"UPDATE" News about union support for single-payer health care and HR 676

Three Maine Labor Councils Call on AFL-CIO Convention to Endorse HR 676
and Call for March On Washington

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Three Labor Councils in Maine, Southern, Western and Central, have
followed the lead of the Maine State AFL-CIO in calling on the national
AFL-CIO September Convention to endorse HR 676 and educate and mobilize
for its passage.

The resolution passed by the 3 councils urges that the AFL-CIO Convention:
“…pursue the passage of HR 676, the ‘United States National Health Care
Act’ to meet the needs of our members, our families, and all America, and
not endorse or support any fallback program of mandated insurance which
includes the wasteful, for-profit insurance industry….”

The resolution further calls on the AFL-CIO to “...help organize and
financially support a ‘Healthcare is a Human right’ Solidarity March and
Rally in Washington, DC.”

Chris Teret, President of the Southern Council said: “The Southern Maine
Labor Council realizes that the fundamental principle of labor is
solidarity—an injury to one is an injury to all. For that reason, the
labor movement can’t support any health care system except one that
includes everybody, no exceptions. We know the insurance companies are
the problem and we’re ready to see them gone….”

The Troy Area Labor Council initiated the campaign to get resolutions
urging support of HR 676 sent to the AFL-CIO Convention which meets in
Pittsburgh September 14-17. The sample resolution and information on how
to submit a resolution are at: http://pefencon.info/HR676/Resolution.htm

Convention resolutions can be submitted at
resolutions-amendments@aflcio.org. The deadline for submitting
resolutions is Aug. 14th. #30#

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 83 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 540 union organizations in 49 states including
128 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
06/24/09

June Union Metting

Getting ready for another Union Meeting, Here is a little insight on what will be submitted as an action for the next meeting.

This is the effort of brother Travis Giobbi and is self explanatory:


Resolution Endorsing Single Payer Universal Health Care
May 20, 2009


Whereas: Health care in the United States is a national disgrace and in the throes of a crisis of cost, accessibility and quality; and

Whereas: Health insurance premiums skyrocketed over 10% in 2008 and more than 80% of all employers increased employee co-payments and premium contributions; and

Whereas: These increases have helped sustain a climate of concessionary bargaining, pushing down wages, and shifting more and more of the costs on to the backs of workers; and

Whereas: The employment-based system of health coverage puts benefits at risk every time workers face a layoff or change jobs; and

Whereas: More and more friends, neighbors and family members have no health coverage at all as the number of uninsured U.S. residents climbs past 47 million; and

Whereas: Workers in the U.S. pay more for healthcare than in any other country in the world and yet rank 28th in infant mortality, 24th in life expectancy; and

Whereas: A just health care in the system would provide cradle-to-grave coverage for all U.S. residents with free choice of doctors, hospitals and clinics; now

Therefore, Let It Be Resolved: That the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 10, stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters across the country, in over 500 unions, and unequivocally advocate, educate and organize around the following principles:

1. Access to comprehensive health care is a human right. It is the responsibility of society, through its government, to assure this right. Coverage should not be ties to employment. Private insurance companies’ past record disqualifies them from a central role in managing health care.

2. The right to choose and change one’s own physician is fundamental to patient autonomy. Patients should be free to seek care from any licensed health care professional.

3. Pursuit of profit and personal fortune has no place in care giving and they create enormous waste. The U.S. already spends enough to provide comprehensive health care to all residents with no increase in total costs. However, the vast health care resources now squandered on bureaucracy (due mostly to efforts to divert costs to other payers or onto patients themselves), profits and marketing must be shifted to actual care.

4. In a democracy, the public should set overall health policies. Personal medical decisions must be made by patients with their caregivers, not by corporate or government bureaucrats; and



Let it Be Finally Resolved: That the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 10, supports and urges our federal and state legislators to enact legislation that embodies the principles of a national single-payer health care system, currently HR 676, and that a copy of this resolution is sent to the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 5 and the AFL-CIO Executive Council to pass similar resolutions.

Let’s make our voices heard and demand fair contracts!

United for Oregon March: Sunday June 7

Bring your family and friends! We will form up at the Eastbank Esplanade near OMSI (between Main & Taylor on the West side of Water Avenue) at 11:30 am, march across the Hawthorne Bridge starting at 1 pm, and gather at Terry Schrunk Plaza (3rd Avenue at Madison in downtown Portland) for a rally at 2 pm.