On December 12, the international news magazine The Economist published a misinformed article calling public employees “coddled” and “spoiled rotten.” The article mistakenly blames hard working public employees for the challenges state and local governments face in the recession. President Gerald W. McEntee wrote a strong response, defending AFSCME members from misplaced attacks on their pay and benefits, and standing up for the rights of workers to bargain for better benefits and wages.

Valued workers

SIR – That you regard public-sector workers to be “coddled” and “spoiled rotten” because of their health-care benefits and pensions says more about you than the workers (“Welcome to the real world”, December 12th). You even distorted the evidence, claiming that public employees earn more than those in the private sector. As the Bureau of Labour Statistics makes clear, when comparing pay within occupations public employees do not receive more than their counterparts in the corporate world.

We believe that all American workers deserve decent health care and a secure retirement. The decline of unions in the private sector is one reason why those benefits are not shared by more families. Contrary to what you might think, it is not government employees who brought the American economy and state and local budgets to the brink of disaster. Rather than attack public employees for negotiating good contracts, we should expand the ability of all workers to bargain for better wages and benefits so that they and their families can share in the American Dream.

Gerald McEntee
President
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Washington, DC

This entry by AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee is cross-posted from Huffington Post and Firedoglake.

As news traveled around the world that a major earthquake had struck Haiti, so many of us bowed our heads in sorrow. There is no appropriate way to measure its impact on that already-impoverished country. We can only watch in horror as emergency teams pull bodies from destroyed buildings and hope against hope that the rescued victims are alive. Our union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), has many members with family, friends and neighbors in Haiti who have lost everything. The loss of life and extent of damage is almost incomprehensible.

At this moment of urgent need, the Haitian government – and the people of Haiti – have asked for help from the world community. Those of us who can must heed this call in whatever way possible. AFSCME is donating an initial $25,000 in relief funds to the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center’s Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers fund. In addition, we encourage people to go to the Solidarity Center’s website: solidaritycenter.org to make a donation.

Next Monday, January 18, our nation celebrates the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. AFSCME has a particular tie to Dr. King and his causes. For it was in Memphis, where he joined 1,300 AFSCME Local 1733 sanitation workers in their struggle for equality, that he was assassinated in 1968. This tragic bond has always strengthened our resolve to carry on his work.

Dr. King said, “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

In that spirit, the AFSCME family is asking all of America to rally to the aid of those suffering in Haiti. Now is the time for Americans to help those desperately needing our help. Now is the time to take action and lend a helping hand to the people of Haiti.

MLK Day is a reminder of what this great man stood for, and of our on-going responsibility to help those who cannot help themselves. That is why this day has become a day of service. I can think of no greater service than helping the survivors of the earthquake that hit Haiti this past Monday.

With Congress on the verge of passing historic health care reform, opponents are apparently willing to do just about anything to stop our efforts to fix the health care crisis, drive costs down and cover all Americans.

Among our key priorities, AFSCME is fighting to maintain important consumer protections in health care reform, and to rein in the abusive practices of the industry. The insurance industry has fought to undermine any new proposed regulations, even those they have publicly agreed to. Unfortunately, much of their lobbying is hidden and grossly underreported.

Now an explosive expose by the National Journal reports that the insurance industry secretly spent as much as $20 million on recent ads attacking health care reform, scaring the public and spreading misinformation. Big insurance companies, including Aetna, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group and Wellpoint, funneled millions through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and front groups to hide their contributions and negative campaign while they acted like they were willing to make a deal.

The industry’s covert tactics to protect their bottom line demonstrate why we need strong market reforms, such as ensuring access to a national health insurance buying pool with strong federal oversight, and stopping insurers from finding new and creative ways to deny care based on pre-existing conditions and other factors.

The health care crisis is dragging down our economy and making Americans sick, yet all the insurance industry cares about is their profits.

A group of 16 unions, including AFSCME, representing nearly nine million federal and postal employees and retirees sent a letter to key leaders in Congress this week calling for the removal of the proposed excise tax on high-cost insurance plans included in the Senate’s version of health reform legislation.

As reported by the Huffington Post, the unions object to the so-called “Cadillac tax” because it will unfairly target working-class families.

From the letter:

Characterizing this tax proposal as a “Cadillac tax” is a misnomer. It hits the average blue collar and white collar employee or annuitant. FEHBP [Federal Employees Health Benefits Program] insurers will simply reduce coverage and, as the taxes increase, a downward spiral towards less coverage will ensue, which is antithetical to health care reform’s states purpose. Penalizing FEHBP enrollees with this tax is a huge disincentive to qualified applicants seeking federal or postal employment. It is bad for the government and bad policy overall.

