“Vote ‘YES’, fix this mess!”
Dozens of people rallied outside the Raleigh offices of Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-2nd), today, to show their support for finishing the job on health insurance / health care reform. The rally was a last-minute response to an anti-reform protest of Rep. Etheridge, who voted for the House reform bill. Even with [...]
Can we afford NOT to act?
We are now in the end-game on health care reform. Time will tell whether it succeeds or fails, but is failure really an option for North Carolinians?
“North Carolinians need health reform more than ever,” says the national non-profit health care policy group, Families USA, in a new report, The [...]
Blue Cross Blue Shield NC premiums way up
The News & Observer reports on huge rate increases hitting North Carolina families who have health care coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield – almost everyone, given their practical monopoly:
“In this state, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, a nonprofit insurer that controls most of the [...]
If the market is the solution, how’s that working out now?
Opponents of reforming any industry always say regulation isn’t the answer. Well, absent meaningful regulations, how are the health insurance companies doing at keeping costs down (and profits up)?
Adam Linker, blogger at The Progressive Pulse, the NC Policy Watch blog, has put together a list [...]
Tell Betsy Atkins to resign in protest
Our fellow union members at the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC, AFL-CIO) need our support in their campaign to get Reynolds American to do right by the tobacco workers who harvest the golden leaf.
Betsy Atkins is a board member at Reynolds, but despite her encouragement, Reynolds CEO, Susan [...]
The Recovery Act is working
One year ago this week, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. At the time our economy was in free fall, the stock market had tanked, and job losses were topping 800,000 a month. Millions of Americans who lost their jobs were also losing their health [...]
Sign the petition to give TSOs a Voice @ Work
Nine years is long enough for workers at the Transportation Security Administration to go without collective bargaining rights. Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the power to grant this basic human right to Transportation Security Officers. The federal employees [...]
Labor Dept. announces new rules for H-2A
U.S. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis announced tough new regulations on wages and job safety protections for temporary agricultural workers. The new rules, which will go into effect in time for the 2010 growing season, “reflect the Administration’s commitment to providing fair wages and strong labor protections [...]
One year into his presidency, still much more to do
On Wednesday, President Obama delivered his first State of the Union address. In his speech, the President recommitted his administration to economic recovery and job creation, announced bold new education initiatives, chided the Senate for being too slow to enact a series of reform bills passed [...]
‘Citizens United’ ruling a disaster for democracy
If we thought the flow of money in politics was bad before, we ain’t seen nothing yet.
Last week, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States elevated corporations to the level of actual persons with a free-speech guarantee under the first amendment to advocate for the [...]
Fix the problems of working Americans, or else
Working families, especially voters in union households, turned out big in 2008 to elect the largest Democratic majorities in Congress in decades and bring change to the White House.
In 2009, we mobilized like never before on a legislative agenda for labor law reform so workers can be empowered [...]
In this month’s Business NC magazine, our General Counsel, Mike Okun, was once again selected as one of the state’s “Legal Elite,” a recognition received by only about 3% of the state’s lawyers.
Also, at a dinner in Washington last November, Mike was inducted as a Fellow in the national College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. [...]
UPDATE: Postponed until 2/27 due to wintry weather
Look for more information next week.
Because the change we need must come in North Carolina
The NC State AFL-CIO is proud to stand with our partners in the HK on J alliance. Our 14-point People’s Agenda speaks to the change we need in our state capital and across [...]
Nationwide phone blitz of Congress is underway
Light up those phone banks, rev up those calls, and let’s let the U.S. Congress hear the powerful voice of working families! The AFL-CIO’s national phone blitz on health care reform began at midnight and continues all day, today. The blitz comes at the most critical moment in [...]
AFL-CIO President talks jobs, restoring the middle class, and health care
In a speech delivered to the National Press Club on Monday, National AFL-CIO President, Rich Trumka, said because of the failed policies of the past three decades, the United States is “a nation with profound, unaddressed structural economic problems on a long-term, downward [...]
A short-term ’solution’ becomes long-term debt trap
Payday lenders want policy makers and the public to believe they offer a product consumers need, but payday loans get you no where fast. Paying off a payday loan isn’t easy, and keeping you coming back for more is how payday lenders make their money.
Bad politics, worse policy
The Senate health care “reform” bill raises revenue by taxing your employer-provided health insurance benefit. This excise tax will hit middle class families hard – particularly union households because our members are more likely to have health insurance through work.
Taxing health care benefits is bad politics, and it’s the wrong way to [...]
We need reform that works for working families
As we reach the finish line in our fight for national health care reform, we are calling on union members nation-wide to deluge members of Congress with phone calls demanding reform that works for working families.
All of us — national, local union leaders, activists and members, state federation, [...]
AFL-CIO unveils 5-point plan to fix jobs crisis
It’s up to us, America’s unions, to lead the fight for solutions that will get us out of this crisis. The AFL-CIO has a five-point plan to create and save millions of jobs over the next year, starting as soon as Congress acts. It will take all [...]
Celebrate the life and times of the real ‘Norma Rae’ and U-N-I-O-N
This Saturday, January 9, 2010, folks will come together in Greensboro, NC to celebrate the life of Crystal Lee Sutton, the real “Norma Rae”. John Wilhelm, President of UNITE HERE, will be the keynote speaker.
The celebration will include testimonials, videos, cultural presentations and comments [...]
