NC State A.F.L. – C.I.O.

“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 the short notice, reform supporters far outnumbered opponents.

Speakers at the rally included NC AFL-CIO President, James Andrews, and Adam Searing, director of the Health Access Coalition.  The NC Justice Center has pictures and links to audio and video of speakers on its Facebook page.

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 Cost of Doing Nothing:

“The costs of health care have outpaced workers’ wages, jeopardized the survival of businesses, and led more and more people to lose their insurance coverage. As a result, the number of North Carolinians who delay or forgo medical care and die prematurely has increased at a dangerous rate. At the same time, insurance companies’ profits rose 428% between 2000 and 2007.”

The reform legislation passed by the Senate and yet-to-be reconciled with the House of Representatives would provide coverage to at least 31 million Americans and reduce the federal deficit by $132 billion by 2019.

However, if reform fails, the outlook for North Carolina is grim. According to the Families USA report, if we do nothing to reform health care:

• 1,720,000 North Carolinians will lack health insurance by 2019. If reform passes 988,000 people will gain insurance.
• The average North Carolinian’s family insurance premium will increase by $8,475 by 2019. If reform passes, subsidies for coverage will lower families’ premiums and require 85 cents of every premium dollar be spent on care, not profits.
• North Carolina’s small businesses will pay $5.2 billion more for health care premiums by 2018 [profits for insurance companies instead of small business -Ed.] If reform passes, these business will get new tax breaks and a new marketplace to buy affordable coverage.
• 247,000 Medicare beneficiaries in North Carolina will still fall into the gap in prescription drug coverage. If reform passes, fewer seniors will have to choose between food and medicine.
• Nearly 3 working-age North Carolinians [will continue to] die each day because they lack health insurance. If reform passes, these people will have access to life saving coverage.

The job can get done on health care reform by reconciling the Senate and House bills with a majority, up or down vote in the Senate. This report makes clear: doing nothing isn’t an option North Carolinians can afford. Read the full report for North Carolina (Word Doc).

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 state’s market for individual policies, is allowed to raise those rates an average of about 12 percent this year.”

The average isn’t the whole story. Some policy holders are seeing rates go up 50% or more, according to N&O reporter, Alan Wolf:

“David Swanson, a Durham investment adviser, received new rates for his teenagers. The monthly premium for his 15-year-old son increased about 11 percent to $185.15. The rate for his 17-year-old daughter jumped 54 percent, to $255.57.”

Employers are paying much more for coverage. Most of BCBSNC’s 3.7 million customers are enrolled through work, where some have been hit by double-digit premium hikes.

Read the whole story, Rising Blue Cross bills stun N.C. families, at the N&O web site.

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 of their Top 10 Favorite Health Insurance Company Innovations. They’re spot on, all of them, but here are some ‘highlights’:

10. The “in-network” and “out-of-network” doctor. Want to choose your own doctor? Sorry, not with private insurance. To get covered you have to go to the right doctor and the right hospital. If you guess wrong and go to an unapproved hospital you could get stuck paying thousands of dollars in medical bills. To keep things exciting sometimes a hospital will be “in-network” but the doctor who treats you at the hospital will be “out-of-network”. It’s all part of the fun.

8. The for-profit nonprofit. Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies across the country are mostly nonprofit, but they act like for-profit companies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina owns subsidiary for-profit entities and pays its CEO more than $4 million per year. But BCBSNC does not have any real oversight from shareholders or the Securities and Exchange Commission.

3. Rescission. We can all agree that people with sloppy handwriting or those who lie about acne medication don’t deserve health insurance. To help fight this scourge, insurance companies developed something called “rescission”. If you get sick then insurance companies will pore over your application to find mistakes or omissions. If you forgot to include something then you can get booted off of insurance and the insurance company can even pursue you for back payments. That’s innovation at its best!

There’s also “Charging women more than men for the same coverage” (#7), “Lifetime caps” (#4), and the end-all-be-all of health insurance industry innovations, “The pre-existing condition” (#1):

“This is the king of insurance industry innovations. Medicare will cover you even with a preexisting condition, but why would a private company that is trying to pad its bottom line want to offer coverage to someone who might get sick? Insurance companies want to collect money, not pay it out. So if you’ve ever had an illness insurance companies will refuse to offer you coverage. Or better yet, the insurance company will offer coverage for a mere $2,000 per month.”

Click here to get the full list of all these distinctly American innovations (we’re the only country that allows this stuff, folks).

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 insurance and running out of unemployment benefits. The financial collapse caused by Wall St had crippled Main St, and the task of averting another Great Depression was left to the only institution capable of responding: we the people.

In remarks on the first anniversary of signing the Recovery Act, President Obama said of its necessity, “We had a responsibility to do what was right for the U.S. economy and for the American people.”

“One year later, it is largely thanks to the Recovery Act that a second depression is no longer a possibility. It’s one of the main reasons the economy has gone from shrinking by 6 percent to growing at about 6 percent. And this morning we learned that manufacturing production posted a strong gain. So far, the Recovery Act is responsible for the jobs of about 2 million Americans who would otherwise be unemployed. These aren’t just our numbers; these are the estimates of independent, nonpartisan economists across the spectrum.”

Millions of unemployed workers have been able to keep their health care coverage because of the generous COBRA subsidies in the Recovery Act and meet basic needs because of the extension of federal unemployment benefits under the Act.

Ninety-five percent of Americans are paying lower taxes because of tax cuts included in the Recovery Act – the largest middle class tax cut, ever.

State governments across the country, while still having to deal with huge budget shortfalls, have averted disaster because of direct aid for teachers, police officers, and firefighters.

Tens of thousands of construction workers idled by the housing and commercial real estate collapse are employed building or improving our state’s infrastructure. North Carolina alone was awarded over half a billion dollars to develop high speed rail from Charlotte to Raleigh and on to Richmond – money that came from the Recovery Act.

“Just look at the outside evaluations of the stimulus,” says David Leonhardt, economics writer for the New York Times:

“Perhaps the best-known economic research firms are IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy.com. They all estimate that the bill has added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs so far and that its ultimate impact will be roughly 2.5 million jobs. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent agency, considers these estimates to be conservative.”

“We must not forget the enormity of the damage done to the economy before the Recovery Act,” says Ross Eisenbrey at the Economic Policy Institute:

“From December 2007 to March 2009, one out of every twenty private sector jobs was eliminated, a rate of destruction 50% greater than even the severe recession in the early 1980s. With unemployment at 9.7% today, it’s hard to appreciate how much more damage the stimulus investments prevented. Without the more than two million jobs generated by the Recovery Act, the unemployment rate would now exceed 11% rather than the 9.7% rate in January.”

There’s more that must be done to create the number of jobs needed to climb out of the hole we’re in. That’s why the AFL-CIO is pushing for much greater investment in job creation. Check out the federation’s five-point plan to put America back to work here.

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 union, AFGE, is asking for our help to convince her to act:

“As all of you know, AFGE has been in a 9 year fight to obtain collective bargaining for the nation’s Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) at our airports. The fight continues and has intensified after the nominee for the TSA Administrator, Erol Southers, withdrew his nomination.

“AFGE has created an online petition addressed to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano asking her to grant collective bargaining for the TSOs now and we’re asking the AFL-CIO State Feds, CLC’s, CLF’s and ALF’s if they will post it on their websites and ask union members throughout the country to “sign” the petition in solidarity with their brothers and sisters, 13,000 TSOs who have joined AFGE thus far, who are asking for a Voice at Work.

“The time for change is long overdue. It is time for TSOs to have full workplace rights, including the
right to bargain collectively. This is the most effective path to building the professional workforce
that our country demands and deserves. We urge [DHS Secretary Napolitano] to immediately grant collective bargaining
rights to Transportation Security Officers.”

Sign the petition to DHS Secretary Napolitano to grant TSOs Collective Bargaining Rights!

