Labor Day celebrated in Chicago with calls for greater solidarity

By John Bachtell
Chicago- Even in the face of the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression, “labor solidarity does indeed work.” So declared Gail Warner before a festive Sept. 7 Labor Day event at the Pullman State Historic Monument, site of the famous 1894 strike.

Warner is one of fifty mental health workers represented by AFSCME who fought four years to negotiate their first contract with Heartland Human Services in Effingham, Illinois. Warner announced the workers had finally won and returned to work September 2 after being on strike for a year, then returning to work and being locked out for a year. “We are proud of our victory. It shows if you organize and fight you can win,” she said.

Over a dozen determined workers and trade union leaders from the front lines of battles raging across Illinois joined Warner at the event organized by the Illinois Labor History Society, Chicago and Illinois AFL-CIO and a score of other labor and community groups.


















The event was the culmination of a day of statewide actions demanding health care and immigration reform, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and creation of living wage jobs.

Progressive radio talk show host Dick Kaye, formerly a political reporter for TV Channel 5, emceed the Pullman event. Kaye told the crowd, “I was also (Screen Actors Guild) shop steward and fought (station) management until I was blue in the face. And they’re glad I’m gone. We are here as a reminder of all the labor movement has done and that the fight goes on.”













Sarita Gomez is involved in an organizing drive being conducted by United Food and Commercial Workers at Pete’s Supermarket in Chicago. “The company is a bunch of thieves. They are stealing from the workers,” Gomez angrily recounted. “We want a union. We are fighting, we are the working people and no one will stop us.”

A large contingent of schoolteachers represented by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) attended. Teachers are fighting battles on two fronts – severe under funding and privatization efforts by the city. On this day they celebrated organizing victories by the Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (AFT) at three Chicago charter schools operated by Civitas.

“Together we win, divided we fall,” said CTU president Marilyn Stewart. “We are not anti-charter. But we are pro-union and against teachers being exploited.”

“Our elected officials need to step up and do what’s necessary to fund our schools. We’re all in this together. An injury to one is an injury to all,” she said.

Also attending the event were many elected officials, including several from Chicago’s South Side community who unanimously demanded passage of health care reform in Congress.


















“We have come to these hallowed grounds to remind the nation of the fierce urgency of now,” said Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL). “We are here 115 years (after the Pullman strike) to demand the federal government be on the side of people and not the health care corporations.”

Jackson said under the constitution people have the right to bear arms, but not the right to health care. He called for Congress not to pass a watered down version of health care reform. “This 2nd Congressional District representative from Illinois will not vote for a bill without a public option,” he said to loud cheers.

Also giving greetings was Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. who told the crowd, “We won last November and we’ll win in September. We’ll get a comprehensive health care bill.”

Jackson also hit the loss of 8 million jobs in the current economic crisis and called for stepped up action including for massive jobs creation. He announced a Sept. 12 march in Rockford, IL, the city with the highest unemployment in the state. “We can’t be silent in the face of attacks on workers,” he said.

A delegation of elected officials and religious leaders led by Gov. Pat Quinn kicked off Labor Day observances by delivering a letter signed by 200 prominent community members to the management of the Congress Hotel calling for an end to the six year strike, longest in the country.

Hotel management forced the workers on strike after imposing a wage cut. Today they are paying scabs $8.83/hour while the rest of the downtown hotel workers are making $14.60/hour under the master agreement. Meanwhile, contracts for 6,500 hotel workers across Chicago are expiring and a big battle is looming.

Over 2,000 immigrant workers, their families and supporters marched through the “Loop” demanding an end to the workplace raids and deportations and passage of immigration reform legislation in Congress.














One of those marching was Pedro Garcia, a member of SEIU Local 1. Garcia said he was motivated to march for an “end to the workplace raids and to say no to the separation of families. We need legalization of immigrant workers and have the same rights for all.”

