Workers would get assistance in upgrading their skills and communities could create goodgreen jobs and build infrastructure under legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate last week. The American Worker and Community Assistance Act (S. 2742), co-sponsored by Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), would provide job training and support to workers and also would help communities adapt to a changing economy.
Says Casey:
There is tremendous potential in clean energy technology and manufacturing, but we must give workers the skills to succeed and employers must have access to a skilled workforce. Legislation being considered by Congress to combat global warming can reduce our dependence on foreign energy, increase our security and create a better world for our children. However, we also have a responsibility to our workers, industries and communities who may be affected by the shift in the economy.
The bill would protect workers and communities during the transition that could be sparked as a result of climate legislation. It would provide assistance such as job training assistance, wage replacement and health benefits replacement.
The bill also provides temporary income support to workers who lose jobs due to climate change policy. That income support may continue for a maximum of 156 weeks—enough time for workers to return to school and get training to help them find a new job that provides decent, family-sustaining wages and benefits.
As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says:
It is essential that workers and communities impacted by climate change policy be provided with the tools to transition into the new clean energy economy and the millions of new jobs that stand to be created.
The training programs will focus on the development of skills related to the rehabilitation of environmentally troubled areas and creating new renewable and efficient energy.
Our union sister Sgt. Kimberly Munley is a bona fide hero, having risked her life to stop the alleged gunman who killed 13 people and injured 30 at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5. Munley shot the alleged assailant, Maj. Nidal Hasan, four times, despite being shot herself. She currently is recovering from her injuries and is in stable condition.
Now her union, AFGE, has set up a site where you can send your best wishes to Sgt. Munley. Just click here and compose a message to her. Your messages will be collected and AFGE will deliver the messages to Munley on Friday, Nov. 20.
Munley, 34, is a member of AFGE Local 1920 and the mother of a three-year-old. She and her partner were the first to arrive at the Soldier Readiness Center, where Hasan allegedly opened fire.
AFGE President John Gage said Munley “acted with great heroism.”
Lt. Gen. Bob Cone, commanding general at Fort Hood, told CNN that Munley’s actions stopped Hasan cold and saved lives. He said Munley is a “trained, active first responder” who acted quickly after she “just happened to encounter the gunman.”
Governor Mike Beebe yesterday announced a major expansion of Arkansas Works, the governor's strategic initiative to coordinate education, training and economic development in Arkansas communities. The expansion focuses on providing unemployed and underemployed Arkansans with career training and educational opportunities.
"As communities work hard to attract new business, the State will help ensure that a qualified workforce stands ready to fill those jobs," Beebe said. "The world is quickly changing, and Arkansas must accelerate its pace to create careers for our citizens. This effort has something to help every Arkansan, whether you need a job, want to find a better job or want to shift to a new career."
Beebe helped unveil the College and Career Planning System, an online information resource that will help Arkansans locate jobs that fit their interests and help businesses find qualified candidates to meet their workforce needs. Every Workforce Development Center in Arkansas has personnel prepared to assess job seekers and help them connect with jobs and industries that lead to satisfying careers.
In January, 43 career coaches will be placed in high schools to offer enhanced career guidance to students who want to build careers in Arkansas. The career coaches will be employed by the two-year colleges located in the communities theses coaches are placed.
In addition, up to $8,000 in financial aid may be available, based on the needs of each individual, to help pay for career training and education.
The Governor's Workforce Cabinet will lead the public-private partnership. The Cabinet includes the Arkansas Department of Career Education, Arkansas Department of Career Services, Arkansas Department of Higher Education, Arkansas Department of Education, Arkansas Economic Development Commission as well as private partners such as the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges and the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.
Beebe began the Arkansas Works Initiative in October, 2008, with The Governor's Summit on Education and Economic Development, the first such summit in the State's history. At that time, Beebe brought together more than 1,500 education, economic development, community and business leaders from every county.
The College and Career Planning System will build a database that Arkansas's businesses can use to locate an available and interested workforce. Businesses also will be able to use the Arkansas Works website to showcase themselves and the career opportunities they offer.
The System can be accessed at www.arworks.arkansas.gov or by calling 1-866-ARWORKS (1-866-279-9677). Participants must visit a Workforce Development Center first to start the process and to get log-in information.