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 for this vulnerable group of workers,” said Secretary Solis:

“This new rule will make it possible for all workers who are working hard on American soil to receive fair pay while at the same time expand opportunities for U.S. workers. The actions that we have taken through this rulemaking also will enable us to detect and remedy different forms of worker violations.”

The H-2A guest worker program allows farm owners to hire foreign workers to fill jobs owners say most Americans do not want. In reality, many farm owners have used the program as a steady source of cheap, easily exploitable labor while doing little to promote job openings to American workers.

Melinda Wiggins, Executive Director at the Durham-based non-profit, Student Action with Farmworkers, said the new regulations will lead to positive change in how these workers are treated:

“While there are still a number of improvements needed in the H2A program, the new wage rate formula, travel reimbursement requirements, and pre-occupancy inspection of housing are steps in the right direction.

“These changes bode well for the future of agricultural workers in our country. We look forward to more changes from the US Department of Labor that will improve the labor conditions of one of the worst paid and least protected group of workers in our country.”

What the new rules will mean for farm workers

Major features of the final rule issued by D.O.L. include a requirement that employers provide documentation to the Department proving that they are in compliance with the law. Prior to the new rule, employers only had to say so.

The new rule will increase wages for farm workers on average by over a dollar an hour. Additionally, the Wage and Hour Division has been given independent authority to levy civil money penalties against and even disbar farm employers from the H-2A program for violations, including housing violations.

The new rule also reinstates the requirement that State Workforce Agencies inspect and approve employer-provided housing before the Department issues an H-2A permit. Also, the SWA will once again be able to assist employers in ways that will expand job opportunities for U.S. workers.

The Department will create a national electronic registry of jobs for all H-2A job orders “to improve U.S. worker access to agricultural jobs and help growers find workers from across the U.S.”

Significantly, the new rule closes a major loophole that had allowed farm employers to discourage U.S. workers from taking jobs by paying them lower wages and benefits than foreign workers. The protections of the H-2A program are now extended to all workers in “corresponding employment” – including any work on the job order.

H-2A labor contractors will now be forbidden from hiring workers and moving them from site to site under the same certification. These contractors will face the same regulations as fixed-site farm employers.

Employers will now be required to provide workers with copies of the job orders no later than before departure – including from their home countries, and they’ll be required to display a poster describing employee rights and protections at the work site in English or whatever other language workers understand.

Employers will no longer be able to use the H-2A program to replace workers who are on strike or locked out. The rule change issued by the Obama Department of Labor prohibits approval for H-2A certification at any of these work sites.

Righting wrongs of previous administration

The action taken this week by Secretary Solis is in many ways a reversal of last-minute rule changes forced through by Bush Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.

“The new regulations in large part reinstate the regulations which had worked fairly well since 1987, when they were adopted after the changes in the H-2 program in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986,” says MaryLee Hall, Managing Attorney at Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Farmworker Unit:

“These 1987 regulations, in effect for more than 20 years, were gutted by the midnight H-2A regulations promulgated by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, which became effective on January 17, 2009, 3 days before President Obama took office.

“The new regulations promulgated by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis this week reinstate the effective preference for U.S. workers [...] as well as the protections for both U.S. and H-2A workers. In addition, the new regulations include some of the improved enforcement measures in the Chao regulations as well as some sensible, streamlined processing and enforcement provisions.

“Although not perfect, they are a vast improvement over the Chao regulations under which H-2A wages fell by more than $2 per hour to the federal minimum wage for most workers on farms employing H-2A workers in North Carolina.”

“This is a victory for our nation’s farmworkers,” said Bruce Goldstein, Executive Director of Farmworker Justice, a national farmworker advocacy group based in Washington DC:

“It’s a reversal of radical anti-worker policies imposed by the previous administration that irresponsibly stripped away basic procedures and worker protections set in place by a Republican administration in 1987.”

You can read a fact sheet on the new rules for the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program here.

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 by the House, and set the record straight about the work that’s been done so far:

…[W]e extended or increased unemployment benefits for more than 18 million Americans; made health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families who get their coverage through COBRA; and passed 25 different tax cuts.

Now, let me repeat: We cut taxes. We cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. We cut taxes for small businesses. We cut taxes for first-time homebuyers. We cut taxes for parents trying to care for their children. We cut taxes for 8 million Americans paying for college.

As a result, millions of Americans had more to spend on gas and food and other necessities, all of which helped businesses keep more workers. And we haven’t raised income taxes by a single dime on a single person. Not a single dime.

Obama called on the Senate to quickly approve a new jobs bill and proposed shifting $30 billion of TARP money away from mega-banks to community banks for lending to small businesses. He reiterated his plan to levy a fee on the biggest banks to recoup the bailout money tax payers gave them:

“I know Wall Street isn’t keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the tax payers who rescued them in their time of need.”

The President also tried to reassure an electorate still looking for change:

“I campaigned on the promise of change — change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change — or that I can deliver it.

“But remember this — I never suggested that change would be easy, or that I could do it alone. Democracy in a nation of 300 million people can be noisy and messy and complicated. And when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy. That’s just how it is.”

Obama urged the Congress not to abandon the American people on health care reform when victory is so close, and he called on Democrats to stiffen their spines and Republicans to do more than say “No”.

“To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills. And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town — a supermajority — then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership.”

If you watched the speech on television or online, it was easy to see which members of Congress were willing to stand up and cheer for middle class tax cuts, taxing the banks, finishing the job on health care, and investing in a new, green economy and jobs.

Trumka responds to the State of the Union

Check out Pres. Trumka’s video response online.

“Pres. Obama was exactly right when he spoke tonight of the stubborn resilience of the American people in the face of adversity. Despite daily insecurity and the deep hurt of not being able to find jobs, working people’s goodness, decency and hard work have kept our country going.

“But Americans are also deeply frustrated and angry. We want to see elected leaders who’ll fight for us and bring real change. We want jobs — Pres. Obama is absolutely right that jobs must be our number one focus in 2010. And we must act on a scale that will be meaningful: We need more than 10 million jobs just to get out of the hole we’re in. We want health care fixed. We want our leaders to break the stranglehold of Wall Street and the big banks and make them pay to repair the economic damage they created.”

‘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 election or defeat of candidates. This was the work of activist conservative judges, ignoring precedent and invalidating over a century of established campaign finance law dating back to the trust-busting days of Teddy Roosevelt.

The ruling frees companies like health insurance reform villain Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobil, and major Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs to spend whatever it takes to make sure candidates friendly to their interests win at the ballot box.

Even more dangerous than mega-companies being able to right a blank check to buy an election, the ruling leaves the door open to foreign controlled corporations and foreign sovereign wealth to pour into the United States.

The ruling on constitutional grounds invalidates state and local laws, too – like those on the books in North Carolina which prohibited corporations from this type of electioneering.

Ostensibly, the ruling applies to unions and other non-profits because we are also corporations, albeit of a different kind than for-profit multinationals with literally billions of dollars to spend to protect their interests. In reality, there’s no comparison to the economic power (now turned political power) of these companies.

Here’s the AFL-CIO’s statement on the Citizens United ruling:

By allowing unlimited corporate treasury expenditures that explicitly support or oppose particular candidates, the Court has increased the already excessive influence corporations exert in our electoral system. And we believe the Court wrongly treated corporate expenditures the same as union expenditures, contrary to the arguments we made in our brief in this case. Unions, unlike business, are democratically-controlled, non-profit member organizations representing working men and women across the country, and their independent speech should accordingly be given greater protection.

The AFL-CIO supports a system of campaign finance regulation that promotes democratic participation in elections by individuals and their associations; protects legitimate independent speech rights; offers public financing to candidates while firmly regulating contributions to them; and guarantees effective disclosure of who is paying for what.

Of course, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is also a non-profit member organization – one to which it’s member corporations are now free to give whatever amount of money they see fit to push a pro-corporate, free trade, anti-worker, and anti-environment agenda at the ballot box.