Another marcher was Maria Arias who said, “I’m in support of legalization (of undocumented immigrant workers). I’m a citizen, but I’m in support of everyone else who left behind families to be here.”

“Until workers are legalized, that’s a loss for all workers. We need to bring the bar up instead of down,” said Shelly Ruzicka of Arise Chicago, a workers rights organization. “There needs to be some path to citizenship and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act so more workers can be organized.”

One of the struggles highlighted throughout the day was the strike of 70 workers at S & K Handtools who walked off the job Aug. 24 after the company unilaterally eliminated their health insurance without notice.

Teamsters Local 743 represents the workers and a large group marched in the demonstration. Local president Richard Berg told the World, “We support full equality for all. You can’t have full dignity unless people have rights and are treated equally. Labor Day is a perfect day to march for workers rights, whether it be for healthcare or immigration reform or the right to organize.”

Jenny couldn’t wait; vigil demands action on health care

By Terrie Albano
CHICAGO -- “Twenty thousand people die each year because they lack health insurance.” That was a grim figure presented by medical student Anthony Chang to a MoveOn.org-hosted health care reform vigil here on Sept. 2.

Jenny Fritts, a 24-year-old mother, pregnant with her second baby, didn’t have health care insurance. She was feeling sick and went to the ER of a for-profit hospital. They told her she had a cold and gave her Nyquil. The next day she still felt sick and went to a non-profit hospital. They immediately admitted her. She had a serious infection. The doctors couldn’t save her baby.

After spending 52 days in the ICU, Jenny Fritts died. One of 20,000 people a year.

Carrying a poster-sized photo of Fritts at the vigil with the words “She Could Not Wait,” were her in-laws Midge and Dan Hough. Dan told the story of Fritts’ tragic death and the impact on their family to the several hundred people gathered at Grant Park and holding lit candles. “She leaves a 2-year-old child and a devastated husband. And I just think that a for profit hospital” and no health insurance was as much a cause of her death as the infection, he said quietly. “We can’t have any more Jennys.”

“Never again in America,” said William McNary of Citizen Action/Illinois, a major organization in the fight for progressive health care reform, “let the record show that we gathered here in the same park where we celebrated Barack Obama’s election to make history again. To win a bill that provides quality, affordable and equitable health care for all.”

McNary then broke down the economics of the for-profit insurance industry, which make make billions of dollars a year in profit. CEOs get millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses. For example, H. Edward Hanway of Cigna received $30.16 million for his yearly salary.

“That’s $5,883 an hour!” McNary said.

McNary had been at a rally of a couple thousand people in Columbus, Ohio, with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Brown, a progressive lawmaker, had authored the public option component of the Senate bill from the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. Asked to draft it by the committee’s former chair, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, Brown told the Columbus crowd he was confident a public option would pass and it would work, according to McNary.

“We need three things to win: passion, unity and discipline. I wasn’t there at the Edmond Pettus Bridge that ushered in the Civil Rights Act, but people I talked to that were there said they have pride they were.

“Well this is one of those historic moments. When we end our status as the only nation without universal health care,” he said firing up the crowd. “The only way we are going to win is the only way things have been won before in the country. You have to be in it to win it. You have to demand it and fight for it.”

The public option won’t put insurance companies “out of business. But it will change the way they do business.”

McNary then put every politician on notice that this movement doesn’t want excuses but solutions. “We pay for full medical, dental, eye care for you. We pay. If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for us. And give it to us by the end of the year.”

McNary said he’s seen a lot of “ugly signs” held up by the opposition. The idea that “I got mine” and forget the rest. “Yes we have responsibility for ourselves,” but McNary emphasized, “we have a responsibility to each other.”

And a responsibility to get out the truth, he said. There have been a lot of myths and lies spread around in this fight. “They say truth is the first casualty of war.”

According to MoveOn, the organization hosted 350 candlelight vigils nationwide, Sept. 2, in which tens of thousands of people participated, calling for immediate action on health care reform including a strong public option.

