I’m a former West Virginia newspaper reporter, staff writer for the United Mine Workers Journal and managing editor of the Seafarers Log. I came to the AFL- CIO in 1989 and have written for several federation publications, focusing on legislation and politics, especially grassroots mobilization and workplace safety. When my collar was still blue, I carried union cards from the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers, American Flint Glass Workers and Teamsters for jobs in a chemical plant, a mining equipment manufacturing plant and a warehouse. I’ve also worked as roadie for a small-time country-rock band, sold my blood plasma and played an occasional game of poker to help pay the rent. You may have seen me at one of several hundred Grateful Dead shows. I was the one with longhair and the tie-dye. Still have the shirts, lost the hair.
Check this out. Next week, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue will make a rare joint appearance to promote jobs legislation. They will appear Feb. 16 before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at 10 a.m. to speak out on the need for quick action on a new jobs-creating transportation bill.
The Senate last night rejected a Republican move to repeal the health care reform law. Maybe now they will focus on the nation’s most pressing need—JOBS.
Harvey Camacho and Randy Clarke, members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7026 in Tucson, Ariz., have won praise for their role in helping secure evidence crucial to the investigation of the Jan. 8 shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
Today, the U.S. Senate has the opportunity to tackle job creation head on when it takes up the reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The bill includes $8 billion for airport construction and repair and some 280,000 jobs are at stake.
How’s this for a demonstration of cause and effect?
Cause—Yesterday, some 200 activists, led by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) rallied outside Blue Shield’s San Francisco corporate headquarters to protest the health insurance giant’s premium hikes of as much as 59 percent for California consumers.
Boxing and ballet may not have a lot in common, except for the hard work to get to the top. But two award-winning actors in the films spotlighting the worlds of prize fighting and dancing share one thing in common: their support of unions.
By 2014, the new health care reform law will mean thousands of dollars in health insurance premium savings and out-of-pocket health care costs for working families and small businesses, finds a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Says HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:
“For too long, skyrocketing health care costs have made it hard for businesses to provide coverage for employees and have made it difficult for families to afford coverage….The report shows that the health care law will bring major savings for families as it begins to take shape. Without the Affordable Care Act, consumers and businesses would face higher premiums, fewer insurance choices, and rapidly rising health care costs.”
Alpha Natural Resources has reached an $8.5 billion deal to buy Massey Energy Corp., owner of the Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) coal mine where 29 miners were killed in an April explosion, and owner of other mines with long histories of safety and health violations.
A new study by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) finds that California’s largest private insurance companies continue to deny more than one-fourth of all claims and two firms rejected about 40 percent of submitted claims.
More than 1,000 activists, including members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), AFSCME, Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and Common Cause, helped shine a big spotlight on a closed-door gathering of right-wing billionaires and extreme conservative leaders and politicians in Palm Springs, Calif., yesterday.
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