heart of health care reform is making sure it’s paid for fairly. Unfortunately, some members of Congress are trying to fund it in the wrong way—by taxing working families’ health benefits.

The Senate Finance Committee’s bill, unlike the bills passed by committees in the U.S. House, relies on an excise tax on health coverage, starting in 2013, to fund health reform. That’s a short-sighted policy that could hurt millions of people that health care reform is supposed to help.

A new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that, under the current Senate Finance Committee proposal, the excise tax would hit about one-third of health insurance plans within the next decade. This could cause millions of middle-class families to suffer a tax increase or to get their benefits pared back, the report says.

To the extent that workers choose less expensive health plans for themselves and their families to avoid the excise tax, they will be faced with higher out-of-pocket costs. All else equal, lower premiums translate into less comprehensive coverage. Less comprehensive coverage often takes the form of higher deductibles, increased co-pays, higher out-of-pocket maximums, or other increased cost-sharing.

The EPI finding echoes findings in an updated report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which suggests an excise tax would have a tough impact on middle-class families. The CWA report cites estimates from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation that 31 million taxpayers will be affected by 2019, paying an average of $1,318 in higher taxes. Because of the steep rise in the cost of a health care plan, the excise tax would hit more and more families over the coming years. The impact on older workers and workers living in high-cost areas or working dangerous jobs could be even more severe.

There are better ways to pay for health care reform. The bills proposed in the U.S. House, for instance, pay for it with a combination of employer responsibility, a surtax on the very wealthy and the significant savings realized from having a strong public health insurance option.

Since the goal of health care reform is to lower costs for families and guarantee access to quality care, an excise tax that imposes a financial burden on working families just doesn’t make sense. In fact, Sen. John McCain (R) proposed a tax on health care benefits in the 2008 election—and lost. America’s working families have made their feelings clear: they don’t want to pay for health care with a tax on their benefits.

Tomorrow, local union leaders, current and retired NFL players in Detroit will join the United Way to hold a food drive benefiting families affected by the economic crisis. The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) organized the food drive. Saundra Williams, president of the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO, will be among those joining Detroit Lions offensive lineman Stephen Peterman at the food drive.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker says the food drive is an important way for union members to reach out to hard-hit communities:

In these times of crisis, it’s heartwarming to see my union brothers and sisters joining together to help those in need. The proud residents of Detroit are suffering from some of the highest unemployment rates in the country and they need our help now more than ever. What the people of Detroit need, and all of America’s working men and women need, are quality, family-supporting jobs.

For those of you in the Detroit area, bring your non-perishable items to the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO building at 600 West Lafayette Blvd. between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and you’ll be entered in a prize giveaway.

So, Wall Street CEOs didn’t figure out on their own that when they take taxpayer money, they have a moral obligation to help the overall economy with their $700 billion public-funded bailout rather than single-mindedly line their own pockets with billions of dollars in salaries, bonuses and other ego-inflating perks.

Funny how “moral obligation” and “Wall Street” tend to be mutually exclusive terms.

Wall Street CEOs wouldn’t do it on their own. So now they have to.

This week, the U.S. Treasury Department’s special master for compensation, Kenneth Feinberg, said financial corporations still on the public dole will have to limit salaries to a maximum of $500,000 and that average total pay packages among top employees will drop by 50 percent. Yesterday, the Federal Reserve announced that 28 of America’s largest, most complex financial institutions will be required to submit their pay policies to a regulatory review—whether or not they have received bail-out money from taxpayers.

We can all nitpick with the details or lament that the restrictions could have been tougher, but the bottom line is this: The Obama administration is holding corporations accountable in a way that never would have happened under a Cheney-Bush or Palin-McCain regime.

Noting that the “toga party is already back on Wall Street,” a Boston Globe editorial pointed to and encouraged the Obama administration’s outrage against Wall Street’s greed and hubris. As Bloomberg and other outlets noted, Obama said:

It does offend our values when executives of big financial firms, firms that are struggling, pay themselves huge bonuses even as they continue to rely on taxpayer assistance to stay afloat.

On MSNBC yesterday, Director of the AFL-CIO Office of Investment Dan Pedrotty pointed out that Feinberg has created a model for how corporations should address compensation. Rather than larding CEOs with cash, their compensation is tied now with restricted stocks. That is, if the company does well, so does the CEO. That’s called “incentive.”

Because, as Pedrotty pointed out, the top five investment banks in the five years leading up to the crisis paid out $145 billion in bonuses—and three of the five failed.

The American people have been asked for hundreds of billions of dollars to backstop these failed businesses. The same American people who are suffering record unemployment, skyrocketing foreclosures, 201(k)s and disappearing pensions. They deserve some accountability here.

Got that right.

Union members in Arkansas and across the country are telling their senators to support real health care reform.

When Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) suggested she would block health care reform if it included a public option, Maine workers took action: The Maine AFL-CIO put its convention on hold so attendees could call her and tell her that a public option is essential to make reform work. (Recent polls in Maine suggest Mainers strongly support a public option.)

Here are some of the latest developments in the fight for real health care reform:

• Momentum is building for a public option in final bills being crafted in the U.S. Senate and the House. This is a critical time to contact your senators and representatives.
• Big companies like Wal-Mart are lobbying hard to exempt the coverage they provide from health care reform. That would leave tens of millions of workers stuck in the same high-cost, no-guarantee system we have today.
• 55 members of Congress who oppose giving America the choice of a public option are actually getting government-administered health care through Medicare.

• Becky Moeller, president of the Texas AFL-CIO, writes in today’s San Antonio Express-News that the insurance companies are trying to stay in charge of our health care, but working families can’t afford the status quo.
• Mark Froemke, president of Minnesota’s Northern Valley Labor Council, has a great op-ed today in the Grand Forks Herald that lays out the stakes on health care:

If Congress fails to enact reform, things won’t just stay the same—they’ll get worse…unless we enact changes now, those who manage to keep their coverage will pay an even heftier price over the next 10 years.

As it stands, insurance companies have a stranglehold on our health care system, driving up costs and coming between middle-class Americans and the care they need.

• Minnesota union members rallied for heath care this week in Duluth, St. Cloud and Rochester.
• Union members in Louisiana and Arkansas also are rallying and reaching out to their senators to demand health care reform that works.
• Yet another insurance company is playing with numbers, seeking to scare people about health care reform. This time it’s WellPoint fudging the facts and leaving out critical information. Check out this great chart from Think Progress that shows how the insurance companies are fighting reform.
• The Center for American Progress Action Fund has a great new report out today detailing insurance company’s tactics to hide vital information about denying coverage.