Decisive battle for health care reform lies ahead

By John Bachtell
Chicago - The fight for health care reform has been full of twists and turns and changes on a daily basis reflecting the epic nature of this battle. Some conclude from whatever President Obama and the Democratic leadership of Congress say on a particular day they are caving in to the insurance industry and worse that Pres. Obama will raise the white flag content with a phyrric victory.

This approach mistakenly paints the Democrats in broad strokes as captive of the health care industry, not taking into account that many legislators are actually part of the health care reform movement and have been working with it for years, including President Obama.

This angst ignores the enormous pressures coming to bear on the legislative process and the challenge of getting enough votes to pass a bill through both chambers of Congress. President Obama and the Democratic Congressional leadership know how to count votes, including in their own caucus, which is not unified.

It ignores the power of the united opposition to any reform at all, including the entire ultra right and big sections of monopoly capital, and their ability to still influence Congress, mobilize and confuse a substantial section of the American people.

On the other hand, it insufficiently appreciates the power of the grassroots health care movement and the need to keep building and activating it to win, especially the millions of activists who took part in the Obama campaign. Passage of health care reform will need the same activism and energy, unity and determination that defeated the ultra right in the 2008 elections.

All this constitutes the political balance of forces at this moment in the country. Winning a reform necessarily means wresting a concession from a section of monopoly capital, in the form of the insurance and medical corporate complex. The question remains, is the broad democratic movement (and of which Pres. Obama is a reflection) sufficiently strong to accomplish this?

Nick Unger, organizer for the AFL-CIO cautioned an August 24 Illinois Campaign for Better Health Care statewide teleconference call that activists should avoid getting caught up in the day to day rumor mill, distortions and outright lies being circulated in the mass media.

Unger said the media has failed to report the real story: the current movement is the biggest movement for health care reform in history, far eclipsing the movement of 1993-94. And if we win a public option and other reforms this will be the decisive reason for the victory.

Over 77% of the American public wants reform and the movement is at least 10 times larger than the so-called “Tea Bagger” movement, said Unger. He cited the 280,000 religious activists who participated in a teleconference call with President Obama and the 270,000 who participated in the Organizing for America call with Obama a few days later.

Unger said the right wing offensive and “brown shirt” efforts to break up congressional town hall meetings, intimidate lawmakers and constituents alike in early August shifted momentum temporarily in favor of the opposition. But these tactics also backfired because they turned off the American public.

Since then the pro-reform forces, alarmed at what had happened and understanding the need to elevate the struggle, launched a counter offensive and shifted momentum back in the later part of August.

The pro-reform movement has stepped up efforts to mobilize the grassroots and the focus returned to the fight for the public insurance option, a key element of the reform. We are still seeing the early stages of this mobilization and it is already having an effect on lawmakers.

Democratic Senate leadership seems to be trying to find a way to pass health care reform through legislative reconciliation, understanding they will not be able to amass the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster.

This route is more growing in likelihood since it appears the so-called “gang of six” negotiations in the Senate are collapsing, producing an unacceptable compromise of “health care coops” while key Republican players obstruct.

On August 24, Sen. Charles Schumer told David Gregory, “I've talked to the president personally about this in the last few weeks. He believes strongly in the public option. Obviously he is working hard to get a bipartisan bill, because that would be a better bill. But I believe that at the end of the day we will have a public option…A public option (that) competes on a level playing field with the insurance companies, was backed in the House by both Blue Dog Democrats and more liberal Democrats. And I think that's the direction we're going to end up in.”

Rep. Jan Schakowsky reiterated her belief Sept. 2 that a public option will be won when she told Ed Schultz on MSNBC, “There are a lot of distortions in the mass media about what is happening in Congress, "Many Members of Congress -- including myself -- will not support a health insurance reform bill that does not break the strangle hold of private insurance companies on our health care system. That requires that consumers have a choice of a robust public health insurance plan. I will support nothing short of a robust public health insurance plan upon implementation, no triggers. I believe Congress will pass and the President will sign such a bill this fall."