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 to form unions and bargain for a better life; for comprehensive health care reform to end insurance company abuses and secure quality, affordable coverage for every American; for investments to build a new, energy efficient, green economy that will create millions of good-paying jobs in this country.

We didn’t expect to turn around America in a single year, but we did expect to see some results by now. For the millions of workers who are unemployed a year and a half after greed on Wall St created the financial crisis and wrecked our economy, business and politics as usual is unacceptable.

The result of the Senate election in Massachusetts is evidence of a working class revolt. It revealed the danger to Democrats of not successfully addressing workers’ economic concerns.

Election night polling conducted for the AFL-CIO revealed a shocking 41-point swing among non-college educated voters from supporting Obama and the Democrats in 2008 to voting against the Democratic candidate to replace Ted Kennedy in 2010.

Voters are focused on jobs and getting results

Voters in 2010 have the same goal as voters in 2008 – fix the economy and provide affordable health care. The problem is they don’t see the job getting done.  Among the majority of voters who said the Massachusetts economy was not good or poor, 56% voted for the opposition candidate, Scott Brown. Among all voters, 79% said they want their Senator to fix the economy and create jobs. A majority, 54% said they want him to finish the job on health care.

By contrast, only 42% of voters in Massachusetts said they were sending a message to Obama and Democrats about going too far. In fact, 47% of voters said their biggest concern about Democrats is that they’re not getting the job done, compared to just 32% who said they’re doing too much too fast. Even Brown voters by 50% to 43% said they’re more concerned about a lack of change than too much.

Not a rejection of national health care reform

Brown actually lost among the 59% of voters who said health care is why they voted.  Two-thirds (67%) said they approved of Massachusetts universal health insurance law, including most Brown voters (53%).  However, voters did say they’re worried the Senate bill would tax their benefits, and 48% said it made them more likely to vote for the Republican – a warning to Democrats in the Senate that the tax on high-cost plans is political poison.

Not a referendum on Obama or endorsement of the GOP

By 61% to 33%, voters said they were choosing the best candidate, not “sending a message to Washington” – including a majority (52%) of Brown supporters.  Voters liked Scott Brown better than Martha Coakley, even as 52% said they approve of the job Obama’s doing.

Furthermore, MA voters said they trust Obama (52%) more than the GOP in Congress (33%) to fix the economy.  Three quarters (76%) of all voters said they want Brown to work with Democrats, not work to defeat them (21%), and Massachusetts voters strongly disapprove (58%) of the job being done by Republicans in Congress.

Democrats: Ignore the working class at your peril

The most telling figure from the Massachusetts election may be this: the Republican candidate, Scott Brown, got 50,000 more votes than John McCain, but the Democratic candidate received 850,000 fewer votes than Obama. A huge number of Democrats sat out this election.

This enthusiasm gap is the single biggest threat to Democratic majorities in the Congress. Unless the party in power gets serious about jobs and the economy, “they’re going to join the growing numbers of jobless Americans,” says Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO:

Members of Congress from both parties need to heed the wake-up call from Massachusetts and start taxing Wall Street wealth to create millions of good jobs fast. To get elected in 2010, they’re going to have to PROVE they’ll create the jobs we need in an economy we need with the health care we need—and those who made the mess should pay the bill. Voters have heard too much talk already.

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 our campaign to win real reform that works for working families.

Dial 1-877-3-AFL-CIO (1-877-323-5246)

We need a total throw-down. Everyone – all of us – national, local union leaders, activists and members, state federation, central labor and building trades council leaders.

Our message is clear. We need you to stand strong for working families by voting for health care reform that:

• DOES NOT TAX OUR BENEFITS
• Requires employers to pay their fair share
• Includes a public health care option

Now, more than ever, as federal leaders determine what the new American health care delivery system will look like for decades to come workers must be heard. See the attached flyer and spread the word. The time for congressional leaders to hear from us is now!

For more information about our national call-in day for real health care reform, contact Katie Gjertson 202-637-5166 kgjertso@aflcio.org or Scott Reynolds, 202-637-5226 sreynold@aflcio.org.

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 slide.”

These structural problems made the economic collapse possible, Trumka said. “We built a low-wage, high consumption economy and tried to bridge the contradiction with debt. And there’s a lot of truth in that simplicity.”

Trumka laid blame for these structural problems on the decisions of policymakers a generation ago who “embarked on a campaign of radical deregulation and corporate empowerment – one that celebrated private greed over public service.”

Those choices undermined the middle class by under investing in the foundations of our economy – transportation and communications infrastructure, education and training – and by failing to create enough good jobs to maintain the middle class while allowing “corporate hacks” to undermine workers’ bargaining power and the quality of remaining jobs. No good jobs means no sustainable demand to drive our economy.

“We must pass the Employee Free Choice Act so that workers can have the chance to turn bad jobs into good jobs, and so we can reduce the inequality which is undermining our prospects for stable economic growth. And we must do it now–not next year, not even this summer. Now.”

Turning around America will require a “crucial alliance” between the middle class and the poor. “But today, as I speak to you, something different is happening with health care,” said Trumka.

“On the one hand we have the House bill, which asks the small part of our country that has prospered in the last decade–the richest of the rich–to pay a little bit more in taxes so that most Americans can have health insurance. And the House bill reins in the power of health insurers and employers by having an employer mandate and a strong public option.

“But thanks to the Senate rules, the appalling irresponsibility of the Senate Republicans and the power of the wealthy among some Democrats, the Senate bill instead drives a wedge between the middle class and the poor. The bill rightly seeks to ensure that most Americans have health insurance. But instead of taxing the rich, the Senate bill taxes the middle class by taxing workers’ health plans–not just union members’ health care; most of the 31 million insured employees who would be hit by the excise tax are not union members.

“The tax on benefits in the Senate bill pits working Americans who need health care for their families against working Americans struggling to keep health care for their families. This is a policy designed to benefit elites–in this case, insurers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and irresponsible employers, at the expense of the broader public. It’s the same tragic pattern that got us where we are today, and I can assure you the labor movement is fighting with everything we’ve got to win health care reform that is worthy of the support of working men and women.”

A warning for Democrats

Trumka said they are inviting nothing but disaster if Democrats “think they can push a few crumbs our way and then continue the failed economic policies of the last 30 years.”

“Let me be even blunter. In 1992, workers voted for Democrats who promised action on jobs, who talked about reining in corporate greed and who promised health care reform. Instead, we got NAFTA, an emboldened Wall Street — and not much more. We swallowed our disappointment and worked to preserve a Democratic majority in 1994 because we knew what the alternative was. But there was no way to persuade enough working Americans to go to the polls when they couldn’t tell the difference between the two parties. Politicians who think that working people have it too good — too much health care, too much Social Security and Medicare, too much power on the job — are inviting a repeat of 1994.

“Our country cannot afford such a repeat.”

Read the full text of President Trumka’s prepared remarks to the National Press Club. Watch video of the event at the Press Club’s web site.

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 pay for health care reform.

1 in 5 workers will be hurt by health care benefits tax

The Congressional Budget Office estimates 19% of workers will be affected in 2016 by the Senate’s proposed tax on employer-provided health care benefits. The CBO figure is backed up by Mercer, the international benefits consulting firm, which found one fifth of workers will be hit by this tax as early as 2013.

The tax will get worse every year. The Senate bill uses an arbitrary dollar amount to decide which plans get taxed, but as premiums continue to skyrocket, more and more working families will get ensnared by this tax.

Hitting the tax threshold has little to do with generosity of benefits

Health insurance costs more to buy in some states than it does in others. Premiums are higher for businesses in certain industries than in others. The tax would affect many plans that have relatively high costs for reasons that have nothing to do with the generosity of benefits.

Actually, only 6% of the variation in plan costs can be explained by benefit design plus plan type (HMO, PPO, POS or high-deductible), according to a recent study published by the prestigious journal Health Affairs.

