Americans Prefer a Public Option to a Bipartisan Bill

It's true. For all the noise made the last few months about making sure the health care bill has bipartisan support, the majority of Americans really don't care--if it means the public option wouldn't be part of the final bill. From the ABC News/Washington Post poll:

"Which of these would you prefer – (a plan that includes some form of government-sponsored health insurance for people who can’t get affordable private insurance, but is approved without support from Republicans in Congress); or (a plan that is approved with support from Republicans in Congress, but does not include any form of government-sponsored health insurance for people who can’t get affordable private insurance)?"

Fifty one percent said they preferred the public option; 37 percent said they preferred a bill with some support from Republicans in Congress. Six percent said neither and seven percent expressed no opinion.

Powering Up the NYC Economy With Good Grocery Jobs

Last night local retail employers, policy experts, community and union leaders debated the issues faced by grocery store employees and grocery store operators in a recovering economy. The discussion was moderated by Mimi Rosenberg of WBAI's Building Bridges, and tackled the ways in which successful grocery businesses can also be community-leading employers.

Retail jobs are the fastest growing industry in the country. To enable the growing numbers employed in retail to achieve the American Dream, workers and customers alike are beginning to push back against the Walmart business model that’s driven down wages, benefits and standards of living for workers and communities nationwide.

Upper East Side market Agata & Valentina employees shared how they are struggling to attain the American Dream. Agata & Valentina worker Alfredo Pena said, “For me, a union means a voice for workers on the job. It means we don’t have to ask the boss for things like a raise individually, because we can stand together and have more power to improve our jobs that way.”

Pathmark employee and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500 member Ann Marie Griffin spoke about the benefits of having a union at her workplace. “If it were not for the health insurance I receive as a union member,” she said, “I would not have been able to have two c-sections that I needed. And because I am a union member my salary has increased over the years. I know that others at non-union stores who are doing the same work I do, for the same amount of years, they may not even come close to what I make.”

Business leaders at the roundtable discussed how the union-employer partnership works well to improve their business. Charles Farfaglia, Fairway Market LLC, Vice President of Human Resources, said that having the UFCW working with his company helps with problem-solving, creates lower turnover rates, and gives employees a sense of security and stability that helps them better perform their jobs.

“When employees are given an unfettered choice, they view working in a union store as desirable,” he said. “That actually helps in recruiting new people. Fairway opened a store in Paramus, NJ, last March. We conducted seven job fairs…and many people asked if the store was going to be union. All who asked wanted to work in a union store.”

Also on the panel were: Rene Flores, Gristedes Foods, Executive Director of Human Resources and Asset Management; Dr. Nicholas Freudenberg, City University of New York, Distinguished Professor of Public Health; UFCW Local 1500 Field Director Rob Newell; and Paul Sonn, National Employment Law Project, Legal Co-Director.

House Health Care Bill Unveiled

Today's unveiling of the House health care bill represents a decisive milestone reached in the fight to ensure access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

The new bill "covers 96 percent of all Americans, and it puts affordable coverage in reach for millions of uninsured and underinsured families, lowering health care costs for all of us," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she addressed the crowd of Democratic leaders and health care advocates gathered on the west steps of the capitol Thursday morning.

The bill also ensures responsibility from employers by making sure they pay their fair share and accountability from insurance companies so that they can no longer deny insurance to individuals with pre-existing conditions. Not too shabby.

If you're looking for a little light reading, you can now review all 1990 pages of the bill yourself as it is up online.

From Bentonville to the Grave

When we talk about Walmart in our communities, the discussion often focuses on how the giant retailer makes it impossible for local hardware stores and Main Street retailers to compete. Now, joining the hardware store owner, the clothing shop owner, and the local grocer: the local funeral director.

Walmart is selling caskets online. Not only is this in poor taste, it is going to undercut local businesses. Funeral directors often find many of the services they offer, such as hosting viewings, coordination, even some of the more "we don't like to talk about that" stuff like having a cosmetologist come in, to be loss-leaders that they make up for by selling caskets. Now people are going to be coming to those funeral homes with cheap Walmart caskets, saying "we'd like to have the viewing soon, we're just waiting for shipping from Bentonville," and these local business people, who are providing an important service, are being undercut.