The key to overcoming the fierce and desperate opposition for a health reform victory and especially a strong public option component is the growing grassroots action in the neighborhoods and workplaces. Across Illinois, organized labor has made thousands of calls to legislators. Thousands of residents have attended congressional town hall events, scores turned out for Obama for America organized “send-off” events, and over 500 turned out for a Moveon.org rally in Grant Park on September 2.

Schakowsky held an overflow town hall meeting on August 31 attended by 2,000 people in Niles, IL. The meeting spilled out into the street and the right wing nuts were far outnumbered.

According to CBHC Reps. Bobbie Rush, Jesse Jackson Jr., Luis Gutierrez, Danny Davis, Phil Hare and Jan Schakowsky have all pledged to only vote for a House bill that contains a strong public option. Reps. Melissa Bean and Bill Foster have also stated they are in favor of a public option so focus now is on Reps. Lipinsky and Costello, who have made no commitment.

President Obama can’t win health care reform with a public option alone and said as much in his speech to the AFL-CIO in Cincinnati on Labor Day. He didn’t win the election alone and can’t govern alone. The depth and extent of the reforms being undertaken, including in the health care field, depend at the end of the day on the strength and unity of the democratic and peoples movement. That remains true for an immediate concession and further concessions down the road. The true test awaits.

Letter from reader - "don't write off health care reform"

I think that it is too early to write off President Obama's support for the "public option." HR 3200 has a long way to go until the final version is approved and then it needs to go to the Senate. And the President could veto any bill that he considers insufficient.

This conversation reminds me of the discussions that took place during the Presidential election. I am sick and tired of some people on the left waiting to prove that President Obama will sell out to the corporations. It not only shows a lack of confidence in the President but also a lack of confidence in the people who worked hard to elect him. This includes, the African American community, the Latino community and the Labor movement as well as many others.

This attitude also enforces the concept that you can't fight the rich or that you can't achieve any gains under the Capitalist system. Any economist or politician will most likely disagree or they wouldn't have their jobs.

Emphasize the positive; minimize the negative, hit the street's and let the politicians - as well as the President- know about our support for the "public option.": it's good for your health!

In Unity and the Struggle for Change,

Lance Cohn

Letter from Progressive Caucus to President Obama on Healthcare Reform

The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States of America

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, D.C.

Dear President Obama:

Thank you for continuing to work with Members of Congress to draft a health reform bill that will provide the real health care reform this country needs. We look forward to meeting with you regarding retaining a robust public option in any final health reform bill and request that that meeting take place as soon as possible.

Public opinion polls continue to show that a majority of Americans want the choice of a robust public plan and we stand in solidarity with them. We continue to support the robust public option that was reported out of the Committees on Ways and Means and Education and Labor and will not vote for a weakened bill on the House Floor or returning from a Conference with the Senate.

Any bill that does not provide, at a minimum, a public option built on the Medicare provider system and with reimbursement based on Medicare rates-not negotiated rates-is unacceptable. A plan with negotiated rates would ensure higher costs for the public plan, and would do nothing to achieve the goal of providing choice and competition to keep rates down. The public plan with set rates saves $75 billion, which could be lost if rates are negotiated with providers. Further, this public option must be available immediately and must not be contingent upon any trigger.

Mr. President, the need for reform is urgent. Every day, 14,000 Americans lose their health care coverage. We must have health care reform that will effectively bring down costs and significantly expand access. A health reform bill without a robust public option will not achieve the health reform this country so desperately needs. We cannot vote for anything less.

We look forward to meeting with you to discuss the importance of your support for a robust public plan, which we encourage you to reiterate in your address to the Joint Session of Congress on Wednesday.