Employers will cut benefits to avoid the health care benefits tax

The Senate’s benefits tax will mean higher insurance premiums because private insurers will raise rates to offset their higher tax liability. Most everyone who has health insurance through work can expect employers to avoid the tax by increasing cost sharing and offering junk insurance plans.

According to a Mercer survey of 465 health plan sponsors, 63 percent say they would cut covered benefits to avoid paying the excise tax, 23 percent would maintain their current plan and pass along the tax to their employees and only 2 percent would absorb the new tax themselves.

Tax violates pledge that workers can keep the plans they have

A central tenet of reform is that Americans who currently have coverage can keep the plan they have. The benefits tax will create incentives for employers to drop or severely curtail health insurance coverage – incentives employers are not likely to ignore – while making coverage through work more costly than ever. Keeping the plan you have through work may be harder than ever, if not impossible.

Benefits tax will not lower health care costs

A recent report by the Commonwealth Fund found that “there is little empirical evidence that such a tax would have a substantial effect on health care spending.”

The key to reining in health care spending is to get providers to deliver care in more cost-effective ways. Increasing out-of-pocket costs for workers may actually lead consumers to forgo necessary care and make counterproductive health care decisions.

There were real cost control options — like a publicly owned and operated insurance company to keep private insurers honest or drug re-importation from Canada where the same drugs are made in the same plants but sold for far less — yet the Senate bill abandoned those measures. A tax on your health benefits is no substitute.

Benefits tax will not increase wages

Advocates of the benefits tax – including the White House – argue that workers will enjoy higher wages if health care costs are brought under control. They point to wage growth in the late 1990s, a period when health care costs rose more slowly than the explosive growth today, as proof.

However, the Economic Policy Institute has released a paper finding the logic behind this argument in favor of the tax is only skin deep:

The recent claims that trends in employer health care expenditures explain the beneficial wage growth of the late 1990s and the disappointing wage growth since 2000 does not hold up to any careful scrutiny. Health care expenditures are relatively small compared to overall wages, and an examination of the actual trends shows that health care cost increases do not correspond to the major movements in wages or compensation. This is especially the case for the wage trends of low- and middle-wage workers: their wages accelerated the most in the late 1990s and grew the least in the 2000s. The fact that these groups have the least participation in employer-provided health plans confirms that health care is not the major factor that the advocates of this new health care theory of wage determination would have us believe. There undoubtedly is a tradeoff between health care costs and wage growth, but this dynamic does not play a leading role in the drama of the stagnant wages facing workers for several decades and the inability of working families to benefit from rising productivity growth.

Furthermore, the Mercer survey of employers who provide health insurance through work found that “less than a fifth of respondents (16 percent) say they would convert their cost savings into higher pay.”

There is a better way to fund reform, and it’s in the House bill

The House bill gets it right. Instead of taxing benefits, it would raise revenue for health care reform by levying an surtax tax on the very richest income earners. Only individuals making more than $500,000 a year or families making more than $1,000,000 would pay – and then only on the difference between those thresholds and their actual income. Under the House bill, 97% of Americans would see not one dime in extra taxes because of health care reform.

The Senate’s benefits tax would shift costs onto the backs of workers, it is unnecessary, it would be politically disastrous, and there is very little evidence that it would have a substantial effect on national health care spending.

For more information and sources used for this article, download the AFL-CIO’s FACT SHEET: A Tax on Working Family Benefits (PDF).

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, central labor and building trades council leaders — need to do our part. Click here to let us know you’re signing up.

What: A national phone blitz by union members nation-wide and our coalition partners calling on the U.S. Congress demanding reform that really works for working families.
When: All shifts (24 hours) on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.
How: Call toll-free 1-877-3-AFLCIO (1-877-323-5246) to deliver this message:

“We need you to stand strong for working families by voting for health care reform that:

• DOES NOT TAX OUR BENEFITS
• Requires employers to pay their fair share
• Includes a public health care option

For a flyer, fact sheets, and other materials, visit http://www.workingfamiliestoolkit.com/. For more information about our national call-in day for real health care reform, contact Katie Gjertson 202-637-5166 kgjertso@aflcio.org or Scott Reynolds, 202-637-5226 sreynold@aflcio.org.

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 of us in the NC labor movement and in unions around the country to win this fight for Good Jobs NOW. Every day we wait, the jobs crisis gets worse.

Tell Congress: America needs jobs now. It’s time to put America back to work. Click here to send a message to your Representative and U.S. Senators. A copy of your message will also be sent to President Obama.

How did we get in this mess? The short answer is we make it, they take it.

Workers make the goods and provide the services. We work longer hours, are more productive, and corporate America takes it all – our wages, our health care, our retirement security, and even our homes.

The Wall Street agenda has run our economy for more than 30 years, with deindustrialization, deregulation, free trade and shrinking government. It destroyed the relationship between productivity and wages. That led to giant economic and social imbalances. The richest got filthy rich; the rest of us got held down. The last time wealth in America was this concentrated at the top we had the Great Depression.

The Obama Administration inherited this crisis, but it’s their responsibility now. The government’s economic recovery act provided enough spending to save or create about a million jobs and pull us back from the brink of total collapse. But it’s not enough. The problem with the stimulus wasn’t how large it was; it’s that it didn’t go far enough.

That’s what the AFL-CIO five point plan is all about:

1. Take care of families hard hit by the downturn. Unemployment insurance benefits, COBRA health insurance assistance and food aid keep money in people’s pockets. Congress must extend these programs for at least another year.
2. Rebuild America with infrastructure improvements. We can put people to work now and strengthen the economy for the future by fixing crumbling schools, roads and bridges, developing 21st century energy and communications systems and investing in green jobs and green technology.
3. Help state and local governments with their pressing needs. State and local governments and school districts are facing huge budget deficits. If Washington does not act fast, this will lead to mass layoffs of vital public-sector workers, including police, teachers and firefighters. This would mean more devastating cuts in key public services.
4. Put people to work doing work that needs to be done. The private sector is not creating jobs, and America can’t wait. It’s time for the government to step in. Let’s create the jobs in our communities from cleaning up abandoned property to helping seniors get to the grocery store. These must be good, new jobs with good pay and benefits, not jobs to replace existing public-sector workers.
5. Put TARP money to work for Main Street, not just Wall Street. When small businesses can get credit, they create jobs. The bank bailout was supposed to get credit flowing again, but small businesses are still waiting. We should hire local banks to lend leftover bailout money to small and medium-sized business for job creation.

Achieving the goals of our five point plan won’t be easy. It will be a big fight, but it’s a fight we must win. Here’s what we’ll have to do:

1. Call Sen. Richard Burr and Sen. Kay Hagan and tell them to support the Jobs for Main Street Act (H.R. 2847), which invests $154 billion to create and save jobs. This bill invests in highway and mass transit projects; building and repairing schools and low-income housing; creating and saving jobs for teachers, police and firefighters; and providing funds for additional hiring and training programs. We’re talking about 250,000 education jobs, 5,000 police officers and training for 675,000 more people. The bill also extends recovery act initiatives to help small businesses create jobs, lifeline unemployment, health care and food aid for people who have lost their jobs and cuts taxes for 16 million families through the Child Tax Credit. And it’s totally paid for with leftover bank bailout funds.
2. Get ready for a big fight. Get your local rapid response team and your volunteer mobilization crew ready. Get your phone banks and mail and e-mail lists ready.
3. Plan to take the fight to the state level. Once Congress passes funding, we’ll have to work hard to make sure our state government makes the smart decisions on where and how to invest and acts fast to solve the jobs crisis.

Spread the word in the state and local press

Over the holidays, our officers were able to get three opinion pieces about the need for good jobs now published: in the Durham Herald-Sun, the Greensboro News & Record, and the Asheville Citizen-Times. Keep us posted if you or someone you know gets a letter published about the need for good jobs now.

Remember the union when it seems like it’s you against the world. The union reminds us that we are not alone, and we are not powerless when we work together. It’s up to us, union people, to do something and not stand by and watch as more people lose their jobs, their health care, their homes and their hope.

