Twenty-seven U.S. labor unions defied White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and announced their opposition to the $829 billion health-care measure passed yesterday by the Senate Finance Committee.
The unions say in a full-page newspaper advertisement today that lawmakers need to make "substantial" changes to the bill or they will urge their members to seek its defeat on the Senate floor. Emanuel asked organized labor not to go public in opposition, said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
"He told us that we really don't want to be looked upon as the group that stopped meaningful health-care reform," McEntee said in an interview yesterday. "We would love to be on the exact same page as the White House, but we see ourselves as fighting for our members."
This morning we reported that there was a meeting between Richard Trumka and Rahm Emanuel today. According to AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale, the meeting is over and Trumka is standing strong on the public option
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Burger stressed that the SEIU remained absolutely committed to fighting to keep the public option in the bill. "We believe very strongly that the public option is the key way to control cost," she said. "It is the way to hold insurance companies accountable and to keep them competitive. And unless we have the public option, I have not seen another mechanism yet to do that." She said the union looked at the idea of insurance co-ops and "we decided there is no way that this was going to work. And we fought against it."
The campaign for the most comprehensive healthcare reform of all, single payer, won a huge boost Tuesday as the AFL-CIO voted unanimously at its national convention in Pittsburgh to endorse the enactment of single-payer, universal healthcare.
The vote came shortly after the convention was addressed by President Obama who repeated his call for comprehensive healthcare reform, and will accompany another AFL-CIO resolution supporting other Congressional efforts to pass comprehensive reform.
It marked the first time in some two decades that the AFL-CIO, the leading voice of the American labor movement, which includes 56 unions and more than 10 million members, has been formally on record in support of single-payer, which would essentially expand and improve Medicare to cover all Americans.
Statements by a host of delegates on the resolution, which was sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and the Alameda County (California) Central Labor Council, affirmed for many that even after a bill is passed in Congress, the fight will continue.
In urging its support, CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro, an AFL-CIO National Vice-President, noted the recent death of Crystal Lee Sutton, the real-life union organizer from the film Norma Rae who died last week after a long battle with cancer, exacerbated by her own three-year fight with her insurance company.
"No one should spend the last days of their life fighting with their insurance company," said DeMoro. "We should not make choices of who gets healthcare based on their ethnicity, gender, or economic status. But I am addressing the labor movement, not Wall Street. And we all know what is the right thing – the moral thing – single-payer healthcare."
The resolution notes that "the experience of Medicare (and of nearly every other industrialized country) shows the most cost-effective and equitable way to provide quality healthcare is through a single-payer system. Our nation should provide a single high standard of comprehensive care for all." It also sites specific single-payer bills, including HR 676, which has 86 cosponsors in Congress.
It also followed a reception hosted by CNA/NNOC and other unions Monday night featuring filmmaker Michael Moore whose previous film SiCKO presaged the current national debate with its indictment of the healthcare industry, and was on hand to premiere his latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story to the AFL-CIO convention.
Moore recalled that 65 years ago President Franklin Roosevelt proposed a second bill of rights which called for a right to universal medical care, a fight that continues. He noted that every day the healthcare industry spends over $1 million to block reform while thousands of Americans continue to lose coverage, and urged labor and community activists to keep up the fight.
Regardless of the outcome of the current healthcare legislative action, said United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard, "we’re going to continue the fight for single-payer. I’m not in favor of universal insurance, I’m in favor of universal healthcare. We are going to fight to make sure every single American gets high quality healthcare."
"We know the patient care crisis, we see it every day," said CNA/NNOC co-president Zenei Cortez, RN at the reception. "We will not rest until we get rid of the private insurance companies that profit off of suffering."
Greg Junemann, president of International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and chair of the HR 676 Labor Caucus, which has won similar endorsements from hundreds of international and local unions and state and local labor federations, noted to the convention the unity of labor in fighting for real reform. He also cited the ongoing fight of workers every day to protect the health coverage many have now.
"The labor movement needs to set our flag on the top of the mountain, and that we will not rest until we have single-payer healthcare for all," said Junemann.
Clyde Rivers, past president of the California School Employees Association, noted the huge drain of healthcare costs on California schools and school workers. The Los Angeles school district, he noted, "could save $20 billion if we had single payer. Think of all the programs that could be put back in place" if those resources were returned.
Donna DeWitt, president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, who noted to groans and jeers that her governor is Mark Sanford and her Congress member is Joe Wilson, added that "we understand struggle and that struggle makes us stronger."