Sincerely,

Co-Chairs Lynn Woolsey Raul Grijalva

Congressional Progressive Caucus 83 Strong and Growing: Open to New and Different Ideas

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Secretary Solis: End economic injustice, workplace abuse

By John Bachtell
People's Weekly World

CHICAGO – Through eight years of the right-wing Bush administration, the secretary of labor helped lead the administration’s war against organized labor. The only time the labor secretary interacted with labor leaders was to threaten and scold. So it was a breath of fresh air to hear new Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis give a Labor Day address here September 2.

“For me it’s about real people, real families, real suffering going on in the country,” declared Solis, the daughter of trade unionists, in referring to the difficulties facing working families in this time of crisis.

Solis, who was introduced by Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon, was addressing a crowd of labor, business and elected officials before the venerable Union League Club.

“I can’t think of a better place to give a Labor Day address than Chicago,” said Solis. Not only is the city home to many of the nation’s large corporations, but it also has a “rich labor history, including the Pullman strike, the Haymarket tragedy and the Republic Windows and Doors dispute. Some see turmoil and strife. Others see progress and hope.”

Solis said this was a time of unprecedented economic crisis and challenge. “We (the Obama administration) were forced to take bold action to confront the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. There are signs of life but we are not there yet,” she said.

Official unemployment is at 9.4% and it’s a time of great anxiety and fear for the 15 million Americans who are jobless. She warned the economy would continue to suffer layoffs over the next few months.

In effect for only 200 days, Solis said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has only begun to have an impact. The Act is “pulling the country back from the brink” and applications have been made for over 30,000 projects and will continue to wend their way into the economy in the months ahead.

Solis stressed a chief concern was to make sure that no one is left behind in the economic restructuring. The crisis has particularly impacted the African American and Latino communities and youth who suffer unemployment far higher than the national average. She wants to make sure everyone benefits and is particularly concerned that funds go to communities of color, women, the disabled, veterans and youth.

“It is not enough that just any jobs are created, but good jobs should be available for all that support families, are in safe and secure workplaces where workers have a voice and that are sustainable and innovative. Only such jobs will rebuild and restore a strong middle class,” she said.

Solis said the economic restructuring ahead meant that new jobs would be created in the health care, Internet technology and renewable energy fields. The economic stimulus is pumping $500 million into green jobs, especially creation of biofuels and lithium batteries and aimed especially at closed plants and dislocated workers. She said “retooling workers” to go into green jobs was a high priority.

Solis also announced the convening of a national dialogue and action summit on workplace safety. This comes in response to the large number of fatalities in some industries like the construction sector. The summit will be charged with bringing labor and corporations together to develop a plan to end workplace abuses including deaths, injuries, injustice, super exploitation and wage theft.

“No one should have to die for a job and workplace safety is a moral obligation,” she said.

The summit is part of expanding the role of the Labor Department to ensure workplace safety, which includes hiring 130 new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors. “We won’t be satisfied until there are no deaths,” she said.

Solis also expressed confidence the Employee Free Choice Act would be passed and said she and President Obama were committed to its passage. The need for fairness and balance in the workplace is the strongest argument for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, said Solis.

“Workers have a right to bargain collectively. Union jobs are good jobs, in pay, flexibility and benefits. The President has said we need to level the playing field to rebuild the middle class. I am looking forward to a resolution to this issue.”

Rally urges city to keep mental health clinics open

By Pepe Lozano
People's Weekly World

CHICAGO – After dozens of mental health patients and community activists led a rally here, August 27, at City Hall to keep five public mental health clinics open, a top city health official said it has no plans of closing any of the 12 centers.

Dr. Terry Mason, Chicago Dept. of Public Health Commissioner made the announcement after the protest, which was in front of Mayor Richard Daley’s office. Over 1,000 letters were delivered to the Mayor’s door urging him to keep the clinics open.

Mason said the city has shifted $2.5 million dollars into the clinics to keep them open. A meeting has been scheduled for next month with city, state and mental health officials to find ways in providing steady funds to keep the clinics operating.

