|
We've been tracking these stories on the Speed Matters Blog:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/DdqMbw71YcQ4/
Save money, save lives with telemedicine
A new study found that the use of telemedicine could save our
nation's health care system more than $4 billion annually by
reducing unnecessary transfers of patients between medical
facilities.
U.N. official urges closing of high speed Internet gap
At last month's Global Forum on Access and Connectivity,
Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International
Telecommunications Union, warned that a major worldwide gap
exists between those with high speed Internet access and those
without.
Report: Proactive policies needed to connect rural areas
"Broadband Internet Use in Rural Pennsylvania," a report from
the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, examines high speed Internet
availability and adoption with regard to health care, local
government, education and business. Results indicate that what
is needed in rural Pennsylvania as well as other rural areas
across the country, are proactive policies to facilitate
expanding high speed Internet access and adoption. The study
used case studies, interviews and Web site analysis.
Project Bluebird looks at high speed Internet for Page County,
VA
"Project Bluebird," a study being conducted by economic
officials in Page County, Virginia, will assess the need, costs,
and methods for bringing high-speed Internet to the county. With
unemployment in the county up, and a large majority businesses
expressing dissatisfaction with current Internet service, Page
County could benefit greatly from Project Bluebird's findings,
and from high speed Internet.
A call for public investment in North Carolina's high speed
Internet
In an insightful Charlotte Observer column, Mary Schulken makes
the case for state government investment in North Carolina's
last-mile high speed Internet connections.
| $4.OO / GALLON GAS FIGHT BACK!!!!!!!! | |
|
Dear Member,
|
|
Big Oil gets massive profits. CEOs get massive pay packages. Bush and McCain give Big Oil massive tax breaks.
And we get massive pain in the pocket every time we put gas in the tank.
Fed up? FIGHT BACK.
Download a flier and a fact sheet about how the Bush-McCain love affair with Big Oil is harming working families. Share it with those
you know. |
Out-of-control gas prices are choking off the American dream for working families. But instead of boosting the economy by investing in jobs and renewable energy, George Bush gave tax breaks to millionaires and oil companies. And he’s spending $10 billion a month on the war in Iraq.
John McCain? More of the same. He’s voted with Bush to help the special interests, not working families. Now he wants to give even MORE tax breaks to Big Oil.
Enough! It's time to fight back.
Download a flier and a fact sheet about how the Bush-McCain love affair with Big Oil is harming working families. Share it with the people you know.
Since President Bush took office, gas prices have risen from $1.47 a gallon to more than $4. Bush's administration has done all it can to protect Big Oil's profits—in fact, the top five oil companies have made $525 billion in profits under Bush. Last year alone, ExxonMobil made $40 billion in profits—the largest single-year profits ever made by a U.S. company.
And John McCain is right in lockstep with Bush:
- McCain’s tax plan would give $3.8 billion in tax cuts to the five largest American oil companies.
- Like Bush, McCain protects Big Oil’s profits. Last year, McCain was the only senator to miss a vote on the energy bill repealing tax subsidies for oil companies. In 2005, he voted against a temporary windfall profits tax on oil companies to fund tax credits for working families. Previously, he opposed ending tax breaks for oil and natural gas companies related to depletion and drilling costs.
- McCain has received $723,777 in campaign contributions from oil and gas industry PACs and employees—almost twice as much as Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.
While all this is going on, working families are struggling with stagnant wages, soaring health care costs, home foreclosures and disappearing jobs as well as impossible gas prices.
But Big Oil execs are raking it in. Take a look at some of their 2007 pay packages: ExxonMobil's CEO Rex Tillerson got $21.7 million. Occidental Petroleum Corp. CEO Ray Irani got $34.2 million. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. CEO James Hackett got $26.7 million. And ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva got $15.1 million.
Take Action!
Download a flier and a fact sheet about how the Bush-McCain love affair with Big Oil is harming working families and share it with the people you know.
In solidarity,
CWA Votes 2008
P.S. Help spread the word about the real John McCain. Please encourage others you know to visit our McCain Revealed online briefing book.
|
| HEALTH CARE TAX |
|
Dear MEMBER
Did you know that John McCain wants to tax health care benefits?
Al Mumm, President of CWA Local 7290 does. In response to the e-mail I sent last week, Al wrote:
My Local, CWA 7290, represents Alcatel/Lucent employees and retirees. A family health care plan for our members and retirees costs Alcatel/Lucent around $12,000 a year. McCain's tax credit of $5,000 would leave my members holding the bag for an additional $7,000 from their own pockets!! Plus, under McCain's plan, companies would drop health care in droves. Even with a union contract, good luck getting health care when that contract expires!
Al's right. Under McCain's plan to fix our health care system, the health care premiums that your employer pays will become part of your taxable income. That means John McCain will create a new tax for people who have health insurance coverage through their employers. A family that benefits from a union-negotiated health care plan worth $15,000 would pay $5,000 in taxes.
Even CWA members with good health care benefits are facing a health care crisis because our employers can't keep up with rising health care costs for members and retirees. But rather than finding a solution that works for both employers and employees, John McCain's plan just offers more of the same broken system.
We want to know: how does the health care crisis affect you? Would a tax on health care benefits make things better or worse? Tell us your story:
http://stories.healthcarevoices.org/submit_stories/
As Al points out, John McCain's plan will only make things harder for CWA at the bargaining table. His plan doesn't require all employers to pay their fair share, and it doesn't help smaller employers afford good coverage.