Labor unions around the country have been in the forefront of grassroots actions around the nation in support of single-payer and many labor bodies submitted resolutions to the national convention in support of an endorsement. It was also the culmination of a growing, national push within the labor movement. More than 566 labor organizations, including 22 international unions, 134 central labor councils, and 39 state AFL-CIO federations, have also endorsed HR 676.
Labor has been central to enactment of similar systems around the world, DeMoro noted, in her comments paying tribute as well to the many international guests at the convention.
She pointed out how most of them represent industrial nations where no one dies from lack of health coverage or goes bankrupt or loses homes due to un-payable medical bills.
"The reason? Because they have single-payer or other national healthcare systems, and because your labor movement led the fight for healthcare. Here insurance companies are at the apex of power, controlling our lives. It is not the public option we should be questioning, it is the private option and its horrendous power over our families," DeMoro said.
"When we meet again in four years, perhaps if we adopt single-payer, we will be like all our international brothers and sisters in this room, and no longer be the richest nation in the world but just 37th in healthcare," DeMoro said.
Cross-posted from Daily Kos AFL-CIO Convention Endorses Single-Payer Unanimous Vote for Medicare-for-All Reform
PITTSBURGH – In a historic vote that adds the nation’s leading voice of American workers to a broad national campaign, the AFL-CIO voted unanimously at its national convention here today to endorse the enactment of single-payer, universal healthcare for all Americans.
The resolution was sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and the Alameda County (California) Central Labor Council.
Pittsburgh, PA. More than seventy labor organizations have submitted resolutions to the AFL-CIO Convention calling for the labor federation to endorse HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).
Resolutions were submitted by five national and international unions including the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), the International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees (IATSE), the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), California School Employees Association (CSEA), and the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE).
Seven state AFL-CIO Federations submitted resolutions including Wisconsin, South Carolina, Maine, Michigan, Kentucky, California and Vermont.
The remaining resolutions were submitted by Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations in twenty states.
All resolutions, including one expected to be submitted by the Executive Council, will be referred to the Convention’s Legislative Policy Committee which is chaired by Leo Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers.
Healthcare is expected to be discussed on Tuesday September 15th after President Obama addresses the Convention.
For further information, a list of union endorsers, or a sample endorsement resolution, contact: Kay Tillow All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo@aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayerHR676.org
Four central labor councils in Tennessee, Texas and Minnesota have endorsed HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).
One hundred and thirty four central labor councils and area labor federations have now endorsed HR-676 - Expanded and Improved Medicare For All
In Tennessee, the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee has endorsed H.R.-676, reports Council President Lewis Beck.
In Texas, the Tarrant County Central Labor Council in North Richland Hills and the Webb County Central Labor Council in Laredo also endorsed HR-676. William Koehn, President of the Webb County Central Labor Council, reports that UTU Local 1670, his own local union, has also endorsed HR-676.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation endorsed HR-676 and submitted its resolution to the AFL-CIO Convention.
Both Texas labor councils have also submitted their resolutions to the AFL-CIO Convention.
In the current Congress, HR 676 has 86 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced SB 703, a single payer bill in the Senate.
HR-676 has been endorsed by 566 union organizations in 49 states including 134 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 39 state AFL-CIO's (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK, KS, CO, IN, AL, CA, AK, MI, MT, NE, NY, NV & MA).
For more information contact: Kay Tillow All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo@aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayerHR676.org
Reno, Nevada. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the twenty-second international union to endorse HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).
On August 27th the 38th AFGE National Convention passed Resolution #4003, "Endorsing Universal Health Care H.R. 676." The resolution was submitted by Local 2157 which represents workers at the Portland, Oregon, Veterans Administration Medical Center. AFGE represents 600,000 federal and District of Columbia workers in a wide variety of agencies, including Social Security, the Veterans Administration, and the Bureau of Prisons.
Betsy Zucker, RN, FNP, and a convention delegate from Local 2157, said after the vote:
"AFGE members from around the country overwhelmingly endorsed H.R. 676, Single Payer Health Care, on August 27. Federal workers understand that Medicare-for-All will save money, provide health care to all, and start addressing health care as a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. AFGE supports health care for people, not for profits!"
HR 676 would institute a single payer health care system by expanding a greatly improved Medicare system to everyone residing in the U. S.
HR 676 would cover every person for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental, mental health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for substance abuse), vision care, hearing services including hearing aids, chiropractic, durable medical equipment, palliative care, and long term care.
HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save hundreds of billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs.
