The Problem with Mitt Romney's Economic Plan

In my letter in today's Wall Street Journal, I point out that Mitt Romney's economic plan further highlights the GOP's obsession with protecting corporate interests at the expense of the poor and the middle class. As I stated in the letter:

As the nation's unemployment rate registers at 9.1%, it is clear that we need to take bold steps to lift Americans out of poverty and rebuild the middle class. Instead of engaging in antiworker rhetoric, Mr. Romney and his fellow Republicans should focus on creating economic policies that generate and sustain good jobs with decent wages and benefits, with the end goal of giving America's middle class the purchasing power it needs to revive the economy.

UFCW President Joe Hansen on President Obama's Plan to Put Americans Back to Work

Last night, President Hansen released the following statement in support of President Obama's jobs plan:

“President Obama’s plan for job creation, including a private fund to rebuild our roads and schools, a tax cut for companies that hire workers and help for the long-term unemployed, is a good start. The nation’s job crisis demands leadership from President Obama, but he cannot revive the economy alone. Bold leadership is also needed from Republicans in Congress and the business community in order to create jobs that can support a family and rebuild the middle class.

 “We will never win the future by turning a blind eye to the devastating impact of unemployment and underemployment on our country. It is time for Republicans in Congress to put our country ahead of politics and support the president’s plan to put Americans back to work. It is also time for America’s business leaders to make a patriotic commitment to invest in good jobs in America and provide their employees with decent wages and benefits with the end goal of giving the middle class the purchasing power it needs to revive the economy.

 “The wasted economic potential of the millions of Americans who are unemployed or underemployed is a national tragedy. But the tragedy goes deeper than statistics alone. In all this turmoil, many Americans believe they will never achieve the American dream of owning a home, sending their children to college or retiring comfortably. If Republicans in Congress and America’s business leaders continue to put corporate profits ahead of job creation, our country will never fully recover from this downward economic spiral.”

UFCW Members Join Verizon Workers in Fight for Middle Class Jobs

Photo courtesy CWA New Jersey's site.

Despite making almost 20 billion in profits and paying out hundreds of millions to its top executives in the last four years, Verizon refuses to share that success with its workers and seems intent on destroying good middle class jobs. To stand up for their families and the future of the American middle class, more than 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) have been forced into the streets on strike by their company's greed.

Verizon is refusing to move from a long list of demands, and so CWA and IBEW members are standing up for good jobs. And UFCW members are standing up with them, all across the country, as locals join with their brothers and sisters on picket lines and in their neighborhoods. UFCW locals are adopting Verizon stores to picket in their area to let customers know about the strike and Verizon's corporate greed.

You can join in the fight, too! Go here to adopt a store or join in the fight online. Let's stand together for good jobs in America!

Why We Fight: Video From the Front Lines of the Fight for the Middle Class

In states across the country, politicians are attempting to roll back the steps forward workers have made in their fight for economic justice and the American Dream. Regardless of whether those politicians are motivated by favors to super-rich corporate donors or are out to exact political revenge, workers have to stick together to stop the attack on the middle class.

On April 4, 2011, we plan to join the rest of the labor movement and our allies in a mass mobilization to make a public and workplace show of support for union rights for all workers. Join us!

UFCW Members Join with Other Workers in Indiana & Rally Mardi-Gras-Style for the Middle Class

UFCW Local 700 and Local 227 members, AFL-CIO members, Teamsters, AFT and NEA members, and many other union members and labor supporters came together at the Indiana Statehouse yesterday to rally for the middle class. Click here to see more photos from the event and from other recent Indiana rallies.

Activists held a fake "funeral" for the middle class, complete with coffin and New Orleans style jazz quartet. They marched around the Statehouse, dancing and singing and chanting, and lined up to testify about what the death of middle class jobs would mean to them. Students spoke about how they wouldn't have been able to go to college if their parents hadn't had good, middle-class jobs. Parents spoke about putting food on the table for their families, and taking their children to the doctor. Others simply spoke about their fears that their children's standard of living won't be as good or better than their parents.

After the "funeral," the middle-class was revealed to be very much alive and kicking. As one Indiana lawmaker said, "Reports of the death of the middle-class have been greatly exaggerated, and the crowd here today proves that." Workers and supporters marched out of the Statehouse to the rousing sounds of the jazz quartet, chanting about finding hope these last few day, about moving forward, and about keeping up the fight no matter what.

The Senate Free-Rider Provision or: How in trying to reform health care we could end up with a part-time America

Senate, what on earth is up with the Free-Rider provision in the health care bill?

In the spirit of an encouraging friend offering constructive criticism on decisions that could lead to potentially harmful and unintended consequences (like the time in college when my roommate wanted to sink her life-savings into an industrial dump truck on eBay), we think it is about time to sit down, put the kettle on, and have a heart-to-heart.

In a nutshell, the Free-Rider provision states that employers who don’t offer good coverage pay a fine if their workers qualify for subsidies to buy coverage in the insurance exchange.

Now for the problems:

1. Companies don’t have to pay fines for part-time workers
2. Companies don’t have to pay fines for workers eligible for Medicaid
3. Companies only have to pay a fine for workers receiving subsidies to buy coverage the insurance exchange.
4. The standard for “good coverage” that an employer must offer to avoid paying fines is ridiculously low.

Problem #1: Say you are the owner of Spend-A-Lot Stores and you need to cut costs. Health care is a huge expenditure for you, but you find that if you shift more workers to part-time, you can avoid having to pay for good benefits without having to pay fines. Your arch-nemesis, Fantabulousamazing, Inc. believes in investing in its workers and does offer good health plans. Now responsible Fantabulousamazing is at a disadvantage to your unscrupulous business practices, thus defeating the entire purpose of the provision.

Not only that, but workers in the community who were barely getting by on the wages at Spend-A-Lot now can’t get enough hours to pay the bills and are stuck without access to health care.

Problem #2: If workers qualify for Medicaid, Spend-A-Lot doesn’t have to pay fines for not providing good coverage because the workers won’t be buying insurance in the exchange.

Increase the number of workers on Medicaid = decrease health care costs = keep wages low enough for workers to qualify = further erode the middle class jobs offered by Spend-A-Lot.

Problem #3: By hiring workers who would not qualify for subsidies on the exchange, Spend-A-Lot can reduce the amount of fines incurred by not offering quality health coverage.

Workers not eligible for Medicaid who also do not qualify for subsidies would include those who are covered under their parents plans, older workers eligible for Medicare, and married workers whose spouses offer adequate health plans.

Center for American Progress sums it up pretty well:

Thus, counterintuitively, a “free rider” provision would penalize—and thus disincentivize—employers from hiring workers eligible for premium subsidies: low- and moderate-income individuals. This is a great concern for single mothers in particular, who could be penalized as less attractive hires.

Problem #4: If Spend-A-Lot offers really terrible coverage to workers, the definition of adequate coverage in the provision is so loose that a large share of the burden for health care costs can still remain on the workers while Spend-A-Lot doesn’t have to pay any fines at all. Now workers are left unable to qualify in the exchange and with coverage that will stick them with huge medical bills that they can’t afford.

On Tuesday, we released a report examining the impact of the provision on Walmart workers. Granted, we are not fans of Walmart in general because of its history of poor behavior when it comes to workers, but it also happens to be the largest private employer in the U.S.

The results? To maximize profits, the provision creates the incentive for Walmart to shift to part-time and to keep wages low and workers dependent on public programs. If a bad actor as big as Walmart can slip through the loopholes, what does that say about the bill’s ability to bring down health costs nationwide?