Walmart's unfair business practices have been hurting small businesses for a long time, and hurting communities since they don't provide living wages or adequate health care to their employees. How morbidly ironic that many local funeral directors may now be buried in the retail grave that Sam dug.

Trick or Treats--Union Made

Jason Lefkowitz from CTW has a great post up today over at Today'sWorkplace.org. In it, he lets people know where they can go to buy union made Halloween candy this year. After all,

why give your money to a company that treats its workers like Oompa-Loompas? They were slaves who got paid in beans, remember! (Don’t be fooled by their catchy songs; that’s just a show they put on for the boss. You should hear the things they say about him in the break room.)

Instead, head over to Union Plus and check out the list of candy made by UFCW, UFW, and BCTGM members. Go ahead--it's okay to indulge your sweet tooth at this time of year. Just make sure it's satiated with union made goodies. Even through your sugar high, you'll feel good knowing you're supporting American workers and good jobs.

Roundtable Discussion in NYC

Next Wednesday in NYC there is going to be a roundtable discussion of the role that grocers and retailers are going to be playing in the economic recovery.

Since these sectors are predicted to have substantial growth in the coming years, it's important for people in New York City to be addressing what these types of jobs mean in their city, as well as what kind of responsibilities employers have.

The roundtable is going to take place at the New York Blood Center at 310 E 67th St. starting at 6 PM and feature Mimi Rosenberg, Co-host of Building Bridges, Paul Sonn, Co-Legal Director of NELP, Nicholas Freudenberg, Professor of Urban Public Health at Hunter College, Charlie Fafaglia, Vice President of Human Resources at Fairway Market LLC, Rene Flores, Vice President of Human Resources and Asset Management, and Rob Newell, Field Director at UFCW Local 1500.

There is a Facebook event set up for this, so check that out, as well as the invite (PDF).

Union Plus Scholarships: Apply Now!

One of the most popular pages on the UFCW.org web site is the UFCW Scholarship page. And for good reason: the United Food and Commercial Workers has one of the youngest memberships of any union and our members are often likely to be of college age or have children they want to send to school.

But did you know that along with the scholarships offered by the UFCW itself, members and dependents are eligible for scholarships through Union Plus?


Union Plus is part of Union Privilege, which provides consumer benefits for union members and dependents throughout the entire labor movement. If you don't know about them, take a minute to check out the stuff they offer: great rates on insurance, discounts on theme park tickets, bargains at Powell's, and a lot more.

Last year UFCW members and dependents Christa E. Moore, John Ertl, Colin T. Hirsch, Corey Campbell, Katie Christensen, Matthew J. D’Armi, Taylor Reckert, Christopher Hernandez, and Jacquelyn McGinnis all received Union Plus Scholarships totaling more than $13 thousand!

And while you're looking at stuff on the internet, why not go over and become a fan of the Union Plus Facebook page? Union Plus is giving $100 to the Union SAFE fund for every member who becomes a fan. The Union SAFE fund gives grants to union members during times of hardship.

The $100 that's donated for you simply clicking on a link is going to make a huge difference in the life of a union member somewhere, so take a minute and become a fan.

New Poll Shows Public Option: Popular! GOP: Not so much.

You know how Congressional Republicans keep saying nobody wants the public option? And that Republicans have nothing to lose and everything to gain by opposing legislation proposed by Democrats?

Well...hmmm.

White House Leaves Out-of-Touch Chamber Out of the Loop

What a novel idea. Instead of dealing with the out-of-touch Chamber of Commerce (see: climate change), why not talk directly with the business who actually create jobs and help grow our economy? That's the White House's approach to their relationship with business. As Politico reports:

Since June, senior White House officials have met directly with executives from more than 55 companies, including Chamber members Pfizer, Eastman Kodak and IBM.

“We prefer the approach — particularly in this climate — where the actual people who are on the front lines, running businesses, trying to create jobs, come and advise us on policy,” senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett...

Seems like a pretty good idea. After all, a group Chamber of Commerce is supposed to represent the interests of the business community(see: Nike, Apple, PG&E)--so if they've completely lost touch with the values of modern business, maybe it's time to let them fall by the wayside and deal with the businesses themselves.

What Would You Say to Wall Street, UFCW Members?