In the current Congress, HR 676 has 86 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced SB 703, a single payer bill in the Senate.
HR 676 has been endorsed by 561 union organizations in 49 states including 130 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 39 state AFL-CIO's (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK, KS, CO, IN, AL, CA, AK, MI, MT, NE, NY, NV & MA).
For further information, a list of union endorsers, or a sample endorsement resolution, contact:
Kay Tillow All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676 c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO) 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218 Louisville, KY 40217 (502) 636 1551 Email: nursenpo@aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayerHR676.org 09/02/09
Workers at SK Hand Tools in Chicago and suburban McCook began an unfair labor practice strike at 5:30am on August 25, 2009 after trying for months to get their health care reinstated. The workers are being forced to either forgo important medical check-ups and treatment or to go into debt putting the bills on their credit cards.
The strike lines are 24/7 at both locations and the strikers need people to join the lines in solidarity and to bring food, coffee, soda and water.
Chicago location: 3535 W. 47th St., Chicago Suburban location: 9500 W. 55th St. (McCook, near Brookfield and LaGrange)
WASHINGTON -- The AFL-CIO, a key ally of the White House on healthcare reform, won't support legislation unless it includes a public insurance option.
"Let me be as clear as I can be -- it's an absolute must," Rich Trumka, the labor group's secretary-treasurer, and its next president, told reporters at a briefing Tuesday morning. "We won't support the bill if it doesn't have a public option."
That could add to the pressure on the White House and Senate Democrats to pull the plug on bipartisan talks aimed at bringing Republicans along with the plan. The GOP has more or less indicated opposition to just about everything Obama wants to do with healthcare, but especially the public option. Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, the lead negotiator for his party, wrote a fundraising letter to his constituents this week that asks for their "immediate support in helping me defeat 'Obama-care.'" His office later clarified -- Grassley only meant he was trying to defeat the public option.
House leaders have already said they can't pass a bill there if the Senate strips the public option out, and most of the Senate Democratic caucus seems to support the public option, as well. Now add labor to the mix, and a clear picture is emerging: If the White House and Senate Democrats decide to jettison that part of the plan in order to win Republican votes, the political stumbling blocks to reform won't be cleared away. They'll just have moved from the right to the left. So the question may soon be whether it's worth continuing the negotiations, not what the negotiations will produce.
Congress comes back to Washington next week, and the bipartisan group will have less than two weeks to reach some sort of agreement before the Sept. 15 deadline Senate Democratic leaders have set.
Machinists’ organizations in Texas and New Jersey have endorsed HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).
The Texas State Council of Machinists (IAM) has endorsed HR 676, reports Council President Danny T. Cooke. The Texas State Council is the sixth IAM State Council to endorse HR 676. The others are Washington, Connecticut, Ohio, Minnesota and Oregon.
In Newark, New Jersey, IAM Local Lodge 2339N has also endorsed HR 676, report Chris Boelens, Legislative Committee Chair, and Eric Kaufman, Deputy Assistant. They report that Local 2339N also endorsed Bernie Sanders’ single-payer Senate Bill 703 and that copies of both resolutions are being sent to all members of the U.S. Congress, the AFL-CIO, and the print and broadcast media.
HR 676 has been endorsed by 574 union organizations in 49 states. Endorsers include 130 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 39 state AFL-CIO's.
Portland, Oregon- American Federation of Government Employees Local 2157 and Painters Local 10 have endorsed HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).
AFGE Local 2157 represents 600 employees at the Portland VA Medical Center and outlying clinics in Oregon as well as at the Veterans’ Benefits Administration offices and Willamette National Cemetery. The local endorsed HR 676 following a presentation by member Betsy Zucker and Jobs with Justice activist Peter Shapiro. Local 2157 President Leonard Fearn said: “We are proud to join the growing number of unions who support single payer healthcare. Private insurance adds cost, but no value, to our health care dollars. Single Payer Now.”
AFGE Local 2157 has submitted its resolution to the AFGE International Union Convention which meets this month.
Local 10 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) also endorsed HR 676. Travis Giobbi, a Local 10 apprentice, submitted the resolution and reports that the local forwarded its resolution to their International Union Convention which meets in September.
A three-million strong global union has launched a campaign to counter lies being spread by some opponents of the White House's health reform plans.
US rightwingers assert that US President Barack Obama's drive to guarantee affordable universal health-care amounts to a "socialist" takeover of the private insurance industry.
But the Workers Uniting union, a partnership between British union Unite and the US-Canadian United Steelworkers (USW), observed that the establishment of "an egalitarian health-care system" is "about human and civil rights."
