A JOURNAL OF 1199SEIU May/June 2010
The Meaning Of Healthcare Reform Brookdale Hospital kitchen worker Julie Reid and her Brooklyn co-workers should benefit from new healthcare reform law. See page 8.
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MEANING OF HEALTHCARE REFORM LAW Realizing the promise of healthcare law. PRESIDENT’S COLUMN It’s time for another March on Washington. WE LAUNCH PAC CAMPAIGN We can’t succeed without political dollars. WHAT HEALTHCARE BILL MEANS TO 1199ERS An interview with Funds director. THE WORK WE DO Reforms should help Brooklyn’s Brookdale members. FUNDING FOR OUR INSTITUTIONS How law will help keep institutions afloat. FIGHT AGAINST ARIZONA IMMIGRATION LAW 1199ers oppose SB1070. OUR ANSWER TO TEA PARTIES Members put on marching shoes. PEOPLE Respiratory Therapist Sharon Broadnax is a gifted illustrator. AROUND OUR UNION We vote to bring Florida into 1199SEIU family.
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Our Life And Times, May/June 2010, Vol. 28, No. 3 Published by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East 310 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 Telephone (212) 582-1890 www.1199seiu.org PRES I DE NT :
George Gresham
p.14 E DITOR : J.J. Johnson STAFF WRITE R :
Patricia Kenney PHOTOG RAPH E R :
Jim Tynan PHOTOG RAPHY ASS ISTANT :
Belinda Gallegos ART DI RECTION & DES IG N :
Maiarelli Studio COVE R PHOTO : Jim Tynan
S EC RETARY TREASURE R :
Maria Castaneda EXEC UTIVE VIC E PRES I DE NTS :
Norma Amsterdam Yvonne Armstrong Angela Doyle Mike Fadel Aida Garcia George Kennedy Steve Kramer Patrick Lindsay Joyce Neil John Reid Bruce Richard Mike Rifkin Neva Shillingford Milly Silva Estela Vazquez
Our Life And Times is published 6 times a year by 1199SEIU, 310 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036. Subscriptions $15 per year. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. ISSN 1080-3089. USPS 000-392. Postmaster: Send address changes to Our Life And Times, 310 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036.
www.1199seiu.org
It’s time for comprehensive immigration reform.
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EDITORIAL
1199ers at a March 22 demonstration and rally in Washington, D.C for immigration reform carried the message that there was still work to be done in the fight for healthcare reform.
The Meaning Of
HEALTHCARE REFORM LAW It’s a first step. In late March, Pres. Barack Obama signed into law a farreaching overhaul of the nation’s health system, perhaps the nation’s most important legislation in generations. The law will extend health insurance to 32 million uninsured individuals by 2019 through an expansion of Medicaid and through tax credits and subsidies to help individuals and companies purchase coverage. The law also implements significant reforms such as eliminating annual and lifetime coverage limits and prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and dropping coverage for enrollees who get sick. 1199ers in the major health funds such as the 1199SEIU National Benefit Fund (NBF) should see little or no change in their coverage. (See page 6 interview with NBF Director Mitra Behroozi.) Directors in other funds in which 1199SEIU members participate are still trying to determine exactly how members will be affected. But,
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for the most part, many members and millions without health insurance should fare better when all the features of the law are phased in. The legislation does not include all that we wanted. For example, not enough Democrats found the will or courage to hold firm for a public insurance option. We also would have liked the legislation to go a bit further in loosening the grip of the powerful health insurance giants. Much has been made of the insistence by Republicans and Blue-dog Democrats that the cost of their support would be the elimination in the bill of any federal funding for abortion. That notwithstanding, there is much in the law that begins to correct the blatant discrimination against women by the health insurance industry. In the broadest sense, the law states that being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition. Previously, it was legal in the majority of states for companies to engage in “gender rating,” i.e., charging women