I read this headline in the Wall Street Journal today: Wall Street On Track To Award Record Pay. I really didn't know what to say. I was literally dumbfounded. Luckily, John Cole over at Balloon Juice had words, and lots of them:

Why doesn't everyone just quit doing what they do and go to work on Wall Street? You clearly don't have to be competent or know anything, because these clowns trashed the economy and then ran around for months yelling hoocoodanode all while taking bailout money. Then, they turn around and take those taxpayer loans at low interest and the taxpayer guarantees, loan them back to the taxpayer at a higher interest rate, collect their vig, call it a profit, and then give themselves billions in bonuses because they are in the black again and happy days are here again.

I'd like to have more words. What do you say, UFCW members? How does it make you feel, seeing that headline as you head to the negotiating table to fight for raises, pensions, affordable health care--just a living wage? What do you want to say to Wall Street?

The "dread possibility of a Labor Department that actually works"

Thomas Frank writes in today's Wall Street Journal of the held-up confirmation of M. Patricia Smith to the position of solicitor of the U.S. Department of Labor. Because of a hold placed on Smith's nomination by Sen. Enzi of Wyoming, she will now need 60 votes to be confirmed.

So why the controversy? What horrible skeletons does Smith have dangling in her closet? It appears Smith's sin is...being effective. Our lawmakers fear, in Frank's words, "the dread possibility of a Labor Department that actually works." Frank points out that:

Ms. Smith has "created some of the best outreach and enforcement programs in the nation," says Kim Bobo, head of the advocacy group Interfaith Worker Justice and a critic of the Bush-era Labor Department.

Outreach is just what understaffed labor agencies need. Governments ought to enlist private citizens and community groups to help people "come forward if they have complaints and problems. That's exactly the kind of thing we need to extend capacity," Ms. Bobo told me.

UFCW members in New York know how effective the Smith and the Wage Watchers program have been. Just earlier this year, then-State Labor Commissioner Smith announced the findings of an investigation into wage practices at several grocery stores in New York City and surrounding communities. Because of the investigation, 550 workers will receive nearly 1.5 million, primarily in unpaid overtime wages. As Smith said at the time:

It's unfathomable to think that in this day and age - in these frightening economic times - an employer would actually believe it could get away with cheating workers out such an exorbitant amount of their hard earned money. This case is a prime example of collaboration, good detective work and, as always, strong labor law enforcement.

Lawmakers like Enzi don't seem to like this "strong labor law" approach, and obviously see nothing wrong with the way we've been doing things the last eight years. Or, rather, not doing them. Frank on the Labor Department's fundamental broken-ness under the Bush administration:

The late Bush administration practiced regulatory euthanasia all across Washington, and the consequences have been felt in every corner of the economy.

The Labor Department was hit worst of all, a bureaucracy that was run in reverse until the motor seized up and the wheels came off. This past March the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the department's Wage and Hour Division that reads like one of the pranks Spy magazine pulled off in its heyday. It seems that over the preceding nine months, a group of GAO investigators filed 10 made-up complaints with the Wage and Hour Division to see how it would respond. One of them alleged that kids were working "on heavy machinery" in a meatpacking plant during school hours. Wage and Hour simply blew that one off. As the report concludes in its inimitable government style, the Labor Department "successfully investigated 1 of our 10 fictitious cases."

You can read the full GAO report here, entitled "Wage and Hour Division’s Complaint Intake and Investigative Processes Leave Low Wage Workers Vulnerable to Wage Theft."

So a functioning Labor Department is Big Business's nightmare. But Big Business and its closest allies in Congress surely must be dreaming if they think the Obama administration and Sec. Hilda Solis will allow the status quo to stand at the DOL. Smith's nomination must go through--not just because she's a qualified, capable candidate--but because it sends a strong message to Enzi and others like him: this Labor Department is going to start working for workers.

UFCW Director of Organizing, Walmart Workers and Others Talk Walmart Economy with Laura Flanders

Saving Good Jobs: Guest Blog from UFCW Local 5

UFCW Local 5's Tony Alexander has written a guest blog for MyUFCW on his local's recent actions to save good jobs in California:

On TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, AT 3PM, We held a rally in front of Salinas City Hall, 200 Lincoln Avenue, to let the City Council and our community know that we will NOT stand idly by and let Wal-Mart steal our jobs like a thief in the night. Walmart’s plans for 2 supercenters with over 60,000 square feet of food and grocery items are now prepared and sitting in the City’s Planning Department awaiting the rubber stamp of the Mayor and Walmart’s city council supporters.

