UE Political Action Updates

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Tell President Obama to Staff the NLRB - Today!

February 15, 2010
Washington

The agency charged with implementing and enforcing our nation’s labor laws – the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – has been limping along for several years without its full board of five members. Currently it has two members and is barely functioning. U.S. labor laws are already some of the weakest and least enforced in the industrial world and this situation is nothing less than an embarrassment and a disgrace. Corporate America is quite satisfied with this situation, which allows them to violate worker rights on an even bigger scale than usual.

If Democrats Will Not Use Their Congressional Majority, Can Working People Borrow It?

February 2, 2010
Washington

As the situation facing working people continues to worsen across the board, Congress has returned to Washington to take up business for the coming year. The battle lines are clearly drawn; the Democratic Party majority remains disunited, paralyzed, and unfocused, while the Republican Congressional minority is absolute in its opposition to every single legislative initiative launched by Democrats. The only people unaware of this situation appear to be large numbers of Democrat lawmakers.

Taxing Our Health Benefits: A Bad Idea We Have Defeated Before

January 6, 2010

Washington

The Congressional healthcare legislative process has come down to a few remaining and highly controversial issues. Lawmakers are returning to Washington to commence an effort to combine the separate House of Representatives and Senate health care reform bills. If the two bills can be merged – and then sent back to be passed one last time by each body – only then will the reform legislation go to President Obama for his signature.

Health Reform Update: Kill the Tax on Benefits ASAP

December 9, 2009
Washington

Among the details of the evolving Senate health bill are a number of troubling provisions, and at the top of the list is the disgraceful inclusion -- up until now -- of a new tax on the value of health insurance provided by the employer.  This would compel employers to add an amount of money -- over some set point -- to an employees annual gross income statement as if the value of health insurance was the same as wages or salary earned through the year. For the majority of workers, if the value of your health insurance exceeds $21,000 for family or $8,000 fo

Part Two - The Struggle for Healthcare Reform: A Page from UE History

December 1, 2009
Washington, DC

If the current Congressional healthcare reform process results in passage of a final bill which is signed into law by President Obama, this will translate into the biggest change to our health care and health insurance system in our lifetimes. As working people and union members we will have questions about what is in the final bill, what is not in the final bill, and just how the legislation will work. Hard answers will be needed, not predictions or promises.

The Struggle for Healthcare Reform: A Page from UE History

November 22, 2009
Washington
The struggle for healthcare reform has reached a new stage, with the House of Representatives having passed a healthcare reform bill and the Senate having voted to proceed to work on the newly-combined bill in the coming weeks. After analyzing the details of each plan, it is clear that neither of them is yet satisfactory, despite some meritorious aspects. Neither plan adequately protects working people from employers who would use the legislation to cancel existing healthcare coverage and thereby compel workers to buy their own insurance.

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