The following unions signed the letter:

American Federation of Government Employees
American Foreign Service Association
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Postal Workers Union
Federal Managers Association
Laborers’ International Union of North America
National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association
National Air Traffic Controller Association
National Association of Letter Carriers
National Association of Postal Supervisors
National Association of Postmasters of the United States
National League of Postmasters of the United States
National Postal Mail Handlers Union
National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association
National Treasury Employees Union
Professional Aviation Safety Specialists

Read the full letter. (PDF)

As the scope of the disaster in Haiti becomes clear, with reports now that hundreds of thousands may have died, the AFL-CIO has assembled a list of ways we can help:

You can help workers in distress by donating to the Solidarity Center’s Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers’ Campaign. Click here to make a donation and learn more about how the center is working to help Haitian workers.

The TransAfrica Forum, a longtime ally of the union movement, suggests donations to two organizations already providing aid on the ground in Haiti: Partners in Health and Doctors Without Borders

The 150,000-member National Nurses United issued an urgent call last night through its nationwide disaster relief network to recruit nurse volunteers to assist Haiti. Twitter updates use the hashtag #HaitiRN

Search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Va., and Los Angeles County, Calif., made up of members of Fire Fighters (IAFF) locals 2068 and 1014, are preparing to head to Haiti to aid in the rescue efforts. Other teams are likely to follow.

This entry by AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee is cross-posted from Huffington Post and Firedoglake.

Working families are struggling with the high cost of health care, yet the health care bill passed by the U.S. Senate on Christmas Eve would tax their health care benefits. That’s a terrible mistake. Unfortunately, even some progressive leaders, like my friend Sen. John Kerry, have been taken in by myths that favor the tax. In a Huffington Post article published earlier this week, Senator Kerry asserts that an excise tax on high cost health plans will help control health care costs without taxing workers. The facts simply don’t support his conclusion.

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the vast majority of revenue collected from the tax will come from individual income taxes and joint filers and not by insurance companies. Employers will respond to the tax by reducing the benefits they offer employees, so they can fit their premium charges under the tax threshold. To the extent insurance companies pay the tax, the tax will be directly passed through to employers and employees in the form of higher premium charges.

If Congress decides to tax health care benefits for the first time in American history, it will be middle class workers across America who will pay the price. The first thing employers will do is slash the health care benefits they provide to avoid the cost of the new tax. For years, workers have given up wage increases in order to protect their health benefits. Now, those workers and their families will lose the health benefits on which they rely.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and many supporters of the excise tax on health care benefits claim employers will pass along cost savings to their employees in the form of raises. They may also believe in the tooth fairy. According to a recent Towers-Perrin study of 433 executives from midsize and large companies, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, when asked what they would do, “If health care reform reduces benefit costs to the organization,” only 9 percent of the executives responded by saying they would increase salaries. The Economic Policy Institute backs up that study with convincing research demonstrating that “health care cost increases do not correspond to major movements in wages or compensation.”

Many of the proponents of the excise tax, including Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag, see virtue in the fact that it will force companies to trim their benefits and require workers to pick-up more of their health care tab. That’s a double whammy for workers. More importantly, it is certainly not the “change” our members expected when they knocked on doors and cast their ballots for President Obama and Vice President Biden. We believed their promise that health care reform would include a guarantee that workers who liked their health care benefits would keep them. A tax that falls disproportionately on older workers, workers at smaller firms and others with decent but not extravagant health care does not keep that promise. And it does not make sense.

The excise tax is not essential, or even relevant, to health care reform. The excise tax is a tax policy, not a health care policy. The CBO’s scoring of the Senate bill underscores this point. CBO calculates that the Senate bill will decrease the federal budget deficit by $130 billion over the 2010-2019 period while the excise tax will raise $149 billion. These numbers clearly demonstrate that the excise tax is not a necessary component of health care reform, even as a financing mechanism. It is simply a method to raise revenues to reduce the deficit.

There are far better alternatives for funding health care reform, just as there are better ways to reduce the deficit. The House bill would do it by asking the wealthy to do their part through a small surcharge on families earning more than $1 million annually. It asks the wealthiest Americans, and the insurance companies responsible for skyrocketing costs, to pay their fair share. And importantly, it doesn’t unfairly place the burden of reform on America’s middle class.