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 health care to all her people. It is a distinction without honor or even common sense.

Sadly, in the U.S. Senate, there are enough defenders of the health care industrial complex to undermine, delay, or – they hope – defeat the best chance at reform we have ever had. They are defenders of a status quo which kills 45,000 people each year for lack of health care coverage and caused 62 percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 alone.

The House has passed its version of health care reform, HR 3962. While the Senate bill contains some important provisions in the House bill, there are significant deficiencies. We would like to see the Senate produce a bill we can rally behind, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement released today:

“But for this health care bill to be worthy of the support of working men and women, substantial changes must be made. The AFL-CIO intends to fight on behalf of all working families to make those changes and win health care reform that is deserving of the name.

“The absolute refusal of Republicans in the Senate to support health care reform and the hijacking of the bill by defenders of the insurance industry have brought us a Senate bill that is inadequate: It is too kind to the insurance industry.”

The Senate’s health care benefits tax on the middle class

Whereas the House bill would raise revenue with a tiny surtax on millionaires, the Senate would have middle class families pay a tax on their current health benefits. If you’re lucky enough to have health insurance through work, the Senate bill would tax you on it as if it was income.

Not only is this a tax increase on persons making less than $250,000 a year – something candidate Obama promised us he would not allow as president – it will encourage many employers to stop offering health insurance all together rather than pay increased payroll taxes.

To add insult to injury, unions have for years now had to sacrifice wage increases in contract negotiations just to keep health insurance coverage at rates workers can afford. Now the Senate would tax us on those benefits.

It doesn’t have to be this way – the House bill, HR 3962, does not contain a health care benefits tax. Not only is it bad policy for the Senate to increase taxes on middle class families, it is terrible politics.

The Senate’s individual mandate is a bailout for private insurance companies

The Senate bill will require every American to buy health insurance from a private health insurance monopoly. Absent the public option, the individual mandate to buy coverage will force you to become a customer of Blue Cross Blue Shield or one of the few other private health insurance providers – companies which enjoy an exemption from federal anti-trust laws.

The Senate bill would provide 30 million new customers for private insurance companies while doing nothing to constrain costs and leaving private health insurance companies unchecked. The subsidies to help people afford to buy coverage, while necessary for low income individuals and families, will be in effect a massive transfer of wealth to private insurance companies.

Genuine reform requires something different

Genuine health care reform must bring down health costs, hold insurance companies accountable, assure that Americans can get the health care they need and be financed fairly.

• That’s why we are championing a public health insurance option: It is the only way to break the stranglehold of the insurance industry over consumers that has led to double digit premium increases virtually every year.
• Employers must pay their fair share.
• And the benefits of hard-working Americans cannot be taxed to pay for health care reform — that’s no way to rein in insurance companies and it’s the wrong way to pay for health care reform.

The Senate bill does some good things: minimum benefit standards, help for low income individuals and families, an end to the denial of care based on pre-existing conditions, and help for seniors receiving prescription drug coverage, says Trumka.

“But because it bends toward the insurance industry, the Senate bill will not check costs in the short term, and its financing asks working people and the country to pay the price, even as benefits are cut.

“The House bill is the model for genuine health care reform. Working people cannot accept anything less than real reform.”

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 of health care reform. Please help us have a happier and healthier year in 2010″ was the message on the card delivered to Rep. Heath Shuler (D-11) by John Newman and Jack Marion, state ARA president and Western NC staff person, respectively, at their meeting with the Congressman on December 7.

Last month, Rep. Shuler was won of several Democrats to vote against passage of the House health care and insurance reform bill, HR 3962, despite having won election in 2006 and reelection last year in large part because of strong, well organized support from union members and union retirees in the 11th Congressional District.

The retirees are hoping Rep. Shuler will change his tune when the time comes for the House to vote on final passage, hopefully soon. ‘Tis the season for gift giving, after all.

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 done. Historic votes alone in one chamber or the other will mean nothing to the 45,000 Americans who die each year because they don’t have health insurance.

Join us next week at a press conference for health care reform

What: Health Care Reform press conference
When: Tuesday, December 8, 2009 from 11:00 to 11:30 am
Where: North Carolina Association of Educators, 700 South Salisbury Street Raleigh, NC

This presser is sponsored by the NC Health Access Coalition, NC AFL-CIO, and NC NAACP. Speakers will include uninsured and underinsured community members, a health care provider, a small business owner, and Reverend Dr. William Barber of the NAACP.

For more information, contact Hope Marasco with the Health Access Coalition at (919) 619-0796 / hope@ncjustice.org or MaryBe McMillan with the AFL-CIO at (919) 833-6678 / marybe@aflcionc.org.

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 issue of our time. Senator Richard Burr voted not to have the debate at all. Call your Senators about their votes.

While it’s a big deal and a victory for reform that the Senate will debate a comprehensive reform bill, the bill is flawed because it includes a new tax on workers’ health care benefits.

Our message to the Senate is this:

• Include a strong public health insurance option to foster competition and lower costs. Don’t force uninsured Americans to become customers of greedy private health insurance companies. Give them the option.
• Employers have to do their part and should be required either to provide health care for their employees or pay into a system to make sure everyone is covered.
• No new costs or taxes that would hurt working families.

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 year, consumer protections will abolish life time limits, pre-existing conditions, and rescission – the practice of dropping your coverage when you get sick. Reforms will ensure free preventative services and the creation of a high risk insurance pool for folks that cannot now get affordable coverage.

Seniors can look forward to more efficient Medicare services and lower premiums by reducing overpayments to private plans. For example, Medicare recipients pay about $90 more per year than than is necessary because of these excessive payments. Seniors will also receive a 50% discount on brand name drugs. Co payments for preventative services on Medicare will be eliminated.

112,000 small businesses would receive tax credits to make offering health insurance to their employees feasible for the first time.

Currently, people with health insurance pay a hidden tax in the form of higher premiums to cover the uncompensated care provided to people without insurance. This includes everyone, even state employees who pay premiums for their Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance. Health insurance reform will bring more premium payers into the system, thereby reducing or eliminating this hidden tax.

Reform will help as many as 951,000 North Carolina residents who pay for their own insurance today and will be eligible for premium credits to reduce their out-of-pocket expenses.

Visit www.healthreform.gov for more information about what health insurance reform would mean for North Carolina – or any other state in the union.

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 billion over ten years, according to analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. The bill also includes a public-run insurance option to compete with private insurers in offering coverage to the uninsured. (Click to read the bill in PDF).

But this is not a perfect bill. It includes an excise tax on employer-provided health care benefits. Taxing middle class families on the health care benefits they get at work is bad policy and bad politics. When it comes to financing reform, it’s the House Bill (HR 3962) – not the Senate – that gets it right.

“We will work hard to eliminate this provision,” said AFL-CIO President, Richard Trumka, of the excise tax in his statement on the announcement of the Senate’s bill:

“We commend Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for bringing forward a health care bill that moves us closer to the historic goal of health care for America – high quality, affordable health care for all in our rich nation. The Senate leadership bill takes the strongest steps yet to bring down costs. But the bill is not perfect. It retains a version of the excise tax from the Senate Finance Committee bill. We continue to believe that a tax on working families’ benefits is the wrong way to finance health care and we will work hard to eliminate this provision as the bill heads to the floor.

“The bill’s inclusion of a public insurance plan option to hold private insurance companies accountable is a tremendous step. And the legislation should be praised for its other fair financing plans, including an increase in the Medicare tax on the wealthiest and an employer responsibility requirement, which we believe should be expanded to include more employers. The bill would expand access by covering 94 percent of Americans and reduce the deficit by $130 billion over 10 years. Today another hurdle is cleared and we are optimistic that good, affordable care for working families will soon be law.”

We are optimistic that we are closer than ever to achieving the goal of real health care reform for all working families. The next step is for the Senate to get 60 votes. We will continue to call and write Senators in support of health care reform.

