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Not Reforming Health Care is HAARM-ful to your Health |
 HAARM.org informs health care debate with several great videos
The Service Employees International Unions (SEIU) has launched a new web site where you can meet Health Americans Against Reforming Medicine (HAARM). The site is a parody of the very real opponents of health care reform.
At HAARM.org you can watch several hilarious videos, including these gems:
(Video) Community Outreach:
"The people will finally realize what a ridiculous idea health care reform really is."
(Video) Message Strategy Session:
"We have got to figure out a way to convince the American people that health care is a bad thing."
(Video) Fire Care:
"First, I'm going to have to see your fire care insurance card."
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TAKE ACTION: Call on Senate Committee for UI Reform |
Severance should not be obstacle to unemployment benefits
A bill (H1090) passed by the NC House and now being considered by the NC Senate Commerce Committee would strike a provision in state unemployment law that says workers who lose their job aren't really unemployed if they happen to be lucky enough to get severance pay.
Unemployment is unemployment, and severance pay does not make up the difference for workers who have lost their job and their livelihood.
NC Senators on the Commerce Committee need to hear from us that H1090 is good policy in tough times for working families in our state. The committee will likely hear the bill next week.
Please use this list to call committee members and tell them to support H1090:
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Valerie Johnson Appointed to Key Post with AFL-CIO |
 Will serve on Lawyers Coordinating Committee
The Lawyers Coordinating Committee is an AFL-CIO affiliated organization of union lawyers from around the country. Mike Okun - our own General Counsel - had been on the Board of Directors, which is made up of the General Counsels of many of the international unions and a few practitioners selected from around the country, for the past three years, when the by-laws required that he rotate off.
The LCC then asked Valerie Johnson, who practices with Mike, Hank Patterson, and Leto Copeley, and whom many of you know from our Labor School, to take Mike's spot, and she agreed. To Mike's recollection, Valerie is the first lawyer who is primarily a workers' compensation lawyer to ever be asked to serve in this important position.
Speaking of Labor School, our students will be lucky to have Valerie once again this year to teach a two part course on North Carolina's workers' compensation system - a big hit at every Labor School.
Congratulations to Valerie on her appointment to this prestigious position at the LCC! |
SPECIAL EVENT: From Guadeloupe to Greensboro |
Welcome trade union leaders from Haiti, Guadeloupe to N. Carolina
 Elie Domota (pictured at right), General Secretary, General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe and Fignole Saint Cyr (pictured below), General Secretary, Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers, will be in Greensboro on Tuesday, July 7, 2009. Their stop in North Carolina is part of a solidarity tour of the United States, and will include a meet and greet and presentations followed by a discussion.
What: Come spend an evening with the leaders of the trade union movement in Haiti and Guadeloupe
When: Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 6:30 pm for meet & greet, 7:00 pm
Where: Glenwood Community Center, 2010 Coliseum Blvd, Greensboro, NC
 In Haiti, the unions are playing a major role in the struggle to restore democracy after the U.S. government intervened in the 1990s to remove then President Arisitide. A contingent of U.N. peace keepers continue to occupy much of the country.
Earlier this year, the trade unions of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe led a powerful "fight back" against the deepening worldwide economic crisis. United in a coalition of 50 organizations, the workers and people of Guadeloupe won a $250 per month wage increase for low-wage workers, more jobs for youth, a reduction in the prices of basic necessities, and a moratorium on home foreclosures.
The struggles of workers in Haiti and Guadeloupe may sound familiar to many of our members and advocates of workers' rights in America. Come find out more about the struggles of the labor movement elsewhere in our hemisphere and how we can "fight back" against the massive loss of jobs, health care, pensions and homes here in the U.S.A. |
NC Voices for Choice: Linda Suggs, AFT |
 Free Choice and health care are linked
Linda Suggs, AFT, is passionate about issues affecting American workers, particularly health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act. She believes both are essential to rebuilding the middle class, and should be passed this year.
"Twenty million Americans are without health insurance, often because they lost their jobs," says Linda. "Uninsured people need our help, and they need it now."
"Unemployment checks are not enough to pay for health care premiums, which is why public sector health insurance is important," explains Linda. "We need quality, affordable health care for all Americans."
Linda also believes that health care access is closely linked with workers right to choose how to form a union. She supports the Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow workers to decide whether to form a union through majority sign-up or secret ballot.
"The Employee Free Choice Act will rebuild the middle class and the economy," says Linda. "I believe that North Carolina is due for a union comeback. When the workforce is unionized, workers have an opportunity to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions."
Linda points out that we have a president poised to sign the Employee Free Choice Act into law, if only it gets through Congress. "Our hard work and dedication towards passing this legislation will pay off in the end," she says.
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Convention Call, Credentials Have Gone Out |
 Election Year Convention is September 9-11, 2009
The 52nd Annual Convention of the NC State AFL-CIO will be held September 9-11, 2009 at the Sheraton Atlantic Beach Oceanfront Hotel, Atlantic Beach, NC.
The last day to make hotel reservations and get our discounted rate is August 8, 2009. The deadline to pre-register delegates for the convention is Monday, August 17, 2009.
This year is a special convention. It's an election year, when the officers and executive board members will stand for new 4-year terms.
- View the call letter for more details.
- Download the convention flyer to post it in your break rooms, meeting halls, and share it with your members.
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