Scholarships Available!!! Mid-South Union Leadership The Arkansas and Oklahoma AFL-CIO are offering to fund scholarships to this year's Mid-South Union Leadership Institute to international or multi-state unions in their state.For every five participants a union registers, a scholarship covering registration fees will be awarded. Please contact your participating state federation if you qualify.
The Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, and Tennessee AFL-CIO are jointly sponsoring the 2009 Mid-South Union Leadership Institute. Hosted by the Labor Education Program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Institute will be held November 5-7 at the Clarion Resort on the Lake in Hot Spring, AR.
Leadership development is critical to the success of the labor movement. Union officers and representatives with leadership responsibilities are strongly encouraged to attend. Participants will choose from two major workshop tracks: "Effective Local Union Administration" and "Union Building," as well as special topic workshops on communicating in the YouTube Age and opportunities for workers in a new, green economy. There will be updates on labor's legislative agenda, and discussions of enforcement of existing labor and employment law under the Obama administration.
A minimum number of registrations are required for this seminar.
Sleeping Rooms
Please call the Clarion Resort on the Lake at (501) 525-1391 to make your sleeping room reservations.
A block of rooms has been reserved until October 5 at the rate of $82, single or double. Please mention the UALR Labor Education Program to receive this rate.
Questions??
For more information contact the Labor Education Program at 501-569-8483, fax at 501-569-8538 or email lep@ualr.edu.
Today America’s workers joined with trade unions in more than 100 countries in support of the International Trade Union Confederation’s call for a World Day for Decent Work. The AFL-CIO believes decent work standards are a key part of the solution to the global economic and jobs crisis. It means ensuring job creation and protection of workers’ rights, especially the freedom to organize a trade union and bargain collectively. It means ending discrimination, stopping child and forced labor and providing social security safety nets for those in and out of work.
At its recent convention the AFL-CIO strongly underscored its support for decent work for workers in the United States and around the world by unanimously passing a major resolution, ‘A Labor Movement Agenda for a Stronger, Cleaner and More Just Global Economy.’ The resolution affirmed the ILO’s statement ‘The Financial and Economic Crisis: A Decent Work Response’ and stressed the need for the global labor movement to promote the ILO’s Global Jobs Pact to help coordinate government efforts to respond to the employment crisis.
Significant priorities for the AFL-CIO include passage of the Employee Free Choice Act to enable workers to freely choose to have a union and collectively bargain in the United States and passing major health care reform that covers all families.
Following the convention, the newly elected leadership traveled to meet with working families around the country, leading up to the G 20 meeting in Pittsburgh. At the G20 President Trumka and ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder, along with other international trade union leaders, met with President Obama. They stressed the elements of the June 2009 ILO ‘Jobs Pact’ and the importance of enacting coordinated policies to create decent and environmentally sustainable work to combat growing unemployment, enact comprehensive and effective regulation of financial markets and promote the inclusion of key international labor standards in all assistance programs of the IMF and World Bank.
The economy shed another 263,000 jobs in September and unemployment rose to 9.8 percent. These numbers are worse than previously forecast and represent the highest unemployment rate in 26 years. There are now six job seekers for each available job and over one-third of the 15 million unemployed workers have now been without a job for over 27 weeks. The only factor that kept the unemployment rate from rising even more is that 571,000 workers dropped out of the labor force last month.
The pace of economic decline and job loss has clearly let up from earlier this year, due in large part to the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, without further fiscal stimulus, it seems very likely that heavy job losses will continue for several quarters and it will take years for unemployment to fall to pre-recession levels.
The economic crisis is a jobs crisis and there can be no strong and sustainable recovery until employment begins to grow. The Obama administration’s aggressive actions have clearly brought us “back from the brink” of what might have been a second Great Depression, but we will need sustained and expanded fiscal support if we are to see a robust recovery.
The Administration and Congress should continue to extend unemployment benefits and bolster aid to budget-constrained states and cities. Further, the Administration must speed public investment in education and training, repairing our nation’s deteriorating infrastructure and building a greener economy.
Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on September Jobs Report, October 2, 2009
The AFL-CIO is actively involved in the United Way at the national level, and Northwest Arkansas Labor Council members have a long tradition of supporting the work of the United Way of Northwest Arkansas. In these difficult economic times, it is even more important that we share what we can.
