Political Action Update
March 20, 2006
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Political Action Update
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| Vol. 06-07 |
March 20, 2006 |
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Bills
that failed to advance prior to the “funnel” deadline and are dead
for the session include measures to:
Good
bills that survived the funnel and remain eligible for consideration
include legislation to improve funding for IPERS and interest rate
limits on car title loans. The
few good bills that remain eligible are hugely outnumbered by dozens
of budget-busting tax cut bills and “hollow promise” political
bills introduced to gain advantage in the fall elections.
Several anti-worker bills are still live rounds.
Three of the worst deal with pre-employment drug testing,
Workers’ Compensation, and IPERS structure as a defined benefit
plan. Guilty
Until Proven Innocent Under
HF 2648, a bill currently on the House calendar, an “inconclusive”
drug test result for a prospective employee can incur the same
disciplinary action as if the result of the test was positive for
drugs or alcohol, regardless of whether the prospective employee was
involved in any attempt to disguise the results of the test. There
are numerous reasons why drug tests can be inconclusive.
It is unfair to simply assume that a prospective employee is
somehow responsible and must suffer the consequences. The
principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty is basic in
America’s justice system. Innocent
until proven guilty should apply to prospective employees who undergo
drug tests. Workers’
Compensation Gutted Iowa’s
Workers’ Compensation law is a decades old compromise in which
workers agree to accept limited benefits and forfeit the ability to
sue their employer, while employers agree to pay benefits promptly
without pursuing litigation in order to determine a degree of fault. HF
2681 guts this basic premise of Workers’ Compensation by requiring
the work activity to be the “predominant factor causing the
injury.” Legal action to
determine the “predominant” cause of an injury would be endless,
expensive, and would ultimately deny benefits to many injured workers. Workers
suffering from cumulative trauma injuries, such as carpal tunnel
syndrome, would face the potential of having their claims denied if HF
2681 becomes law. Dilution
of a Defined Benefit Plan IPERS-covered
employees could choose between the current defined benefit IPERS
retirement plan or a new 401k-like defined contribution plan under HF
2730. Employees choosing
the new retirement option would face increased financial risk which
would, hypothetically, be offset by opportunities for gain in the
financial markets. Moving
employees away from the current IPERS plan into the new plan would
weaken the current plan by siphoning off the contributions of those
employees. The
Bottom Line Things
could be a lot worse. We
know that Democrats in the Senate will stand fast and block the
anti-worker drug testing and Workers’ Comp bills listed above when
they arrive in the Senate from the Republican-controlled House. On
the other hand, things could be a whole lot better.
With a legislative majority—one more seat in the Senate, two
more seats in the House, and a Democratic Governor— the
worker-friendly bills that died this week would become law. Whether
or not we win elections next November 7th will make all the
difference. |
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OBSERVE
WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY. APRIL 28 |
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Some
of His Best Friends Are Women
Here’s
what Bush’s leadership has meant to women:
Sources:
U.S. Census Bureau, Children’s
Defense Fund By
Donna Jablonski |
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Congress
Raises the National Debt Limit
On
March 16, the Republican Congress, for the fourth time in the Bush
presidency, voted to raise the ceiling on the national debt.
When George W. Bush took office the U.S. had enjoyed four
straight years of budget surpluses.
Since then, annual budget deficits, caused largely by Bush’s
tax cuts for the wealthy and the cost of the war in Iraq, have
continually driven up the national debt.
The bill sent to the president will increase the current debt
ceiling of $8.2 billion by $791 billion to just under $9 trillion. Trillions
and billions of dollars are difficult to visualize.
Some simple math makes
the numbers more meaningful. On
March 14, 2006 at 1:09 CST, according to the on-line National
Debt Clock, the
national debt stood at $8,279,173,662,091.09.
Dividing that number by the estimated U.S. population of
298,772,665 yields a more easily comprehended amount, the $27,710.61
in debt owed by every man, woman and child in the United States. And it keeps getting worse. Since September 30, 2005 the U.S. national debt has increased, on average, by more than $2 billion per day. George W. Bush, referring to the national debt in his first State of the Union address, said, “We owe it to our children and grandchildren to act now.” The debt, $2 trillion then, has more than quadrupled during the Bush presidency. |
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U.S.
Chamber of Commerce Attacks Card Check Organizing Using
phony claims and distortions the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing
Congress and the Bush administration to disallow card check elections in
union organizing drives.
In a card check election workers choose whether they want a union
to act as their exclusive bargaining representative by signing an
authorization card. In
the past six months, unions including CWA, AFSCME and IBEW have used card
check elections to successfully organize workers in Iowa. The
same people who hire union-busting consultants, threaten to close plants,
and fire workers who support union organizing drives claim that they
oppose card check elections because they are concerned about workers’
privacy and possible coercion in the workplace.
They want the employer-friendly National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) elections to be the only process available for workers seeking
union representation. Over
the past few years anti-union tactics, both legal and illegal, have
increasingly been used to limit workers’ ability to organize using the
NLRB election process.
Out of necessity, neutrality agreements and the card check election
process have become the “tools of choice” in many organizing drives.
Under
current law employers are not required to recognize the outcome of a card
check election unless they have signed a neutrality agreement.
