The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) strongly condemns the illegal coup by the Honduran military on June 28 in which democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped and forcibly taken to Costa Rica. We totally reject the claim that such action was in any way justified by the popular consultation regarding constitutional reform.
The Congressional push for healthcare reform is now picking up speed, and the stakes could not be higher for working people. Our current hodgepodge system of health insurance is grossly overpriced, full of loopholes crafted by the insurance companies so they can refuse to pay claims, and fails completely to cover almost 50 million people. It's time to give this failed and costly system the heave-ho and replace it with a single-payer system.
As UE members look forward to the start of the summer season there are two political action battles underway which require immediate action on our part. Legislation to restore the right to organize as well as tackling the healthcare crisis are beginning to move through Congress, and lawmakers need to hear from you. Let’s take a look at each of these issues, as well as the actions needed on our part to ensure that we make the kind of progress that is so urgently needed on both fronts.
Meeting at the union’s national headquarters in Pittsburgh on May 14-15, UE’s General Executive Board discussed the national debate on healthcare and the reform proposals now being considered by Congress and the Obama administration. The union’s national leadership board adopted the following statement on healthcare reform:
STATEMENT ON HEALTHCARE REFORM
UE members have just concluded a series of twelve meetings with U.S. Senate offices in eight states during the Week of Action to demand passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Five more visits will unfold in three states in the coming week, rounding out this phase of our union wide political action push.
With growing public support for economic policies that will bring real change to America, Representative George Miller (D-CA) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), today introduced the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation giving workers a fair and direct path to form unions.
In a White House interview on the economic stimulus yesterday with reporters from regional newspapers, President Barack Obama reiterated his support for the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation sought by organized labor that would make it easier for workers to organize, gain bargaining rights and negotiate first contracts. He told the journalists that he would not urge Congress to delay action on the bill, and he rejected the arguments of big business groups that the bill would increase costs and is therefore bad for the economy.
In the coming weeks UE members need to phone the U.S. House of Representatives to urge their members of Congress to pass legislation to repair the broken U.S. healthcare system. Passage of the United States National Health Insurance Act/Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act (HR 676) would begin a process of sweeping healthcare reform. The health insurance companies would be removed from the system, along with their waste, redundant paperwork, second-guessing of doctors, profit greed and sky-high CEO salaries and bonuses.
Washington, D.C.
Meeting in Pittsburgh January 15 and 16, UE’s General Executive Board adopted a statement condemning the current war in the Gaza Strip. The union’s national leadership body reiterated the position adopted by delegates to UE’s 70th Convention in 2007, which called for "replacing the lopsided pro-Israel policy of the U.S. with a good faith, even-handed effort to achieve lasting peace between Israel and Palestine based on full justice and mutual respect." The GEB called on the incoming Obama administration to move quickly to initiate such a new policy.