June 25, 2007

EFCA Update:  The Senate Vote

The Employee Free Choice Act would help us fight employer abuse by: 

· Establishing stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.

· Providing mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.

· Allowing employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.

Where EFCA is in the process:

    EFCA passed the House by 241-185 on March 1.  It was introduced in the Senate March 29 and now has 46 co-sponsors.   The Senate began debate on EFCA Tuesday June 19, with speeches by Democratic Senators Kennedy (MA) and Murray (WA).  Ending a filibuster by opponents of the bill would need 60 votes (“cloture”).    

   That vote is planned for Tuesday, June 26th.  So stay tuned. 

Governor Culver adds his Support for EFCA
Governors contact Senate leaders in lead-up to crucial vote

   Sixteen Governors from states stretching from Washington to Maine have written to Senate Leaders Harry Reid (D-NV) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pledging their support for the Employee Free Choice Act.  Governor Chet Culver joined those governors who strongly support the bill, and wrote about the equity issues

involved in denying union rights to workers who need a union voice at work:

”These attacks on workers' rights, for which there are only weak -- if any -- remedies, occur all too frequently among the most vulnerable workers of our society, including women, the working poor of all races and recent immigrants.  As a

result, those workers who need unions the most are often those who have the least chance of achieving the benefits of unionization.”

   We thank Governor Culver for his support of this important reform of US labor law.

The Presidential Candidates

Where do they stand on EFCA—the most important piece of labor legislation in a generation?
www.afl-cio.org/issues/politics/   Bold face indicates candidate who supports EFCA.  

Tommy Thompson (R)

Governor Names Health Care Commission
IFL Executive Vice-President Jan Laue to serve

The Commission on Affordable Health Care for Small Businesses and Families, created by the Legislature, is charged with developing a pathway for more affordable health care, including lower premiums, improved access, and comprehensive coverage for all Iowans.  

Jan Laue, Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Executive Vice-President, is one of 13 members of the public who will spend the next 6 months, together with 10 members of the Iowa Legislature, studying health care in Iowa, and recommending solutions which will hopefully find bi-partisan support in the next session.

The Commission begins its work just as the Commonwealth Fund, which supports independent research on health care issues, released the first-ever comprehensive comparison of health system performance in all 50 states.  The Fund looked at 32 performance indicators of access, quality, avoidable hospital use and costs, equity, and "healthy lives."  It found Iowa to be second in the nation on all indicators. 

The Commonwealth study concludes with the observation that “all states have substantial room to improve. On some indicators, even the top rates are well below what should be achievable.”

IFL VP Laue agrees:  “It’s great that  Iowa has a good rating, but we still have more to do,” she said.

How Privatization and Outsourcing
affect our Seniors who Use Medicare

The “Medicare Advantage” program, created by the Republican Congress, gave big insurance companies that provide Medicare insurance what amounts to a huge subsidy. The concept we were sold was that the private insurers would reduce costs by introducing competition into the Medicare system.

But, says James Parks in the aflcio blog,  “after the private insurers got their hands into the cookie jar, they began taking more than their share. Instead of reducing costs, the new plan means the federal government, on average, is paying private plans 12% more than it costs to treat people on traditional Medicare, according to the Congressional Budget Office and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.”

According to the Alliance for Retired Americans, the federal government will overpay the insurance industry $7.5 billion this year and an

estimated $160 billion over the next 10 years. 

“The outrageous waste and abuse in the Medicare Advantage program is part of our larger, misguided privatization of Medicare. We’ve turned too much of Medicare over to Wall Street at the expense of the people who need help on Main Street,” says Edward Coyle, executive director of the Alliance.

In May of this year, reported The New York Times, some private insurers were using deceptive practices to lure seniors into joining Medicare Advantage plans rather than traditional Medicare.  Such practices include: 

·  Signing up Medicare beneficiaries for private plans without their permission.

·  Failing to disclose that beneficiaries may be required to make larger co-payments under some private plans.

· Targeting low-income Medicare beneficiaries who also are on Medicaid, many of whom live alone or have limited English skills.

   “Something is very wrong with our Medicare program—the big drug and insurance companies keep getting more, and retirees keep getting less. It is time to change this.”  James Parks, June 7, 2007 aflcio blog 

Become an Enemy of the State: 
Go on Strike in the Oil Fields of Iraq.