Call the U.S. Senate at 1-877-3AFLCIO

Now that the House has passed its reform bill and legislation has been unveiled in the Senate, health care and health insurance reform has made it further than any previous efforts. We need to make sure our Senators don’t drop the ball.

To help you make the call to Sen. Hagan and Sen. Burr, you can use this simple script:

My name is ______________ and I live in (City). I am calling today to urge you to support real health care reform containing a strong public option, a mandate that employers pay their fair share and reform that does not tax our health care benefits.

I hope we can count on Senator ___________ to support real health care reform. Thank you.

“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 numbers of decent jobs in high-paying industries and occupations, North Carolina’s median income is the 39th highest in the nation. In 2008, around one in seven North Carolinians and one in five of the state’s children lived in poverty. Around one in six North Carolinians had no health insurance.

“North Carolina’s low unionization rate is partly to blame. North Carolina has the lowest unionization rate in the nation at just 3.5%. Unionization boosts worker income, especially among the lowest paid, and makes it more likely workers will have employer-provided health insurance. Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act will enable workers to collectively bargain because it short circuits the illegal anti-union employer activity endemic to the secret-ballot union recognition process.”

The report focuses on the barriers, both legal and illegal, to unionization. The Employee Free Choice Act would break down these barriers: inequality of opportunity to form a union, illegal employer intimidation, and delaying a first contract.

The report also provides data about the union wage premium, the percentage of union vs. non-union employees receiving various benefits, and a breakdown of how much union vs. non-union employees pay for health care coverage at work.

You can read the full legislative bulletin by clicking here.

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 Labor Department, which certifies workers eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) benefits.

In a front-page story on Tuesday, the Washington Post highlights the struggle of many in Hickory, NC to cope with job losses because of globalization:

The region has lost more of its jobs to international competition than just about anywhere else in the nation, according to federal trade-assistance statistics, as textile mills have closed, furniture factories have dwindled and even the fiber-optic plants have undergone mass layoffs. The unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation — about 15 percent.

The Post interviewed dozens of workers for its story, including Geraldine Ritch:

“Our stitching was perfection,” said Geraldine Ritch, 62, whose $15 an hour job sewing leather in a furniture factory was cut last year. “So I never thought we’d lose our jobs to China. But we did. We did.

TAA is supposed to remedy the negative impact of globalization on manufacturing jobs like Geraldine’s. In reality, the Post reports that the extended unemployment benefits and free tuition for job training at local community colleges offered under TAA can’t make up for the losses:

Many workers are forced to forgo the training because they cannot afford to live on unemployment benefits long enough to get the training certificate or a degree. The average unemployment check is roughly $300 a week, and many study without benefit of health insurance.

Ritch, for example, is enrolled in a class to learn how to work in a doctor’s office, but she recently lost her home and her health insurance.

“I pray,” she said.

For those who manage to complete retraining, many won’t be able to find work, and most of those who do get a job in their new field earn only a fraction of what they did at their old jobs:

The GAO analysis from 2000 found that 75 percent of displaced workers in TAA found jobs. Of those, only 56 percent earned 80 percent or more of their previous wage.

Overall, median household income in North Carolina is down over 10% according to the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, manufacturing jobs like those lost in Hickory are down almost 41% from 2001. The prophets of ‘free trade’ say the transition to a high-tech economy will make up for such losses, but information jobs are down almost 15% in the same period.

People in Catawba county are losing confidence in ‘free trade’, the Post reports:

“The people in the think tanks keep saying we are going to become — what’s the term? — an ‘information and services’ economy,” said Allan Mackie, manager of the North Carolina Employment Security Commission office. “That doesn’t seem to be working out too good.”

You can read the full story at the Washington Post online by clicking here. Get more facts and stats about working family issues here.

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 and passing landmark health care reform.

Voting for the Affordable Health Care for America Act – H.R. 3962 from North Carolina were representatives G.K. Butterfield (D-1st), Bob Etheridge (D-2nd), David Price (D-4th), Mel Watt (D-12th), and Brad Miller (D-13th).

Unfortunately, the ‘No’ votes included representatives Mike McIntyre (D-7th), Larry Kissell (D-8th), and Heath Shuler (D-11th), as well as every Republican member of our Congressional delegation.

Please take a moment to find out how your representative voted and give your thanks for supporting reform (or your rebuke if they did not) by clicking here.

Next stop the U.S. Senate

The senate is expected to take up it’s version of health care and insurance reform legislation in the coming days and weeks. Hopefully, the senators will pass their bill soon. Following that, both chambers of Congress will have to agree to a conference report where differences between the two bills are hammered out. A final vote is expected by years end.

Keep up the pressure with phone calls and letters

North Carolina is the only state so far to reach its goal of getting 10% of union members to make phone calls and write letters on health care. The real goal is passing reform, so we need to keep up the pressure on the Senate.

Call 1-877-3AFL-CIO (1-877-323-5246) and ask to speak to Senator Kay Hagan. Tell the person who answers the phone you’re counting on Sen. Hagan to follow up on the House’s historic vote for reform with action in the Senate.

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 our union negotiated benefits.

Keeping President Obama’s pledge not to sign a bill that raises the deficit, the House bill is better than deficit neutral. According to analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, H.R. 3962 actually reduces the federal deficit by $104 billion over the next 10 years (PDF).

Other key provisions include a requirement that insurance companies accept all comers, a ban denying care because of “pre-existing conditions”, and an end to gender and health status discrimination.

In all, HCR as authored by the Affordable Care for America Act would cover 96% of legal, non-elderly residents.

Call the Congress during the week of Nov. 5-12

The AFL-CIO Turn Around America campaign has planned a week of actions in support of comprehensive health care reform. View the flyer (PDF). Starting on Thursday, November 5, call your representative and senators toll-free at 1-877-3AFLCIO (1-877-323-5246) and tell them:

Health Care Reform must:

1. Include a strong public health insurance option to break private insurers stranglehold on the market.
2. NOT tax our health plans.
3. Guarantee employers pay their fair share.

Here’s a draft script you can use when making your calls:

Calls to House of Representatives Members:

My name is ______________________ and I live in (City). I am calling today to urge you to support The Affordable Health Care for America Act, House Bill 3962. House Bill 3962 contains a strong public option, an employer mandate and does not tax working families’ benefits. Families like mine need real health care reform and I hope we can count on your support. Thank you.

If you’re unsure who is your U.S. Representative, you can look up his or her name here.

Calls to U.S. Senators:

My name is ______________ and I live in (City). I am calling today to urge you to support real health care reform containing a strong public option, a mandate that employers pay their fair share and reform that does not tax our health care benefits.

I hope we can count on Senator ___________ to support real health care reform. Thank you.

If you live in North Carolina, your U.S. Senators are Richard Burr and Kay Hagan.

And while you’re at it, how about writing a letter, too?

Writing a letter to your Members of Congress is simple and easy. Three sentences in a personal letter from you can have a greater impact than a thousand emails. Use the talking points above to craft your message, but remember to also speak from the heart.

You can use our elected officials look up page to view the contact information and mailing addresses (both in Washington, DC and in your district) for your representative and senators.

For more information about our campaign to win affordable, guaranteed, quality health care for all, download the official flyer (PDF) for our National Week of Action.

Remember to Call 1-877-3AFL-CIO on November 5th!

With your help, we can win this fight and Turn Around America in the process.

“A level playing field is as important in the workplace as it is in baseball.”

The Major League Baseball Players Association, AFL-CIO, is marking the beginning of the World Series with print ads in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. The ads will run in today’s edition of Capitol Hill newspapers Roll Call, The Hill, and Politico.

Click here to see the full color ad, the text of which reads:

“A level playing field is as important in the workplace as it is in baseball. That’s why the players pictured above are among the many big-league players who support the Employee Free Choice Act.