We have to save good jobs. We need employers that will offer competitive wages and provide health care to their employees. We do not want to see small 'Mom & Pop Shops' close down. We've seen it happen. It is inevitable if Walmart has their way.

We had a great turn out and support of UFCW 5 members many community members, SEIU, Plumbers and Steamfitters, Labors, and Teamsters letting the Salinas Mayor and city council know not to let Walmart expand. Great job Salinas community.

If you or someone you know is interested in guest blogging for MyUFCW, drop us a line on our Facebook or Twitter pages, or shoot us an email at submissions@ufcw.org. We'd love to hear from you!

House Members Push Back on Health CareTax for Working Families

Finally, Congress shows a little backbone. Apparently, 156 House members (a majority, if you're keeping track) have written a letter asking Speaker Pelosi to drop any notion of taxing so-called "Cadillac plans," or higher-cost health insurance. The letter rightfully points out that:

Such a tax would impact regions with high health care costs in the short-term, and, in the long-term, inevitably extend to more and more middle-income Americans across the country.

It also points out the biggest problem for union members with this tax--how grossly unfair it would be. UFCW members and other union members across the country have spent countless hours at the bargaining table trying to secure affordable, quality health care for themselves and their families. And as the costs of health care have skyrocketed, union members have been forced to sacrifice things like wage raises, or pension benefits, in order to keep health care affordable for all--not just for union members, but often for non-union workers in the industry as well.

Or as the Washington Post puts it:

Over the past decade or so, unions in contract negotiations typically chose to forgo large wage increases in exchange for more generous medical benefits, mainly because costs were rising faster than inflation. Now, as the Senate Finance Committee works on health-care legislation, union members say they feel unfairly targeted.

"It's the old Washington, D.C., law of unintended consequences," said Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, a consulting firm. "They went after the Goldman Sachs partner and they ended up with the fireman in Brooklyn."

Taxing union members' good health care plans would be punishing union members for fighting for affordable health care in the first place. It would be the ultimate betrayal of what union members stand for, and have always stood for: raising standards of living throughout our industries. It would be complete submission to the slippery-slope mentality--to the idea that we all fall down together rather than use unity to climb up.

And it's not just union members--it's all kinds of hard-working Americans who would be affected and taxed. As Bob Laszewski points out:

It is pretty clear to me that millions of middle class Americans would get caught in this AMT-like tax trap.

If we want to discourage excessive and inflationary health care benefits, a laudable goal, let's be direct about that. But let's not pretend to be going after some rich guy on Wall Street all the while knowing we have set a tax trap for a retired teacher in Miami.

None of us should be complicit in that pretense. So good for you, the 145 members of Congress who are making that clear today. Thank you from UFCW members nationwide for doing the right thing, for union members and all working families.

H/T to Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake

Listening to Doctors on Health Care Reform

In the health care debate, we've heard a lot from health care executives, insurance mouthpieces, concerned citizens, and politicians. But one group we haven't heard enough from: health care professionals.

The DNC has recently released an ad with a doctor and a nurse speaking about the need for health care reform. They know it all too well.



Yesterday President Obama met with 150 doctors in the Rose Garden to talk about health care reform.

Dawn Cutler has been a Registered Nurse at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Washington for over 20 years, and a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers. In her work with women and children in a large hospital birthing center, she sees that patients receive the good care they deserve.

We should be embarrassed to live in such wealthy country and have 49 million Americans without health insurance--to have thousands of people die because they cannot afford health care.

We need to say no to a system that says that if you lose your job you lose your health care. As a nurse, these patients, these families, they are people to me and they deserve the best.

Here's the real issue: a man or women who has committed their professional life to making people well has a moral obligation to help people in need. These doctors and nurses are individuals--with individual consciences. A health insurance company is a corporation.

To quote the satirist Ambrose Bierce:

Corporation. (n.) An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.

Friday Afternoon Links

• Do you feel like the government's helping people like you?
  
  
• E.J. Dionne on why the public option should be a centrist proposal.
  
  
• Depressing news for a gloomy fall day: we lost a lot more jobs than we thought we would in September. Yuck.
  
  
• Food workers need a union in order to guarantee safety on the job. Because, as the American Prospect details here, companies won't make the effort to do so.