* Giving $1 week (just $52 a year) provides 288 pounds of food for the hungry in our community or transportation to doctors’ appointments for a senior citizen for a year. * Giving $2 week provides dues for three low-income children, allowing them to attend an after school program, or provides for 50 snack packs for children, who might not otherwise have food on the weekends. * Giving $5 week provides delivery of 74 meals to the elderly in their homes, or helps six victims of domestic violence rebuild their lives. * Giving $10 week provides help for one month’s utility bill for six families, or helps provide 40 prescriptions to individuals without insurance. * Giving $20 per week provides one month’s scholarship for tuition for an infant in a high-quality learning environment, or provides adult day care services for an adult for one year, or supports one youth for one year of one-on-one mentoring.
Please help the needy in our community, and remember that you not need to give a lot to make an impact.
The Arkansas AFL-CIO is joining with state federations in the region in sponsoring the Mid-South Union Leadership Institute. Hosted by the Labor Education Program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Institute will be held November 5-7 at the Clarion Resort on the Lake in Hot Springs.
Leadership development is critical to the success of the labor movement. Union officers and representatives with leadership responsibilities are strongly encouraged to attend. Participants will choose from two major workshop tracks: "Effective Local Union Administration" and "Union Building," as well as special topic workshops on communicating in the YouTube Age and opportunities for workers in a new, green economy. There will be updates on labor's legislative agenda, and discussions of enforcement of existing labor and employment law under the Obama administration.
Please register early! By October 2 - Early Bird $200 / By October 16 - Regular $225. If registering after October 16, call LEP at 501-569-8483 to confirm your registration.
Please call the Clarion Resort on the Lake at (501) 525-1391 to make your sleeping room reservations. A block of rooms has been reserved until October 5 at the rate of $82, single or double. Please mention the UALR Labor Education Program to receive this rate. For more information contact the Labor Education Program at 501-569-8483, fax at 501-569-8538 or email lep@ualr.edu.
The real life working-class hero Mary “Mother” Jones now has her own virtual museum that documents the struggles, victories and history of the woman once dubbed “America’s Most Dangerous Woman.”
The Mother Jones Museum describes itself as a “virtual museum and curricula about the amazing labor agitator.” It includes links to her entire autobiography and other documents about militant labor history. As the site states:
We believe that she still has something to teach us after all these years.
One page features my favorite Mother Jones quote:
I asked a man in prison once, how he happened to be there, and he said he had stolen loaf of bread. I told him if he had stolen a railroad, he’d be a U.S. senator. Click here to visit the Mother Jones Museum.
Early labor history in America is marked by some vicious, hard-fought battles by workers who sometimes won and sometimes lost, but who always laid the groundwork for many of the rights and economic justice we have today. Sidney Lens’s classic “Labor Wars,” recently reissued by Haymarket Books, takes us from the Molly Maguires to struggles by autoworkers and steelworkers in the first half of the 20th century.
Los Angeles may be known for its glitz and glamour, but “Made in L.A.,” shows us one of its dirty secrets-sweatshops. The documentary tells the story of three Latina garment sweatshop workers. Sick and tired of low-pay for 12 hour-days in abysmal working conditions with abusive bosses, the trio fights back, leading a boycott and three-year struggle that transforms their lives. Get more info on the latest Cool Tools here and check out the Cool Tools archive here.
The media image of the unemployed factory worker is usually male. But the reality is that working women have been hurt as much as men when it comes to manufacturing job loss. The impact is often worse for women because many are single parents.
A new report by the public policy research group Demos shows when women lose manufacturing jobs, they rarely manage to get back into jobs with similar pay or benefits. Public training programs, through the Trade Adjustment Act (TAA) or Workforce Investment Act (WIA), often are inadequate to fill the gap.
The report, “Hidden Casualties: Trade, Employment Loss & Women Workers,” highlights the need for decent training for decent jobs with good wages, career progression and such key supports as child care and paid leave.
Click here to download the report.
One reason women workers are so adversely affected by manufacturing job loss is because they are concentrated in industries which have been drastically affected by the surge in cheap imports over the past decade, such as textiles, apparel and leather. Women make up more than 50 percent of the total workforce in these industries. Faced with high levels of foreign competition, these jobs have had high levels of trade-related job displacement.
The authors estimate that the industries with the highest percentage of women workers lost nearly 500,000 jobs between 1999 and 2008. Women also received a majority of the trade adjustment assistance during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Today, they make up about 48 percent of TAA recipients.