In a wide ranging speech to the annual Netroots Nation Convention, Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer, said, "My preference, and the feeling of many in the labor movement, is that we should have a single payer health care system."
Trumka’s speech followed an impassioned appeal for single payer by Pennsylvania State Senator Jim Ferlo who presented the Paul Wellstone Award to Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY). Massa is a co-sponsor and one of the most outspoken supporters of HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).
And if you stab us in the back on health care this year don’t you dare ask us for our support next year!
AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka traveled to Nevada on Monday to address the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) to talk about the new approach the labor movement will be taking towards conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats and Senate centrists like Senators Max Baucus and Blanche Lincoln.
The SMWIA is the first union to have suspended all campaign donations to ALL Democratic candidates until the Employee Free Choice Act and a bill addressing real Health Care Reform are passed. The SMWIA, along with a coalition of over a dozen unions will be running ads next week targeting several Democratic Senators and a Republican.
Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers joined with hundreds of other union members and health care activists calling on Congress to make quality and affordable medical coverage available to every American on June 25.
Altoona, PA The Blair-Bedford Central Labor Council in Altoona, PA has endorsed HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). The Blair-Bedford Labor Council is the 128 central labor council to endorse HR 676.
Toledo, OH The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), which began organizing farm workers in the 1970’s, and is the second largest farm workers union organization in the U.S. has also endorsed the Conyers legislation.
Valencia, CA UE Local 1004, which represents more than 500 ancillary staff working in a community based non-profit hospital, has also endorsed HR 676 writing to Conyers that “We understand both as health care providers and as patients that NOW is the time for bold action. Single payer health care is both an economic and a moral necessity.”
Probably the top priorities at 'America's Future Now' conference (formerly Take Back America) is getting universal health care adopted this year.
Progressive groups announced plans to spend $82 million to press for adoption of Obama's health care plan. The coalition, made up of MoveOn.org, Americans United for Change, USAction, Campaign for Community Change, Rock the Vote, AFL-CIO, SEIU, the Children's Defense Fund, and others, together represent 30 million Americans.
Making sure the 'public option' is contained in health care legislation is a top priority of the coalition. Likewise for the congressional Progressive Caucus and the Black, Hispanic, and Asia Pacific American caucuses, which recently sent joint letters to President Obama and House and Senate leadership emphasizing that they would only support health care reform if it contains the public option.
The National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association (NNOC/CNA), the nation's largest RN union and professional association, today announces a national online advertising campaign beginning this week that calls on key Congressional leaders to protect the public – not the profit motives of the insurance industry – through a system of guaranteed, single-payer healthcare reform. The ads are also sponsored by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
WASHINGTON — With solid majorities in both houses of Congress, Democrats are tempted to use their political muscle to speed passage of health care legislation with minimal concessions to the Republican minority.
That approach may be the only way they can fulfill President Obama’s campaign promises, but it carries high risks as well.
In the budget blueprint for the coming year, Democrats may resort to an obscure procedure known as reconciliation to clear the way for Senate passage of a comprehensive health bill with a 51-vote majority, rather than the 60 votes that would otherwise be needed.
A health care bill written mainly or entirely by Democrats would look different from a bipartisan product. It would almost surely create a new public health insurance program, to compete with private insurers. It would require employers to provide insurance to employees or contribute to its cost. Employers who already offer insurance to their workers could be required to provide more or different benefits, and Congress could limit the tax breaks now available for such employer-provided insurance.
The committee chairmen writing the Senate health bill, Max Baucus of Montana and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats, have been assiduously courting business groups and labor unions, consumer groups, doctors, hospital executives and other health care providers.
Those groups — eager for a seat at the table, eager to sound constructive — have been remarkably restrained so far. They have held back in their criticism of proposals being seriously considered by Congress and the White House. But the strains are beginning to show. Labor leaders have conveyed their concern about taxing health benefits to Mr. Baucus in the strongest possible terms. Employers have warned Congress against requiring them to provide any specific amount of insurance.
Steven Kreisberg, director of collective bargaining and health care policy at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said: “We absolutely oppose a change in the tax treatment of employee health benefits. It would endanger the current employer-based health care system at a time when we are trying to sustain it.”
"Three of the country’s top organizations of direct care registered nurses have come together to form a new national nurses’ union that is advocating for a single-payer national health insurance program. The new union unifies the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, United American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association into a 150,000-member association, making it the largest registered nurses union in US history. We speak with Geri Jenkins, a registered nurse and co-president of the union."
