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May 7, 2004
Legislative Conference Brings Unions Together for
Good Jobs and Health Care
 Over
500 union members and leaders came together on April 26 and 27
for Labor's 2004 Legislative Conference in Sacramento. This
year's conference focused on protecting good jobs and health
care for workers in California. Unions from all sectors came to
discuss details of new bills to stop the offshoring of jobs,
reduce the cost of prescription drugs and raise the minimum
wage.
Labor's
Legislative Priorities
The conference workshops were filled to capacity for training
sessions on health care crisis, changes in workers compensation,
the unemployment insurance system, the state budget, job
protection, transportation funding and using online advocacy for
union campaigns.
Labor's activities in the Capitol
attracted the attention of the legislature. Many Senators and
Assemblymembers attended the conference dinner for a chance to
chat up Central Labor Council and affiliate leaders. The
Federation's Legislative Scorecard was distributed to delegates
in the morning and legislators were praised or admonished
according to their voting records over dinner.
Women
Leaders Meet
Over 120 women union leaders and rank-and-file
activists also came together for the Women's Leadership
Roundtable on the eve of the Legislative Conference. Women
leaders discussed the issues and messages for women in the
November election and developed innovative worksite flyers on
health care and other issues of concern to union women. Prior to
the Roundtable the Building Trades held the Women Building and
Protecting California Conference. Over 350 tradeswomen and women
firefighters met to help set a policy agenda to advance the
goals of tradeswomen recruitment and retention in California.
Rally
Against Corporate Health Care Take-aways
Union members used the opportunity to maximize their collective
strength by participating in a Labor Lobby Day on Tuesday. Union
members met with their district representatives to explain
Labor's legislative priorities in 2004. Lobbying sessions broke
midday for some action in the streets. Over two hundred union
members joined a boisterous march through downtown Sacramento in
defense of health care. The "walk of shame" rally route included
funders of the referendum such as the Restaurant Association and
the Chamber of Commerce as well as SBC and Safeway - employers
who've tried to take away health care coverage in contract
disputes.
The conference was an important
opportunity to bring the power of Organized Labor to the
corridors of the Capitol and to unite unions around a shared
legislative program to protect Good Jobs and Health Care for
workers in California.
Join The
Campaign To Save
Your
Health Care
Labor's landmark victory, the Health Insurance Act of 2003 (SB
2), is under attack by big business. If implemented, the Act
would be a powerful tool for dealing with the problems of
employer cost shifting and the uninsured - both of which effect
everyone’s health care coverage.
While many employers stayed
neutral on the law, major opposition has come from large
employers in the retail and fast-food industries, which make
plenty of profit but are more likely to not provide health
benefits. Companies like Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and Macy's are
working to repeal the Health Insurance Act by placing the
measure on the November 2004 ballot.
Opponents of the Health Insurance
Act (HIA) have already spent an estimated $3 million to qualify
the referendum and are expected to raise upwards of $15 million
dollars for their media campaign. By going to the ballot, the
opposition has now made this a high-profile, high-stakes battle.
If the opponents win, it will stifle other attempts at health
care reform in other states. If HIA is re-affirmed, it will send
a major signal nationally, that voters are demanding solutions
to the health care crisis.
Join the campaign to save your
health care now! For a
Campaign Kit
to help your union or organization defend health care go to
www.calaborfed.org.
Raising
the Minimum Wage
Last week the Labor Federation and community activists from
ACORN lobbied legislators on the importance of raising the
minimum wage in the state and passing AB 2832 (Lieber), which
would increase the minimum wage $1.00 over two years.
The bill was placed on the
suspense file in Assembly Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.
The next step is to lobby legislators in the coming weeks to
move the bill off the 'suspense' calendar and to the Assembly
Floor. Labor and its allies will need to convince legislators
that much of this money is circulated locally in our communities
and comes back to the state in the way of tax revenue. An
increase in the minimum wage not only helps low-wage workers, it
is a stimulus to the economy and a wise investment in the
future. For a sample letter of support go to
www.calaborfed.org/issues_politics.
Paid
Family Leave to Begin July 1
Beginning July 1st, 2004 many workers will be able to make use
of the Labor-sponsored Paid Family Leave law to take time off to
bond with a new child or to care for a seriously ill spouse,
parent, child, or domestic partner. If eligible, a worker may be
able to receive 55% of their wages.
Corporate lobbyists have opposed
paid family leave on the basis of its supposed costs, but the
program is in fact entirely employee funded. The cost of paid
family leave for workers translates to around $2.00 a month per
employee per month - less than what it costs to buy a cup of
coffee in San Francisco!
Although businesses do not pay for it, they will benefit from
it. With a paid family leave policy employees are less likely to
quit their jobs to care for a family member, resulting in a
reduction in costly turnovers for employers.
Paid family leave allows
Californians to balance work and family care demands, while it
saves employers the cost of retraining and rehiring -- and
that's good news for everyone. For more information on Paid
Family Leave go to
www.paidfamilyleave.org/.
Attacks on
Recent Labor Wins
Although Paid Family Leave legislation is
about to go into effect on July 1, the Federation and affiliates
are still fighting attempts to chip away at the program. Some of
the bills attacking Paid Family Leave include SB 1829 (Knight),
which would have repealed the paid family leave law and AB 2322
(Bates), which would have allowed workers to opt out of the paid
family leave program.
Federation and affiliate lobby
efforts also beat back attacks on SB 796, legislation passed
last year that improves labor law enforcement. Those bills
included AB 2181 (Campbell), which would have repealed SB 796
(Dunn) and AB 2650 (Bates), which would have exempted small
businesses from SB 796 (Dunn).
Among the bills defeated in the general "bad bill" category was
SB 1505 (McClintock), which would have created significant
hurdles to implementing any new legislation that protects
workers. The bill would have given small business an unwarranted
amount of power to invalidate labor regulations - despite a
Labor and Workforce Development Agency's study demonstrating
that labor code violations are most prevalent in the smallest
sized employers.
CALIFORNIA LABOR EVENTS
Central
Labor Council Conference
This annual conference brings central labor
councils from around the state together for a one-day conference
on legislative priorities, support for affiliates, and building
a strong political campaign. May 12, 10am, 6pm Reception.
Holiday Inn on the Bay, San Diego. For more information call
510-663-4000.
Building
Partnerships 2004 Conference
The AFL-CIO's Working for America Institute (WAI) is partnering
with the Federation's Workforce & Economic Development Program
for a conference on workforce training and economic development.
May 12 - 14, Holiday Inn on the Bay, San Diego. For more
information call 510-663-4087.
UCLA Labor
Center 40th Anniversary
Saturday, May 22, 2004, 6:00pm reception and
7:00pm dinner at the Wilshire Grand Los Angeles. Hosted by the
LA County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, the event will honor Tom
Rankin, Dolores Huerta, Rev. James Lawson, Jr., and Dave Sickler.
For more information, contact Julie Monroe at (310) 794-5982.
Workers'
Comp Navigator Training Workshop
Learn how to educate injured workers on exercising their rights
and obtaining care, strengthen your bargaining and organizing
strategies around workers’ comp and help your organization
promote policies to protect injured workers' rights. Sponsored
by the Labor Occupational Health Program, UC Berkeley. June
9-10, 2004 at the Alameda County CLC, 7992 Capwell Drive,
Oakland. |