Many manufacturing jobs pay much better than other jobs available to women workers without a college education. Reports culled for U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show the average weekly wage of $524 for textile industries in 2008 is about 30 percent higher than the average for the retail sector ($386) and almost double that of the average for the food services (restaurants) industry ($233).
The report also shows that current federal policies for dislocated workers are woefully insufficient, with many laid-off women workers receiving little help in finding a comparable job or handling family obligations.
The report calls for the U.S .policy-makers to develop a much more comprehensive set of policies to help workers and families navigate the economic restructuring caused by increasing trade and globalization.
The Arkansas AFL-CIO is joining with state federations in the region in sponsoring the Mid-South Union Leadership Institute. Hosted by the Labor Education Program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Institute will be held November 5-7 at the Clarion Resort on the Lake in Hot Springs.
Leadership development is critical to the success of the labor movement. Union officers and representatives with leadership responsibilities are strongly encouraged to attend. Participants will choose from two major workshop tracks: "Effective Local Union Administration" and "Union Building," as well as special topic workshops on communicating in the YouTube Age and opportunities for workers in a new, green economy. There will be updates on labor's legislative agenda, and discussions of enforcement of existing labor and employment law under the Obama administration.
To find out more, go to http://www.aiea.ualr.edu/lep/events/2009-mid-south.php.
Please register early! By October 2 - Early Bird $200 / By October 16 - Regular $225. If registering after October 16, call LEP at 501-569-8483 to confirm your registration.
Please call the Clarion Resort on the Lake at (501) 525-1391 to make your sleeping room reservations. A block of rooms has been reserved until October 5 at the rate of $82, single or double. Please mention the UALR Labor Education Program to receive this rate. For more information contact the Labor Education Program at 501-569-8483, fax at 501-569-8538 or email lep@ualr.edu.
Resolution adopted by the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council
WHEREAS, Working families are and historically have been committed to quality public education for their children; and
WHEREAS, the Fayetteville School District has proposed a millage increase to construct a new high school facility on the current campus location; and
WHEREAS, current national economic conditions only make the need for quality facilities and a strong curriculum more urgent for the future of our families and our community; and
WHEREAS, Now is the time to build the new high school, while construction costs are lower during the current economic climate; and
WHEREAS, Now is the time to build the new high school, because interest rates are at a historic low and will result in considerable savings over the life of the bonds; and
WHEREAS, Now is the time to build the new high school, because construction will have a favorable economic impact, providing jobs that can jumpstart our local economic recovery; and
WHEREAS, Now is the time to build a new high school, because business location can depend on the evidence of a community’s commitment to public education and reflected in the construction of modern school facilities; and
WHEREAS, Now is the time to build the new high school, because our community has reached a consensus during a three year process that asked for and considered the views of residents on location and design for small learning communities; and
WHEREAS, Now is the time to build the new high school, because our children deserve a 21st century school to prepare them for productive lives and careers in the 21st Century; and
WHEREAS, Now is the time to build the new high school, because failure to act now will only delay the opportunities our children deserve for a quality education.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council endorses the proposed millage increase to build a 21st Century high school facility in Fayetteville; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council asks all local unions to encourage their members living in the Fayetteville School District to support and vote FOR the millage on September 15, 2009.
This week several members of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice travel to Washington D.C. to lobby our representatives in person on the Employee Free Choice Act and health insurance reform. Our fight goes on! Also the UALR Bowen School of Law will be hosting a debate on the Employee Free Choice Act next week on Monday September 14th - you won't want to miss this!
Alan will be headed to Pittsburgh for the AFL-CIO's 26th Constitutional Convention, which runs from Sept. 13-17. We'll be electing new leadership there. The Arkansas AFL-CIO has endorsed Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka in his bid for President. Hope to see you in PA! If you can't make the trip, be sure to check out the AFL-CIO Convention website. There you can: Keep track of events with the Convention Schedule; Get fast-breaking updates on Convention action; Watch video clips of the Convention floor discussions; See photos from Convention events as they happen.
In solidarity,
Alan Hughes, President Ricky Belk, Secretary-Treasurer
Excerpts from President Obama's remarks at the Labor Day Picnic in Cincinnati, Ohio.