Not worthy of our support without changes
Working people have been fighting for health care reform in the United States for over a century. Despite the challenges to getting a good bill, we are not about to give up now.
Today, our country stands alone in the developed world as the only nation not to provide comprehensive [...]
Retirees urge Congressman to support HCR
What present would you ask your member of Congress for this holiday season? How about living up to the campaign promises made to voters in 2008?
An organization of union retirees in North Carolina, the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), has something in mind — comprehensive health care reform.
“Give the gift [...]
Let’s get it done – and done right!
The campaign to pass reform of the health insurance industry and the provision of health care in our country has come further this year than ever before.
Still, that’s not good enough.
Until the Congress passes and the President signs comprehensive health care reform legislation, our job is not [...]
Brought to you by NC APRI
The North Carolina APRI has arranged for a health fair at their 4th quarter executive board meeting on Saturday, December 19, 2009.
There will be free blood pressure checks, glucose monitoring, and questions answered on many other general health issues. This is part of the NC APRI’s mission to eliminate [...]
Save the Dates: January 14-18, 2010
Every year the national AFL-CIO observes the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday with a conference. This year it was in Memphis, TN, the location of the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike at which King rallied for union rights and where he was later assassinated.
Next year labor leaders, rank-and-file members, [...]
Mother Jones
Remembering labor’s greatest champion
Monday, November 30 was the 79th anniversary of the death of the great Mary Harris “Mother” Jones. Thanks to Con Carbon for sharing this with us, a remembrance of Mother by Saul Schniderman, president of AFSCME Local 2910 at the Library of Congress:
Irish-born Mother Jones was one of the most well-known [...]
It is with great sadness that we are sharing the news of the passing of Donny Brown of IBT 391 in Greensboro. Donny served his union and its members at UPS in Greensboro for many years. On Wednesday he died from a stroke at age 48.
The family has made the following arrangements:
There will be a wake on [...]
The slow, deliberative path to the end begins
Late last Saturday, the Senate voted 60-39 to open debate on historic health care and health insurance reform legislation. Having cleared this procedural vote, debate is set to begin after Thanksgiving.
Senator Kay Hagan voted with the rest of the Democratic caucus to debate the most important domestic policy [...]
Making the case for change with just the facts
The Department of Health and Human services has released state-by-state reporting on the impact of proposed health insurance legislation making it’s way through the Congress. Go to www.healthreform.gov for details.
For North Carolina, health insurance reform means immediate relief for seniors and working families. As early as next [...]
Mary Montford (left) with a client of the Raleigh APRI Food Bank, Cindy, a single mother of two adopted girls and college grad who has been unemployed over a year.
Remember the less fortunate when giving thanks this week
On Thursday most Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving with feasting and time spent with friends and family. Unfortunately, [...]
Save the date!
On Saturday, January 9, 2010, folks will come together in Greensboro, NC to celebrate the life of Crystal Lee Sutton, the real “Norma Rae”. John Wilhelm, President of UNITE HERE, will be the keynote speaker.
The celebration will include testimonials, videos, cultural presentations and comments by family, friends and union activists.
What: Tribute to Crystal [...]
Another hurdle cleared on path toward reform
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has worked to create a good bill in combining the two health care and health insurance reform bills passed out of Senate committees earlier this year.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would cover 94% of Americans while reducing the deficit by $130 [...]
Protest outside Target in Washington, DC. Photo by United Students Against Sweatshops.
Company agrees to reopen plant it shuttered after workers unionized
North Carolina has suffered tens of thousands of job losses to foreign competition. Once those jobs leave our shores, they don’t always stay in one place for long, as multinational corporations close shops and open [...]
“Improving Employee Rights at Work, Improving Employee Livelihood”
The North Carolina Justice Center has released a special federal policy update on the Employee Free Choice Act (opens PDF). The report, by Stephen Jackson of the NC Budget and Tax Center, concludes the legislation is reform North Carolina workers need:
“Despite the Piedmont crescent being home to high [...]
URGENT: Town Hall on plant closing is Thursday (11/19)
We have received an urgent request for solidarity assistance from APWU Local 1807 in Hickory, NC. As we’ve highlighted in past email updates and in our recent newsletter, the U.S. Postal Service is cutting services and window hours, consolidating rural routes, and has even sought legislation [...]
In fighting reforms, Big Business shows it’s darkest side
On the November 11 airing of The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow highlights a report by David Sirota about an article in the insider, Washington, DC publication Inside U.S. Trade in which business groups reveal they’re not worried just about potential Wall St reforms:
Business groups are worried by [...]
Geraldine Ritch lost her job to China, then her house to foreclosure in Hickory, NC (photo by Jim Bounds for Washington Post)
Western NC town has 15% unemployment, focus of report by Washington Post
North Carolina has lost more jobs – 90,000 – to foreign competition than any other state since 2002, according to the [...]
How did your representative vote?
On Saturday, November 7, 2009, health care reform legislation passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, making it further than other effort to-date.
From the AFL-CIO Blog:
Last night, 220 members of Congress showed they’re on the side of working families, not big insurance companies. They’ve earned our thanks for keeping their promises [...]
Reform efforts at pivotal point, needs union support to win
The U.S. House of Representatives released it’s health care reform (HCR) legislation late last week. The Affordable Health Care for America Act – H.R. 3962, includes a strong public option for those without insurance, an employer mandate to provide insurance to employees, and does not tax [...]