The Employee Free Choice Act, sponsored by 210 Representatives,
including Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), and 42 Senators, including Tom Harkin
(D-Iowa) would require all employers to accept the outcome of a card check
election. |
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Creating
a Prescription Drug Benefit that Works by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin
I
voted against this drug plan when it came before the Senate in November of
2003, because I believed seniors wanted a simple plan that guaranteed them
low drug prices.
Instead, seniors must navigate the “doughnut hole,” various
premiums, co-payments, coinsurance, deductibles, and coverages.
Policy makers have an obligation to improve the program, no matter
how dramatic the changes required.
I can think of two changes that we ought to implement as soon as
possible. First,
we need to standardize options for beneficiaries in a way that gives them
choices without creating havoc.
Having over 40 plans deliver the Part D benefit is not in
anyone’s interest.
The high number of plans breeds confusion among beneficiaries,
creates redundant claims processing and administrative procedures, and
makes it almost impossible for pharmacists to answer beneficiaries’
questions. Second,
Medicare should be allowed to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical
companies to see if they can do better than private plans.
The federal government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in
taxpayer money to implement this new benefit but it still cannot negotiate
with the drug industry.
That just does not make any sense. I
am working with my colleagues in the Senate to fix these problems as soon
as we can.
I have started by sponsoring bills that would extend the time
seniors have to choose between plans until January 2007.
I have also sponsored a bill that would help meet the needs of the
lowest income Medicare beneficiaries by presuming eligibility for
individuals with proper identification and proof of enrollment in Medicare
and Medicaid.
These beneficiaries would receive a 30 day supply of their
medications while their enrollment status is determined. I
believe our reforms must go beyond these proposals if Part D is to be
truly effective.
The benefit needs to be simpler and it needs to help seniors with
what they care about the most—cost.
While making these changes, we need to listen to health care
professionals who are on the frontlines every day.
They have to help seniors every day and can help us identify what
is working and what is not. If you have any suggestions, comments, or concerns, please contact me at 202-224-3254 or visit my website at www.harkin.senate.gov. |
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About… Decades
of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant
improvements in working conditions. But the toll of workplace injuries,
illnesses and deaths remains enormous. Each year more than 56,000 workers
die from job injuries and illnesses and another 6 million are injured. The
unions of the AFL-CIO remember these workers on April 28, Workers’
Memorial Day. The
first Workers’ Memorial Day was observed in 1989. April 28 was chosen
because it is the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration and the day of a similar remembrance in Canada. Every year,
people in hundreds of communities and at worksites recognize workers who
have been killed or injured on the job. Trade unionists around the world
now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning. |
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Answer: The U.S. debt quadrupled
while Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) was House Budget Chairman.
Incredibly, his Jim
Nussle for Governor website
states, “As
Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Nussle displays the
leadership and discipline to achieve responsible budgets, hold down
taxes for Iowans and cut deficits.” |
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Workers Memorial Day April 28 — AFL-CIO |
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GOOD JOBS |
SAFE JOBS |
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PROTECT WORKERS NOW |
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Within
just a few weeks’ time at the start of 2006, the disasters at the
Sago mine and five other mines claimed the lives of 18 miners.
These tragedies focused the nation’s attention on the
dangers faced by workers and the weaknesses in job safety
protections. But
the Sago disaster was not an isolated event.
Before this year is over, thousands more will be killed on
the job and millions will be injured or diseased. More
than three decades ago, Congress passed the Occupational Health and
Safety Act and the Mine Health and Safety Act, promising every
worker the right to a safe job.
Unions and our allies have fought hard to make that promise a
reality, winning protections that have saved hundreds of thousands
of lives. But
the fight for safe jobs has gotten harder as corporate interests,
joined by the Bush administration and conservative Republicans, have
moved to roll back and weaken protections. Since
2001 the administration has blocked or withdrawn dozens of important
safety rules, including a number of measures that may have prevented
the recent mine tragedies.
Voluntary compliance has been favored over issuing new
protective standards and enforcement.
Industry officials have been put in charge of government
safety programs. In
Congress, Republican leaders have ignored calls to strengthen the
mine safety law, and instead are pushing legislation that would gut
OSHA enforcement. And
many employers, in a race to the bottom in a global economy, are
looking to cut wages and benefits and loosen protections.
With fewer and fewer workers having the protection of a
union, more workers are afraid to speak out and raise job safety
concerns, fearing retaliation and firing. On
April 28, the unions of the AFL-CIO observe Workers Memorial Day to
remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew
the fight for safe workplaces.
We will fight to improve the mine safety law and protections
for all workers.
We will fight to make workers’ safety a priority and to
keep and create good jobs in this country.
We will fight for the freedom of workers to form unions and,
through their unions, to speak out and bargain for safe jobs,
respect and a better future.
We will keep fighting until the promise of safe jobs for all
workers is a reality. |
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Mourn
for the Dead -
Fight for the Living OBSERVE
WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY. APRIL 28 |
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Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Monday Evenings 5:00 - 7:00 Machinists Hall 2000 Walker Street |
Iowa
Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO 10:30 Monday Mornings During the Legislative Session 2000
Walker Street Des
Moines, Iowa |
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Not
unexpectedly, the Republican
P
resident Bush celebrated Women’s History Month and International
Women’s Day on March 8 at a White House reception, reciting the
names of the women he knows and works with.