We remember that the rights and benefits we enjoy today were not simply handed out to America's working men and women. They had to be won.
They had to be fought for, by men and women of courage and conviction, from the factory floors of the Industrial Revolution to the shopping aisles of today's superstores. They stood up and spoke out to demand a fair shake; an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. Many risked their lives. Some gave their lives. Some made it a cause of their lives-like Senator Ted Kennedy, who we remember today.
So let us never forget: much of what we take for granted-the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, health insurance, paid leave, pensions, Social Security, Medicare-they all bear the union label. It was the American worker-union men and women-who returned from World War II to make our economy the envy of the world. It was labor that helped build the largest middle class in history. So even if you're not a union member, every American owes something to America's labor movement.
As we remember this history, let us reflect on its meaning in our own time. Like so many Americans, you work hard and meet your responsibilities. You play by the rules and pay your bills. But in recent years, the American Dream seemed to slip away, because from Washington to Wall Street, too often a different culture prevailed.
Wealth was valued over work, selfishness over sacrifice, greed over responsibility, the right to organize undermined rather than strengthened.
That's what we saw. And while it may have worked out well for a few at the top, it sure didn't work out well for our country. That culture-and the policies that flowed from it-undermined the middle class and helped create the greatest economic crisis of our time.
So today, on this Labor Day, we reaffirm our commitment. To rebuild.
To live up to the legacy of those who came before us. To combine the enduring values that have served us so well for so long-hard work and responsibility-with new ideas for a new century. To ensure that our great middle class remains the backbone of our economy-not just a vanishing ideal we celebrate at picnics once a year as summer turns to fall.
BLANCHE LINCOLN IS THE QUEEN OF CASH FROM THE HEALTH INDUSTRY The Sunlight Foundation's Paul Blumenthal reports that Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) has taken more money in campaign contributions from the health industry than all but one of her Democratic peers in 2009. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Lincoln benefited from $325,350 in contributions from the health industry in the first half of 2009.
"The large amount in contributions underlies a constantlyshifting position by the senator on health care reform," notes Blumenthal. Lincoln sits on the Senate Finance Committee, the lone panel that has so far failed to get its act together on health care reform legislation.
Lincoln told the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim in May that she was open to a public option. "We're looking at that option to see if it's going to be competitive and, you know, if it's going to be productive," she said. "I'm still open minded."
On Tuesday, Lincoln revealed that her mind had apparently closed. "I would not support a solely government-funded public option. We can't afford that," she said, according to Arkansas News.
The Sunlight Foundation's got the goods on the tangled web of staffers-turned-lobbyists who help the industry funnel money to Lincoln and her colleagues. For more, including a helpful chart, go here.
Correction: This item originally reported that Lincoln had taken more money from the health industry than any Democratic senator. In fact, Harry Reid has taken more. (Lincoln is still the queen.)
Ted Kennedy was not just a senator for Massachusetts; he was our senator—a senator for working people, for poor people, for the old and the vulnerable. For all those who needed a champion, he was our champion. He personified a sense of aspiration that has become America’s aspiration—to make things better, to make them more fair, to make our nation more compassionate and hopeful, to make life work for working men and women.
He has left an enormous footprint on America. For nearly a half century, Ted Kennedy was the chief standard-bearer for working families in the United States Senate—and on the Senate Labor Committee. “When I went to the United States Senate in 1962, the leadership asked me what committee I wanted to be on,” he told the AFL-CIO convention in 2005. "I said, ‘I want to be on the Labor Committee,” just as his brothers had before him. He championed the cause of working people and labor out of deep affection—and the affection was mutual. He was loved for his roaring passion, his decency, and his generosity. Few can claim the adoration he received not only as the senator who more than any other defined America’s vision for civil rights, workers’ rights, health care, education, disability rights and so much more—but also as “Teddy,” the man who remembered birthdays, celebrated family and shared chuckles.
It is because of his 47 years of service, hard work and faith that we will pass affordable, quality health care this year—and go on to restore the freedom of every working person to organize and bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions.