“Now more than ever, we need a strong union movement to protect our jobs, our pensions, and our future. The Employee Free Choice Act simply guarantees a level playing field for all workers. It makes sure everyone plays by the same rules. That’s as important in the workplace as it is in baseball. Pass the Employee Free Choice Act Now.”

Three of the players who signed the above statement – Jimmy Rollins, Mark Teixeira and Shane Victorino – will play in the World Series match up between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. The other players featured are Heath Bell, Dave Rush, LaTroy Hawkins, Torii Hunter, John Lannan, Andrew Miller, J.J. Putz, Justin Verlander, and Adam Wainwright.

Read the report by Public Citizen – Forced Arbitration: Unfair and Everywhere (PDF).

FairArbitrationNow.org launched to highlight, bring end to the abuse

Forced arbitration is giving up your right to go to court if you are harmed by a company. Under forced arbitration, any dispute you have with a company is handled by a third party that doesn’t have to follow the law, doesn’t have to publish their findings for public review, and depends on the company’s referral for its business.

Forced arbitration is not only unfair, it’s everywhere, according to a report released in September 2009 by Public Citizen:

In forced arbitration, consumers lose the right to go to court to settle disputes with businesses. Instead, they must go before private tribunals that are chosen by businesses and compete with one another to satisfy these business clients. In addition, arbitration is usually conducted in secret, often imposes onerous costs on consumers, and provides extremely little opportunity for meaningful appeal (even when a ruling ignores the law). [emphasis added]

You’re likely already bound by forced arbitration agreements if any of the following apply to you: you have a cell phone, a job, a bank account, or student loans, you go to a doctor, you plan to buy a car or build a new house, you have a relative in a nursing home, you pay for cable or satellite TV – the list goes on and on.

Many of the laws passed to protect consumers from negligence and employees from violations of their civil rights are unenforceable under binding arbitration.

The Solution: Banning forced arbitration

The Arbitration Fairness Act is legislation introduced in the 111th Congress which would outlaw forced arbitration in consumer agreements and employment contracts. Arbitration should be a choice, and the Arbitration Fairness Act would restore that choice for American consumers and employees. Specifically, the Act:

Declares that no predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable if it requires arbitration of: (1) an employment, consumer, or franchise dispute, or (2) a dispute arising under any statute intended to protect civil rights.

Declares, further, that the validity or enforceability of an agreement to arbitrate shall be determined by a court, under federal law, rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunction with other terms of the contract containing such agreement.

Exempts from this Act arbitration provisions in collective bargaining agreements.

Three things you can do to end forced arbitration

1. Sign the petition to end forced arbitration.
2. Call your member of Congress and tell him/her to support the Arbitration Fairness Act.
3. Join the opposition to forced arbitration.

Learn more about forced arbitration in various sectors of the economy and about our campaign to end it at www.FairArbitrationNow.org.

It’s not scary or complicated at all

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich explains what a public option for healthcare coverage really means for working people.

Watch the video, then share it with your social network:

Call the Congress toll-free using this number: 1-877-3-AFL-CIO (1-877-323-5246). Tell them we want health care reform including a strong public option. Make your voice heard!

From our health care reform allies at Moveon.org

Heather Graham stars as the Public Option in this funny ad, showing how she’ll force the lazy, bloated private insurance companies to get back in the game and compete. After all, competition is as American as apple pie. Actor Peter Coyote narrates.

Watch the video, then share it with your social network:

Here’s the transcript:

Insurance companies have gotten lazy, bloated from the profits of raising our health care costs sky high while the health care crisis keeps getting worse and worse.

The Public Option is the key to quality, affordable health care coverage for Americans, and over 70% of Americans want the public option.

Some in Washington say this is unfair competition, but competition is as American as apple pie.

Call 202-224-3121 and tell Congress we need a public health insurance option, now.

You can call the Congress toll-free instead by using this number: 1-877-3-AFL-CIO (1-877-323-5246).

Congress needs to hear from you – not just insurance lobbyists

Seven hundred thousand dollars per day. That’s how much money health insurance companies and HMO’s are spending to kill health insurance reform. That’s your premium dollars at work, folks, lobbying the Congress to protect their profits and against your interests.

What are you going to do about it? Call the Congress on Wednesday, October 7, 2009!

Today is the AFL-CIO’s National Call-In Day for Reform. Dial 1-877-3-AFL-CIO (1-877-323-5246) to be connected to your U.S. Senators and your individual representative.

Tell Congress we need health care reform NOW that:

• Controls costs and doesn’t tax our benefits.
• Provides guaranteed coverage for all Americans.
• Includes a public health insurance plan option.
• Holds insurance companies accountable.
• Requires all employers to pay their fair share.

Call 1-877-3-AFL-CIO and join the National Call-In Day for Reform because health care can’t wait!

Download the flyer for this event (PDF).

WATCH VIDEO: ‘Under the Bus’

A coalition of national civil rights groups, including the NAACP Voter Action Fund and the National Council of La Raza, have joined to make sure health insurance reform legislation coming together in the Congress does not “throw 46 million of us under the bus.”

Health Equity for All on their entry into the debate:

“The country’s largest African-American and Latino organizations are joining forces with other major national civil rights and grassroots organizations to mobilize the nation’s 100 million people of color for a final push in support of universal health care reform. Leaders of the organizations are coming together to make certain that the voices of people of color are heard — and heeded — as the health care reform debate enters its final, critical days. The groups will release television and print ads in English and Spanish that will run in four states with sizable African-American and Latino populations, part of a grassroots effort to ensure that members of Congress appreciate the importance of reform to the people of color they represent.“

Here’s the English language version of the ad running in Arkansas, targeting Senator Blanche Lincoln:

Text of the ad:

“The year I was born, they tried to reform health care, and now I’m 65 years old, and it still hasn’t happened. Now we can make this real. I’m not gonna let special interests and politicians throw 46 million of us under the bus. I’ve seen too much in my lifetime, and I’m not gonna leave my grandkids’ health in the hands of insurance companies that care more about profits than they do about everyday families. And as for the politicians, tell Senator Lincoln that there needs to be room for all of us on this bus.”

Click here for a Spanish language version running in North Carolina, targeting Senator Kay Hagan.

Health Equity for All started with a $250,000 ad buy in Arkansas, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. You can help keep these ads on the air with a donation here.

Let’s make health care access palatable for all!

Our allies in the health care reform battle, Organizing for America, are providing Raleigh area residents another opportunity to affect the change we need in health care.

On Sunday, October 11 from 2 to 5:00 pm, there will be a potluck and phone bank for health care reform at the Raleigh offices of Organizing for America.

What: Fun, food, and phone banking for health care reform
When: Sunday, October 11 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm
Where: Organizing for America Raleigh office, 130 E Morgan St, Raleigh, NC

Bring a healthy appetite for health care reform and a dish to share. Suggestion: if your name begins A-O, bring an entree or bring a dessert if your name begins P-Z. And remember to also bring a fully-charged cell phone and a burning desire to move the health care reform mountain.

Please RSVP for this event by clicking here or emailing zkids@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Hollywood speaks out to help insurance companies

Have we been too hard on private insurance companies? Will Ferrell and others say so in this new PSA from Funny or Die:

“As the health care debate heats up, we need to remember who the real victims are: health insurance executives…Why is Obama trying to reform health care when insurance companies are doing just fine making billions of dollars in profit?”

Wendell Potter, CIGNA whistle blower leads ‘Crucial Conversation’

The NC Justice Center will hold the next installment in it’s ‘Crucial Conversation’ lunch series next Tuesday, September 29, 2009. The guest speaker will be Wendell Potter.

Until recently, Potter was a senior executive for corporate communications at CIGNA, a major private health insurance company. His job was to shape the communication strategy to kill any efforts to reform the private health insurance market – something he did quite well before his conscience got the better of him.