Yet Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, organizer with the Southside Together Organizing for Power, said the whole situation is very tenuous now that the Mayor has back peddled on the issue. We are still concerned that the Mayor is still trying to privatize the public facilities, something he is known for doing with other city institutions, he said.

Ginsberg-Jaeckle said the major concern now is to ensure that both patients/consumers and health care workers with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, be at the table to discuss the matter with city officials.

“We are optimistic that the Mayor has backed off for now but there are still many problems that need correcting,” said Ginsberg-Jaeckle.

N’dana Carter is a patient at the Greater Grand Mental Health Clinic and said she welcomes the news.

“But the Mayor is not always honest,” she said. “True consumers need to be invited and be at the next meeting,” added Carter. “If we are not it says to me the Mayor does not want to keep our clinics open.”

“These clinics and mental health services are worth fighting for because they help people like me and others with a whole grocery list of mental health conditions,” said Carter. “Keeping these clinics open is vital and I hope the Mayor finds the money,” she said.

Earlier in the year four south side facilities were targeted for closure. Yet they remained opened after pressure from community leaders and mental health advocates who staged a sit-in. City officials even promised to rehire 40 employees as a result of layoffs. Since then they have only re-hired 4.

After the clinics were re-opened, city officials said they would look for ways to keep them afloat in the long term, but since the state budget crisis slashed annual funding to $4.2 million from $8.4 million, problems began again.

That’s when city officials suggested closing 5 of the clinics to save money because of the state cutbacks.

Leaders at the rally say much of the problem regarding the lack of funding stems from the city’s failure to get millions in available state funding because of problems with the city’s billing system.

The Chicago Department of Public Health lost more than $1 million in state funding by failing to fix computer problems with its billing system, which sparked a funding crisis and the possible threat of closing four clinics earlier in the year.

City officials blamed the reason behind the possible closings in large part due to the state budget cutbacks.

But according to the Chi-Town Daily News, a trail of paperwork obtained through the Freedom of Information Act revealed that the department’s new computerized billing system was so flawed that patient bills weren’t submitted to the state for six months in 2008.

Billing the state was crucial to getting funds because of the way the state allocates dollars for mental health services. The city’s current-year state payments are based on monthly reimbursements for service. And when the state received no bills from the city for the last four months of the previous fiscal year, it amended the contract it had with the city to reflect the city’s apparent lesser need for funds.

At the rally several patients who receive mental health services were present including Margaret Sullivan who said she was suicidal at one point in her life. Sullivan said the treatment she gets now at her facility literally saved her life. “If there was no clinic for me to go to, I would be dead,” she said.

Linda Hatcher said she too struggles with depression and has been diagnosed as bipolar. “If we didn’t have our clinics then where would we go,” she said. When Hatcher heard that her clinic was suggested for closing she felt hurt and even more rejected. It just didn’t make any sense, she said.

Speakers at the rally said the clinics in question are more than just places where people get medication. They’re communities where people feel safe and at home. If it were not for the mental health clinics patients would end up on the streets, in jails, at emergency rooms or possibly dead, they said.

Activist charge Mayor Daley has millions in the bank from recently privatizing the parking meter system throughout the city that could be tapped into. The Mayor should commit money toward mental health patients who are taxpayers and voters rather than the millions he’s advocating on behalf of for the Olympics, they charge.

Badonna Reingold is a retired social worker and is now on the advisory board with the Woodlawn mental health clinic. She is also a member of the city’s Community Mental Health Board.

Reingold said mental health services are a vital need for the community. “If people who need these services don’t get their treatment then they will continue to suffer and deteriorate in perpetual crisis,” she said.

“It’s the city’s responsibility to maintain these facilities and keep mental health clinics open,” said Reingold. She said it would cost 5-8 million to staff them.

The clinics provide therapy, medication and activities for people with mental illness who can’t get access to city not-for-profit centers that are maximum capacity, activists say.
plozano@pww.org