AFL-CIO protests threat of force against strikers

A strike of Iraqi oil workers began on Monday, June 4, 2007.  The very next day these workers  were surrounded and threatened by Iraqi armed forces.  
These pipeline workers, members of  the 26,000 member Iraqi Federation of Oil Workers (IFOU) were attempting to  exercise their legitimate right to strike.  

The strike was no wild-cat.  It was called only after months of discussions between the union and the  government over wages, health and safety, the use of temporary workers and the future of Iraq’s oil industry.  Discussions  failed to produce a negotiated settlement, so the strike was called, temporarily suspending delivery of oil products to Baghdad  and the southern Governates of Iraq.  As of Tuesday night, workers had  returned temporarily to work after receiving a promise of further talks, but the troops remain in place.

The AFL-CIO has called on the Iraqi Government to  immediately stop using the threat of force to intimidate workers in Basra oil fields.  The American

labor federation issued a joint statement with the British Trade Union Congress today calling on Iraq to “pull back its security and military forces and cease its menacing threats to arrest and  attack these workers immediately.”

 In addition, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney wrote a letter to Secretary of State Rice urging her to use  diplomatic channels “to convey to the Iraqi government that military  intervention is not the way to resolve this dispute.”

A privatized, contracted-out government — Does this serve us well?

Jim Hightower’s “Lowdown” (6/07) paints a vivid picture of what has happened to our government under the Bush regime.  Outsourcing government service has risen 86% since Bush took office.  It now totals nearly $400 billion a year. “There are now more people doing federal jobs under corporate contracts than there are people employed directly by the government.  In other words, in today’s government, corporate servants outnumber civil servants….” 

And to whom are these corporate outsourcers loyal? 

Certainly not the US, and not even the Bush Administration, but their own business’s bottom line.

The Iraq war?   “George W’s Iraq war is run by a bumbling triumvirate composed of the White House, the Pentagon, and the Department  of Hallilburton. … Since the Bush/Cheney regime took office, Halliburton’s government contracts have increased by a stunning 600%, including more than $10 billion in Pentagon contracts….”

Resources on the corporate takeover: Halliburtonwatch.org, IraqforSale.org, www.apwu.org,
www.AmericanContractorsInIraq.com

Courtesy Matt Wuerker

Honoring Harkin

Senator Tom Harkin gives
Commencement address at National Labor College

   Silver Spring, MD—United States Senator Tom Harkin was chosen to deliver the commencement address at the National Labor College’s ninth annual commencement exercises scheduled for Saturday, June 23^rd at 10 a.m.  Harkin, the son of a coal minor, is a longtime supporter of labor education and legislation that supports working Americans.

    “As an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act and a leading champion for working people, we are enormously privileged to have Senator Harkin address our students who represent unions from across North America,” said Susan J. Schurman, NLC president.

Choosing Nussle
Failed candidate boards sinking ship

President Bush has named former member of Congress and failed Iowa Gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle to become the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).    This is a signal honor, coming after Nussle slighted Bush at a campaign appearance in Des Moines last October.  (Nussle chose a Rotary meeting over a joint appearance with Bush.)

So what is the OMB and how important is it?  An office in the White House, the OMB oversees federal regulation, the budget, information collection and dissemination, proposed legislation, testimony by agencies, and much more. OMB's actions have an enormous impact on agency operations and the pursuit of social justice, yet it remains largely behind the scenes — unaccountable and little understood by the public and public interest groups. (OMBwatch.org.  Check its website to understand OMB’s role, and how its powers can be abused.)

We hope Jim Nussle proves to be a more competent Administration member than other Bush appointees.  However, as Chair of the House Budget Committee for many years, he turned the largest surplus in the nation’s history into its largest deficit.

So good luck, Mr. Nussle.  (And good luck, US taxpayers!)

Targeting Grassley

On June 5th, the non-partisan Americans United for Change began an effort to pressure Iowa Senator Grassley to support basic fairness on worker rights issues and support the Employee Free Choice Act.  The group sees EFCA as a means to restore America’s disappearing middle class.

We hope they succeed, but our Senator Grassley has one of the most anti-labor voting records in Congress.  Plus, since 2000, Grassley has taken $11,000 from Wal-Mart. He took $2,000 in 2000, $8,000 in 2004 and $1,000 in 2006. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 5/29/07] 

What Does…

• John Edwards have to  say on health care?

• Barack Obama on the Employee Free Choice Act?

• John McCain on education?

• Hillary Clinton on trade?

• Rudy Giuliani on Social Security privatization?

• (Hint: He's in Favor!)

 Find out where the presidential candidates stand on working family issues at:

www.WorkingFamiliesVote08.org