What: Crucial Conversation with Wendell Potter, former CIGNA executive
Where: Marbles Kids Museum, 201 E Hargett St, Raleigh, NC
When: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 11:30 am

There is a $10 registration fee (includes lunch). RSVP to annette@ncpolicywatch.com

Take a walk to Senator Hagan’s office to show support for reform

Supporters of health care reform including a strong public option will gather outside the Marbles Kids Museum immediately following the Wendell Potter luncheon. We will then walk over to Sen. Kay Hagan’s office at the Federal Building (the walk is only about two blocks).

What: A Walk to Kay Hagan’s Office
Where: Start at Marbles Kids Museum, 201 E Hargett St, Raleigh, NC
When: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Rev. Dr. William Barber of the NC NAACP and a small delegation will go inside and let Senator Kay Hagan know that North Carolinians support health care reform that’s affordable for working families. We are urging the Senator to continue to support a strong public option, not a watered down co-op model.

The delegation will deliver a statement to the Senator along with 5,000 letters and petitions, which demand affordable coverage and a strong public option as part of health care reform.

This event is sponsored by Health Care for America Now, the HKonJ coalition, the NC NAACP, AFL-CIO, and NC Justice Center. Please join us for this walk for health care. We hope to see you there!

Health Care Reform: A Progressive Agenda

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

–Martin Luther King, Jr., March 25, 1966

The activists’ teach-in is an opportunity to examine the promises and compromises in proposed legislation and the President’s plan. Will health reform bring real health care justice? Join us.

What: Teach-In on Health Care Reform and Justice
Where: Owasa Community Room, 400 Jones Ferry Rd, Carrboro, NC
When: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm

Speakers include: Adam Searing, Director, NC Health Access Coalition, NC Justice Center – Adam Sotak, Organizing Director, Democracy NC – Heide Kober, President, Progressive Democrats of North Carolina – Michael Pearlmutter, Co-Chair, Durham for Obama Health Care Committee.

The current health care reform struggle is a showdown between those factions that represent corporations and those that are standing up for people’s rights. This is a fight corporations are hell-bent on winning.

What can you do? Make your voice heard! Come get the tools you need to be an effective advocate for comprehensive health insurance reform and justice. We’ll discuss the elements of real health care reform, the current status of legislation, corporate influence on the debate, and effective actions for a robust public option.

“At stake are not just the details of public policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.”

–President Obama, September 9, 2009

Defends domestic tire makers from illegal Chinese trade practices

Responding to pleas for relief from the United Steelworkers union and for the strict enforcement of our trade agreements, President Obama slapped tariffs on imported Chinese tires on September 11, 2009.

The move came in response to a complaint filed by the USW with the International Trade Commission (ITC). The U.S. ITC had previously found that huge imports of Chinese made tires for the consumer market were “leading to growing job losses, market disruption and the erosion of a segment of our manufacturing base.”

Thousands of North Carolinians work in the consumer tire industry, including over two thousand at the Goodyear Tire plant in Fayetteville, NC, alone.

“The President’s action today provides for 3 years of relief with tariffs of 35% the first year, 30% the second and 25% in the third year” to give the domestic industry breathing room, according to a press release by the USW.

“For far too long, workers across this country have been victimized by bad trade policies and government inaction. Today, President Obama made clear that he will enforce America’s trade laws and stand with American workers.”

– USW International President Leo W. Gerard

More information on the case is available on the Steelworkers’ web site at www.usw.org/tires/.

Both reforms needed to correct basic unfairness

I interviewed Teddy McNeal during our 52nd annual convention on labor’s big legislative priorities, the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform. “I support the Employee Free Choice Act because workers need a way of being able to say ‘Yes, I want a union,’ without fear of intimidation,” said Teddy. “As a local lodge president I have tried to organize new groups of workers and am very familiar to the pressure that has been applied to individuals who are trying to start that process. If we could eliminate some of that intimidation so people would have the freedom to speak on the job, I think it would be a great start in improving productivity and other aspects on the job.”

Teddy also talked about his own government employee insurance plan and its unique benefits. “I’m subjected to the federal employee benefits plan…so I have the choice to compare what they offer and select the plan that best fits my needs…if my health care choices were available to others, I think the country would be better off.”

Teddy also had a personal health care story to tell. “My mother tried to get medical benefits. She was working part time at a grocery store and had to pay $300-$400 a month to get medical benefits. She wasn’t even making that much and most of her paycheck went to health benefits because she was older and knew she would need health care. Until she was 65 and qualified for Medicare, it was difficult.”

“Some people have to pay lots of money for health care and the insurance doesn’t cover all the needed expenses. Something needs to be done to make it fair…We need to have the same access when it comes to health care.”

What’s the correlation?

There is a strong relationship between our fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and the push for health care reform. Bob Riggins, former president of UAW local 5285, understands the importance of passing both bills.

“The Employee Free Choice Act is important because employees don’t have anybody who speaks for them. Employers regularly join the Chamber of Commerce and other organizations to form a voice and determine how business is operated. Employees should have the same right to bargain for wages, benefits and working conditions.”

“Unions can bring a voice and representation to workers. Employees do have the right to organize now, however they are frequently intimidated, coerced, or fired to prevent them from organizing the workplace. These laws need to be changed to give employees a fair chance.”

Riggins also sees the value in passing comprehensive health care reform. “Health care reform is badly needed. We have about 46 million uninsured in America, mostly women and children. It’s a shame that a country as rich as the United States is the only industrialized country in the world with no health care subsidized or run by the government.”

“The correlation is that employees are being short changed. They don’t have the right to organize free of harassment or the right to bargain for better health care. That’s why we need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform, and we need to pass them now.”

Earnestine Mitchell, Workers United 565, knows all too well the need for reform

Earnestine Mitchell of Workers United local 565 has a story to tell. With a diabetic son, a granddaughter with cerebral palsy and a daughter-in-law with lupus, this family has experienced first hand the failure of the American health care system to provide for our sick people.

“Because my daughter-in-law has lupus, the doctor advised against having children, but she got pregnant and my granddaughter was born 25 weeks early. She was sent home with an oxygen tank, feeding tube and a heart monitor because the insurance company at that time capped off the amount they would continue paying for her health care.”

“A few years later my daughter-in-law lost her health insurance because her company downsized and stopped paying benefits. She shopped around for insurance they could afford, and when they finally found some, my son couldn’t get it because he was diagnosed with diabetes. He takes two shots a day.”

“The doctor filled out papers so my granddaughter could apply for [supplemental security income to afford] braces for her legs and a wheelchair to go to school, but they have been denied because they say my son and his wife make too much money…my son has been paying taxes for years, and to be turned down is a slap in the face because there are people who are not working and continue having children, and they have Medicaid.”

“My son’s family just found insurance that would cover their pre-existing conditions, but they have to pay a minimum of $1300 a month.”

“I’m all for health care reform, whatever can be done to make it affordable for everybody.” Let’s hope that health care reform is passed so that families like Earnestine’s can find relief.

Giving workers the ability to empower themselves

At last week’s 52nd Annual Convention I had the opportunity to interview some of the delegates on the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill unfortunately overshadowed by the health care debate, but nonetheless a critical priority for labor. Here’s what some of them said:

“I support the Employee Free Choice Act because it’s a good thing for workers,” said Steve Jackson, USW local 1283. “We need unions in the U.S. to help the middle class and poor people. The Employee Free Choice Act will help employees gain more respect in the workplace and better wages so we can take care of our families.”

Latrevia Hairston, Workers United local 2693, said, “Speaking as a person who is in a union, I can say that it gets you better wages, better benefits, better health care, and a voice on the job. I feel that if I have a right to join a union, other people should have that right too no matter where they work.”

Edward Pickard of the UAW was at a plant unionized through card check. “We had 90 people in my plant and 77 turned in a card; within five days we were done. It makes sense because you can’t be harassed when all you have to do is fill out a card.”

So what can we do to ensure that Congress doesn’t forget about the Employee Free Choice Act? “Please call your Senators and legislators and encourage them to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act,” urges J.C. Bullock, ATU local 1528.