Make no mistake: A tax on health benefits will increase the taxes on the middle class. It will add to the burdens faced by middle class families already struggling with the high cost of health care coverage. It is a big mistake that needs to be corrected before Congress finalizes the bill. We are at a pivotal moment in the debate. The time for action is upon us. President Obama and members of the House must tell the Senate that their misguided and unnecessary tax on health benefits cannot survive in the final version of health care reform.

This message comes from Chuck Loveless, AFSCME Director of Legislation.

Help start the New Year off right — by finally making quality, affordable health care for all a reality.

Here’s what’s happening: the U.S. Senate passed its version of health care reform on Christmas Eve, and now Democratic leaders are merging the bill with the one passed by the House of Representatives in November. Once leaders have a final bill, it must again win passage in both the House and Senate before being sent to President Obama’s desk for his signature.

That’s why I hope you’ll send a message to Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi — they’re working out the final details and we need to make sure they finish reform right.

This is our last chance to make sure our historic health care reform actually fixes the health care crisis, drives costs down, and covers all Americans. Two changes are key to making sure that the final bill delivers the reform that Americans desperately need:

1. Our health benefits must not be taxed. Middle-class families must be able to afford health insurance and employers must be asked to provide good health coverage for their employees.
2. Insurance companies must be held accountable with strong regulations and consumer protections, and we must be given the choice of a national public health insurance option available on day one.

Please send a message to Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi right now and demand that the final reform bill include the choice and competition of a public health insurance option and doesn’t tax our health care benefits.

Thanks to your ongoing phone calls, e-mails, and faxes we got this far and passed a strong bill in the House of Representatives. But the Senate bill is much weaker and it taxes our benefits — that’s why your voice is needed today.

Please send your message right now and spread the word by posting this action on Facebook or Twitter.

From Americans United for Change:

It’s the first lunch hour of the first work day of a new decade and the average CEO has already earned more money than a minimum wage worker will make all year.

Even after as we continue to dig out of this financial hole, the average total compensation for a CEO in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was $10.9 million in 2008, which translates to about $5,240 an hour, compared to the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Happy New Year.

From Think Progress:

Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a hospital in Hawaii last week after he complained of chest pains and had reportedly been taken from his hotel “in serious condition.”

Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu released Limbaugh on Friday, and during a press conference the conservative radio host said his physicians did not know what caused his symptoms. Limbaugh praised the U.S. health care system based on his experience:

“The treatment I received here was the best that the world has to offer,” Limbaugh said. “Based on what happened here to me, I don’t think there’s one thing wrong with the American health care system. It is working just fine, just dandy.”

Of course Rush would probably think any health system is “just dandy,” mainly because he is a multi-millionaire and can afford the best health care wherever he might be. But this is not the case for tens of millions of Americans who are unable to afford care or insurance due to the rising costs of health care in the U.S.

But it’s also odd that Limbaugh would cite his experience in Hawaii as evidence that the U.S. health care system is “fine” seeing that Hawaii has already passed reform measures similar to those that Congress is currently considering as part of comprehensive reform — measures that Limbaugh has constantly been attacking.

As Crooks and Liars points out: It’s so nice that Limbaugh thinks our health care system is just wonderful since he’s never going to have to worry about whether he’ll go bankrupt paying for his medical bills.

Read more at Think Progress.

Politics Daily looks at the effects of the so-called “Cadillac tax” included in the Senate health care bill. Originally intended as a way to finance reform by taxing the type of expensive benefit plans enjoyed by Wall Street executives, studies show it would hit a lot of middle-class Americans — and likely result in drastic cuts to health benefits.

Beth Umland, the research director for the Mercer employee benefits consulting firm which released a widely-read study on this tax last week, says the impact would be felt across the board.

“Plans that trigger the excise tax are not necessarily generous plans,” she said. “Small employers offer significantly less-generous plans than large employers, but just as many small employers are going to trigger the tax.” Plans for workers in dangerous professions, like steelworkers, also have higher-cost plans because they experience more work-related health problems.

Unlike the Senate bill, the plan passed by the House pays for health reform with a surtax on people making more than $500,000, and House Democrats like Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) are determined to remove the Cadillac tax when the legislation goes to conference committee.

A senior Democratic House aide said this week that the choice by the Senate to pay for health care reform with an excise tax that could hit middle-class workers, as opposed to the choice of the House to tax the highest earners, represents a fundamental philosophical difference between the two chambers that could endanger the entire bill if it is a part of the final conference report.

“It would be a mistake to assume that we’re just going to rubber-stamp what the Senate sends us,” Courtney said. “All of us are going to be on the ballot in 2010. It certainly raises a big, red flag for people who are going out be campaigning soon.”

Read the full story.