Employee Free Choice Act

AR: Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice Dinner

Last Saturday, the Arkansas Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice held their annual dinner at the First Presbyterian Church in Little Rock. The Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice is a partnership to mobilize the religious and labor communities, and serve as an advocate for the rights of workers and their families. The guest speaker is Kim Bobo, Executive Director Interfaith Worker Justice (national). Awards were also given to: FAITH AWARD - Rev. Gene McElroy, Archview Baptist Church, LABOR AWARD - Co-Awards - Lee Pritchard, Retired UAW & Carroll Gaither, Retired USW, COMMUNITY AWARD - State Senator Joyce Elliott, and STUDENT JUSTICE AWARD - Amanda Boulden, Senior at Henderson State. Congratulations to the ICWJ for a great event!

AR: Health Insurance Day of Action

Last Tuesday, several groups working on health insurance reform came together to hold a press conference in Little Rock, and a march to Senator Pryor's office to deliver letters for reform. Speakers included Alan Hughes of the Arkansas AFL-CIO, John Noonan of AFSCME, Candis Collins of HCAN, and Nicole Price of Change that Works. That day, over 300,000 phone calls for health insurance reform were made nationally as well. Read more from the Arkansas News Bureau and the Democrat Gazette. Let's keep up the pressure for real health insurance reform!

AR: AFSCME House Calls for Health Care

On Saturday, October 10 in the Old Supreme Court Room at the Arkansas State Capital AFSCME member nurses from around the country were joined by local community members as they hit the streets to go door-to-door for health care reform. Similar canvasses were held simultaneously in nine health care battleground states and featured nurses demanding reform of a system that allows private insurance companies to come in between health care providers and their patients. Read more from Today's THV.

Ally Spotlight- Christopher "Kit" St. John, MECEP Executive Director

Chris St. John, or "Kit" as he prefers to be called, is the Executive Director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy. The Maine Center for Economic Policy advances public policies that help Maine people prosper in a strong, fair and sustainable economy. They strive to do so through high-quality research, analysis, citizen education, and coalition building.

In that capacity, Kit helped explain the economics behind both questions 2 and 4 at the recent Maine AFL-CIO TABOR II & Fair Taxation training. His conclusions were common sense. Both of these measures will either unfairly shift costs or result in harmful reductions in public services, if not both.

Kit explained that Question 2, the Excise tax will eliminate an estimated 86 million dollars from local budgets. That’s money that directly pays for road maintenance and plowing. The cuts will be unfairly given to those that can afford the newest cars, whereas the rest of us will just have to endure. Towns will be forced to try and recoup that lost revenue by raising property taxes.

"TABOR has the potential to be even more devastating" said Kit. The Law is designed to ratchet down spending, cutting services, and devastating our brothers and sisters in the public sector. What's more municipalities will undoubtedly try and stem the loss of services by raising needed funds from elsewhere.

You can get more information from MECEP on TABOR and the Excise Tax here: http://www.mecep.org/view.asp?news=526.

AR Local Union Spotlight: Lobbying in Washington for Health Care Reform

We wrote about David Arellanes of CWA Local 6508, sharing the story of his wife's accident and how the insurance company pushed them into bankruptcy before. David and Kelly were in Washington D.C. last week to lobby for health insurance reform, along with Arkansas AFL-CIO President Alan Hughes, and CWA local presidents George West and Tom Pevey. Read more from the Arkansas Times and the New York Times.

Ally Spotlight- Father Mike Seavey

 On Wednesday October 7th, Lewiston/Auburn College, USM hosted a community forum on the Employee Free Choice Act. As part of the Panel Father Mike Seavey, a Roman Catholic Priest from Portland spoke on why he supports the Employee Free Choice Act.

Through a poignant anecdote Father Seavey explained that he grew up in a union household and that his father had instilled in him a belief that "you don't trade long term solidarity for short term benefits."

He continued saying "We need to work in environments that are just, safe, that are built on bonds of trust." Drawing on his faith, Father Seavey cited a papal decree that declares it a right for workers to form unions. He concluded by saying that he personally endorses the Employee Free Choice Act as means to uphold that right.

The Maine AFL-CIO applauds Father Mike for his moral leadership and determination to stand with working families. 
 

AR: Writing Letters for Health Care Reform

Last week on Wednesday, members from several different locals and allied groups gathered at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Hall in Little Rock to share health care stories and write letters to our legislators for reform. Listen to David Arellanes, of CWA Local 6508, sharing the story of his wife's accident and how the insurance company pushed them into bankruptcy.

Labor Leader Spotlight President of the PFF of Maine

John Martell is a Firefighter/Paramedic with the Portland Fire  Department. John started his professional career with the Saco Fire Department in 1991 and joined Portland in 1993. He is currently assigned to the Marine Division on E-7 as a pilot/engineer. John has served on Portland Local 740’s executive board, public relations committee, legislative committee and has been active in union business during his entire career. (www.pffmaine.org)

John helped defeat Tabor when it was on the ballot in 2006. He intends to do so again. "We're the boots on the ground" said John at a recent meeting with Southern Maine PFFM leaders. "It's critical that we defeat Tabor and the Excise Tax."

TABOR II is Question 4 on this November's ballot and the gutting of the auto excise tax is Question 2. These ballot initiatives will undermine town and city budgets threatening critical services like Fire Departments and EMTs. This is not only a danger to the livelihood of many first responders, it is also a danger to the communities that those first responders serve. The PFF of Maine is especially concerned by the fact that Tabor II would eliminate the account that pays for the line of duty death benefit for public safety officers killed in the line of duty. Fortunately, John Martell and the brothers and sisters of the Professional Fire fighters of Maine aren't going to let that happen.

AR Local Union Spotlight: IATSE Local 204

Justin Nickels is a journeyman stagehand and a member of IATSE Local 204. IATSE Local 204 handles shows across Arkansas. Members have written letters to the editor, spoken at events, and continue to be a part of the fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Thank you for your work!

LA: AFL-CIO and AFSCME Conduct Health Care Reform Workshop At LA NAACP 67th Annual Convention

 Louis Reine, President of the Louisiana AFL-CIO, Paris Walker and Nate Arrowsmith, both representatives from AFSCME International, conducted a Health Care Reform workshop at the Louisiana NAACP's 67th Annual Convention on Saturday, September 26th.

Paris and Nate presented the essential elements of the bill and discusse how the public option would help Louisiana residents.

Audience members talked about some of the misinformation surrounding the bill and how the community can mobilize to support health care reform.

 
Paris Walker and Nate Arrowsmith discuss the misinformation about the HR 3200