Ted Kennedy was most optimistic when sailing into the wind. He took glee in a good fight, but never preened or paraded when he won. And he was clear about his values. I am reminded of the stark choice he laid out for America when he described to the AFL-CIO his measure for judging a particular Supreme Court nominee:
“Will he stand for workers' rights and women's rights and civil rights? Will he stand with workers of America or the Wal-Marts of America? When a worker is injured, will he stand with corporations or with average workers? When insurance companies deny health care, will he stand with the HMOs or average Americans? When polluters poison our water and our air, will he stand with the polluters or with the people? When Benedict Arnold companies use tax loopholes to send jobs overseas, will he stand with the corporations or will he stand with hard-working Americans here at home?”
That clarity and conscience is his gift to all Americans, and we will carry it on.
Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, August 26, 2009
The Arkansas chapter of Sierra Club is yet another group to lend its voice in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. But what does an environmental organization have to do with labor law reform? Sierra Club’s regional representative in Arkansas, Glen Hooks, says it’s all about green jobs- and the ability of unions to help create an eco-friendly economy.
“The Sierra Club supports the Employee Free Choice Act because we know that a green jobs revolution is going to take a well-trained workforce,” said Hooks. “And we know that a well-trained workforce happens with unions.”
Sierra Club is supportive of this legislation on both a national and local level. In Arkansas, Hooks has participated in several events to support the Employee Free Choice Act. Back in April, Hooks spoke at a letter drop event at Senator Lincoln’s office in Little Rock in support of the bill.
“The Employee Free Choice Act is going to benefit workers, environmentalists and the entire United States,” he said.
The Arkansas AFL-CIO would like to thank the Arkansas chapter of Sierra Club for their support!
To see Glen Hooks talk about why the Employee Free Choice Act matters for Sierra Club and environmentalists, click here.
Attacks on Medicare: Desperate Attempt to Gut Health Care Reform
By Mike Hall
This might come as a shock to the 44 million Americans who receive their health care coverage through Medicare, but according to two Republican House members, Medicare has “never done anything to make people more healthy,” and it has had the biggest “negative effect” on health care than anything else in the past 44 years.
Step back from Medicare’s 44th birthday cake (click [1] here for more on the program’s four-decades-plus success) and let that gibberish from two of the charter members of the “let’s-kill-health care reform” caucus sink in. (While we’re doing that, a tip of the hat to Jason Rosenbaum at Health Care for America Now! (HCAN) for [2] exposing this nonsense).
You can draw two conclusions. First, Reps. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Tom Price (R-Ga.) are just plain out of touch with reality.
Second, these attacks on Medicare represent a ramping up of Republican attacks on [3] health care reform—a public plan option in a particular. Although it’s hard to believe it could get [4] much shriller.
After all, Medicare is a public health plan and if they can paint the nation’s most successful public health insurance initiative as a dangerous failure, perhaps they can sow enough fear to turn the public against reform efforts that includes government involvement.
On second thought, if they really think they can turn around the [5] 84 percent of the respondents in a recent poll that rated Medicare good to excellent or the [5] 72 percent who told a CBS/New York Times poll they would support a public plan option if it were “similar to Medicare,” maybe they are a little delusional.
Article printed from AFL-CIO NOW BLOG: http://blog.aflcio.org
URL to article: http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/07/31/attacks-on-medicare-desperate-attempt-to-gut-health-care-reform/
URLs in this post: [1] here: http://blog.aflcio.org../../../../../2009/07/30/medicare-turns-44-seniors-push-for-health-care-refor m/
[2] exposing this nonsense: http://blog.healthcareforamericanow.org/2009/07/30/republicans-picking-up-the-blunt-line-medicare-is -bad-so-no-public-option/
[3] health care reform: http://www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/fix.cfm [4] much shriller: http://blog.aflcio.org../../../../../2009/07/29/fox-news-insurance-industry-say-theres-no-health-car e-crisis-yeah-right/
Make the economy work for everyone By: Paul Begala July 31, 2009 04:31 AM EST
So here’s the situation. You’re a certified nurse’s assistant, helping seniors get the care they need to live out their final years with dignity. You love your job, but the pay’s terrible, you’re always short-staffed, and the turnover is constant. So you talk to your co-workers and decide you should form a union, to have more of a say in the way things are run. Management’s answer? If you keep speaking out, you’re fired.
Or maybe you work at a metal factory. You’ve worked there for years. Then, one day, you realize that your face is taking on a suspicious blue coloring. And that shiver you thought was just a cold? It’s not going away. You’re terrified to discover the source of your symptoms: Your protective mask at work has cracks in it. You’ve been exposed to dangerous chemicals. When you and your co-workers decide that a union is the best way to make your job a little safer, management announces that they have a plan, too: You’re fired.
