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LABOR DAY 2007: UNIONS AT FOREFRONT OF HEALTH CARE FOR ALL
David Newby, President Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Ever since their inception, labor unions have done far more than protect the interests of their own members. Unions, though funded solely through the dues of their own members, have again and again worked to improve the lives of all working people and assure all a fair chance to work at a safe and decent-paying job. Currently, Wisconsin unions are hard at work to assure affordable health care for everyone in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin State Senate has adopted “Healthy Wisconsin: Your Choice, Your Plan”. It is the most comprehensive and progressive state-level universal health care plan in the country, created in the spirit of the Wisconsin progressive legislative initiatives of the early 20th century. “Healthy Wisconsin” was crafted in significant part from the union-created “Wisconsin Health Care Partnership Plan”, first released in 2003 and introduced in the Legislature with bi-partisan support last year. If Republicans refuse to accept the “Healthy Wisconsin” proposal either in the Budget (as they have so far) or as separate legislation during this Session of the Legislature, it will be a determining issue in the November 2008 elections for State Assembly and State Senate. If I were a Democrat running for election against an Assembly Republican, I would say to voters: “My Democratic colleagues in the Senate voted to guarantee you and your family comprehensive health care you can afford: you choose your doctor, no pre-existing condition exclusions, no break in coverage if you lose your job. You would have the same excellent health care that the Governor and your legislator has. But my Republican opponent voted to take away from you that guaranteed health care coverage (as well as a property tax cut from health insurance cost savings to local government).” Guaranteed quality, comprehensive health care for all Wisconsinites shouldn’t be a partisan issue. But with a couple of exceptions it has become partisan. That is unfortunate. Now our health care campaign in Wisconsin is going national: On Labor Day, the National AFL-CIO will be announcing a major nation-wide offensive on universal health care for the entire country. That will be one of two or three issues that labor will organize around for the November 2008 elections: we will hold candidates accountable to supporting issues critical to working people. Fixing our broken international trade system is another issue that affects the lives and livelihoods of all working people. If we don’t change the rules of our international trade system (rules currently set by multi-national corporations in their own interest) the industrial sector of our economy is doomed—and the entire middle class with it! Our economy, and the global economy, have to work for all working people, not just for the multinational corporations, the rich and the powerful! The challenges before us are immense. Election victories are not the complete answer to the attacks working people face. But the electoral arena is one where all unions will work together to protect and improve the standard of living and quality of life of our members, and indeed of all working people. That is the commitment of union members on Labor Day 2007. So on to 2008, and to creating the most fundamental political transformation we’ve seen since FDR and John Kennedy!
David Newby, President Wisconsin State AFL-CIO |