CWA wants to find a solution to the health care crisis that improves the quality of care and takes the pressure off employers and employees alike.
Our Health Care campaign is mobilizing members across the country to push for a real political solution to the crisis – and to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to strengthen our bargaining power for health care.
Please visit the Health Care Voices website, tell us your health care story, and sign up to join the campaign for real health care reform:
http://stories.healthcarevoices.org/submit_stories/
America's health care system is already broken, and John McCain's plan will only make it worse for all of us.
In Unity,
Jeff Rechenbach
Executive Vice President | | | |
##################################
Democrats Introduce New Direction on Trade
A bill that promotes global trade as long as agreements are
fairly negotiated and include effective labor, environmental and
product safety standards is being introduced by Democrats on
Capitol Hill with the support of CWA and other labor unions.
"We're here to play offense," said CWA President Larry Cohen.
"We're tired of playing defense."
The TRADE Act calls for a review of all existing trade
agreements and provides a process to renegotiate them. The bill
includes principles outlining what should be included in future
trade agreements, and spells out that the role of Congress in
trade policymaking should be strengthened. It will reverse years
of trade policy that have elevated capital, financial and
property interests above all else, Cohen noted.
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Representative Michael Michaud
(D-Maine) and other TRADE Act sponsors, speaking with Cohen and
other labor leaders at a news conference on Wednesday, said the
bill should put an end to the myth that Democrats and unions are
opposed to trade.
"The TRADE Act will help Congress and the White House craft a
trade agreement that benefits workers, business owners and our
country," said Brown, who introduced the bill in the Senate. "We
want trade, and we want more of it. The TRADE Act is a critical
first step."
The bill is formally called the Trade Reform, Accountability,
Development and Employment Act.
Cohen said that enforceable labor standards are critical to fair
trade, so that companies can't simply abandon the United States
or other countries for nations with even weaker workers' rights.
He called the proposed Colombia Free Trade Agreement a "new low,
even for hard-core free traders." Colombia leads the world in
denying workers the right to collective bargaining. Simply by
labeling workers as contractors, self-employed, or cooperatives,
when these workers are employed by major corporations, Colombia
has allowed 85 percent of its 18 million workers to be stripped
of any possibility of gaining collective bargaining rights.
"This trend exists in the USA, but in Colombia we see the end
point with no corporate responsibility and an extreme disparity
between wage earners and the economic elite," he said.
Wednesday's news conference also featured Senator Byron Dorgan
(D-N.D.), Representative Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), and Teamsters
President James Hoffa.
##################################
IUE-CWA Will Fight to Save Moraine, Ohio, GM Plant
Blaming weak sales of sport utility vehicles, General Motors
this week announced plans to close the IUE-CWA-represented plant
in Moraine, Ohio, along with three other plant shutdowns,
prompting the union to declare that the workers and the
community are victims of GM's "failure in reading the U.S.
automotive market and securing future product for our facility."
IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said in a statement that the union
"will work as hard as possible and reach out to all potential
allies to try to save the plant" by convincing GM to bring new
auto production lines to the facility. "If GM still wants to
make an excellent product at a profit in the United States, we
can do it in Moraine," he said.
IUE-CWA represents 2,500 workers at the suburban Dayton plant,
which manufactures several lines of SUVs.
"Through unprecedented work rule flexibility and an unmatched
commitment to quality, the workers at (Moraine) have
consistently delivered a profitable product," Clark noted. "GM
should recognize the loyalty and the skill of the Moraine
workers with a new product placement. GM could reward the
community's long-time support by working to rebuild the plant's
future, not abandoning an already hard-struck area. I hope that
GM is not out of fresh ideas and new products," he declared.
At the same time, IUE-CWA "will fight equally as hard to ensure
that our members and retirees get all they deserve and all they
have earned after years of working for GM," Clark stated.
##################################
Harry Swaim Dies, Retired District 3 Staff Rep
Harry Swaim, 74, retired District 3 staff representative, died
May 26, at the Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfeesboro,
Tenn. "Harry was a gentle giant, always working most of the time
unnoticed, for the rights of working men and women," said
District 3 Vice President Noah Savant.
Swaim became active in CWA from the moment he went to work for
South Central Bell in 1954. During the next 21 years, he rose
through the ranks of Local 3806, in Memphis, serving as steward,
secretary-treasurer, vice president, and president. He appointed
a CWA representative in 1975 and moved wherever he was needed --
from Alabama, to Louisiana, and finally to Tennessee. He retired
in 1999.
"There's nothing Harry wouldn't do for you," reflected a
colleague, retired District 3 Vice President Gene Russo. "During
a tough round of bargaining with the old United Sprint
bargaining unit in Johnson City, he moved to Johnson City from
his office in Nashville and stayed put until a contract was
reached."
He is survived by his wife, Jeanette, sons Eddie, Michael, Jay
and Victor, along with eleven grandchildren and one
great-grandchild.
--------------------------------------------------
If you would like to unsubscribe from this e-mail list or update
your account information, visit your CWA subscription management
page at:
http://www.unionvoice.org/cwa_action/smp.tcl?nkey=ekxdsdra77md336&.
If you would like to unsubscribe from ALL e-mail lists
associated with the CWA e-Activist Network, you can respond to
this email with "REMOVE"
as the subject.
***********************************************
Click on the link below for more information
from your union, online activism and benefits.
http://www.unionvoice.org/
***********************************************
|
Tell-a-friend!