Now imagine you’re the CEO of a giant national banking corporation. Things aren’t so hot at the bank these days. But, thank goodness, you have a safety net — tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to bail you out. On your watch, the stock’s lost more than 80 percent of its value.
And your employees? Most of them barely break the poverty level. Many have difficulty finding affordable health care. Oh, and you just announced that you’re shutting down 10 percent of your branches, laying off untold numbers of hardworking employees. That stinks for them. But for you, things are going swimmingly: In the past three years alone, you’ve raked in nearly $100 million in bonuses and other compensation. $100 million. For sinking a company.
All of these stories are absolutely true. The stories of Trish Miechur, the CNA, and Corey Kresse, the metalworker, are replicated in boardrooms and factories across America. The story of Ken Lewis, Bank of America’s CEO? Well, that’s a familiar one, too. So here’s the question: Why are their experiences so different? Whom do we want our economic policies to benefit?
For eight years under the GOP, economic policy gave CEOs such as Ken Lewis the gold mine, while giving hardworking, middle-class Americans such as Trish and Corey the shaft. President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress were elected to change that, and protecting employees from corporate abuses is part of the change we need. That’s what the Employee Free Choice Act will do.
Corporate lobbyists say the phrase “Employee Free Choice Act” as though it were a curse. But for Trish and Corey, it’s a blessing. The point of the Employee Free Choice Act is to say that we’ve had enough of an economy that works for Ken Lewis — and Bernie Madoff, for that matter. We want an economy that works for Trish Miechur and Corey Kresse.
The Employee Free Choice Act gives workers an opportunity to bargain with their employers for better job security, wages and health care at a time of astounding corporate greed. The legislation has three main parts: 1) It says that when a majority of workers want to form a union, a real path is provided for them to do so — a path chosen by workers, not corporate special interests; 2) it penalizes employers who try to fire or harass workers for attempting to form a union; and 3) it says that once workers have voted for a union, employers have to come to agreement with workers on a contract. Simple stuff, right? So why are corporate interests squealing like a pig stuck under a gate? Maybe because they’re the only ones who prospered under the Bush-Lewis-Madoff policies.
In 2009, big banks set aside $74 billion in bonuses and other compensation for their executives. With that amount of money, we could balance the budgets in 16 states, including California. Given that the National Cancer Institute’s annual budget is less than $5 billion, we could fund the entire war on cancer until 2025. Instead, that money is going solely toward fattening CEO wallets. We need legislation that rebalances the economy and makes it work for everyone.
I’ll let you in on a secret about Employee Free Choice that corporate lobbyists also don’t want you to know: It’s popular. Not only does President Obama support it — so do majorities in both houses of Congress and more than 70 percent of the American people. My only question is: What are we waiting for? Let’s pass the Employee Free Choice Act and get this country moving again.
Paul Begala is a Democratic strategist who served as counselor to the president in the Clinton White House. He is an adviser to the Service Employees International Union.
The Northwest Arkansas Labor Council, chartered in 1958, is an expression of the hopes and aspirations of the working people of Benton, Carroll, Madison, and Washington Counties. It is one of nine central labor councils (CLCs) in Arkansas, bringing together all local unions from the public sector and many industries in our region to determine positions and take action on local and statewide issues.
We seek the fulfillment of these hopes and aspirations through democratic processes and consistent with our institutions and traditions. At the collective bargaining table, in job training and education programs, in service to the community, in the exercise of the rights and responsibilities, we seek to serve the interests of working people and their families.
We pledge ourselves to a more effective organization of working men and women; to the securing for them the full recognition and enjoyment of the rights to which they are justly entitled; to the achievement of ever higher standards of living and working conditions; to the attainment of security for all the people; to the enjoyment of the leisure which their skills make possible; and to the strengthening and extension of our way of life and fundamental freedoms.
We shall strive always to win full respect for the dignity of the human individuals whom our unions serve.
Officers 2009
Labor omnia vincit
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS LABOR COUNCIL, P.O. Box 3597, Fayetteville, AR 72702-3597. President Stephen Smith AFSCME; Vice President Jeremy Ashley IAFF; Treasurer Betty Martin AFSCME; Secretary Laura Reagan OPEIU.