more than men for the same coverage. Individual policies often excluded maternity coverage and coverage for women who had prior Caesarean sections or had been victims of domestic violence. Those who were especially victimized were women in occupations such as home care and child care. As 1199SEIU Pres. George Gresham makes clear in his column (page 4), the passage of the healthcare legislation is more a beginning than an end. The insurance companies will examine and parse every word in the more the 2,000-page law in search of loopholes. Only a few days after the law was enacted, insurers tried to argue that they could deny coverage to children due to pre-existing conditions. More than health care is at stake. The battle to win healthcare reform also was a battle to change the course of our nation by confronting corporate power. For our enemies, the healthcare battle represented an attempt to
delegitimize the Obama presidency and derail the progressive agenda. During the healthcare battle, particularly in its final days, the right wing unleashed a racist and homophobic attack on Democratic legislators. Many of the representatives received threatening calls and messages, among them Rep. Louise Slaughter from the RochesterBuffalo region. A brick was thrown through the window of her Niagara Falls office. Someone faxed a drawing of a noose to African American House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. During the same week, Sarah Palin—ever proud of her gun ownership—tweeted to her supporters, “Don’t Retreat, Instead RELOAD!” The subject was health care but the targets included reform of our nation’s finance, immigration, energy and, yes, labor legislation. To realize the full promise of healthcare reform, we must continue the fight for a true progressive agenda.
THE PRESIDENT’S COLUMN George Gresham
It’s Time for Another March on Washington We must build a united response to our nation’s crises. This Fall, we’re going to make history in marching on Washington, D.C. For a year, as healthcare reform dominated the Congressional agenda, groups of people took to the streets in opposition to expanding healthcare coverage to tens of millions and to curtailing insurance industry abuse. These street protests were provoked by outright lies of Fox News and rightwing gasbag politicians—remember the fear of “death panels”?—and resulted in the formation of the Tea Party, or tea-baggers. And of course the mass media gave them far more attention than their numbers deserved. Unfortunately, we who supported healthcare reform had comparatively little public presence. Many thousands of activists lobbied members of Congress, and millions sent letters and emails, but there never really was a public mobilization. The healthcare overhaul was a tremendous step forward, but might have been much stronger had “we” taken to the streets. When we elected President Obama two years ago, it was such an historic victory that perhaps our optimism got the better of us. We now had the President we wanted with strong Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. The new President was anxious to work with the Republican opposition to try to repair the damage of the Bush years and move the country forward. But he—and we—underestimated the opposition: a unified, hostile Republican party in Congress that refused the president’s outstretched hand, and instead spat in his face; an aggressive, rightwing and—let’s be clear—racist Fox News and other media outlets marching us back to the 19th century. And then there are the many Democrats motivated by loyalty to the corporations, fear of the Rush Limbaughs and the Glenn Becks, and the tea-baggers’ street presence. The damage that Obama was elected to repair largely remains—the worst sustained unemployment toll in 75 years; the worst mortgage crisis in memory; two unwinnable wars (three, if you count Pakistan); 15 million immigrant workers forced to live in the shadows; a climate crisis that threatens to spin out of control; escalating environmental degradation as seen in the recent Gulf oil spill and deadly mine explosions in West Virginia and Kentucky; the largest prison population (by far) in the world; a deepening crisis in public and higher education. And that’s the short list. When Franklin Roosevelt became President during the Great Depression, he also faced—in addition to the economic crisis—a hostile Republican party, a rightwing corporate and banking elite and an oppositional Supreme Court. FDR knew he needed a massive public outcry to move the country forward. He needed John L. Lewis and the emerging CIO to push him—and they did. And out of the mass movements of the day, we got Social Security, unemployment compensation, the 8-hour day and industrial unionism. A generation later, when John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson would do the right thing if they were pushed to do so, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the heroic youth of SNCC faced down the sheriffs’ deputies, police dogs and lynch mobs of the South but also the established powers-that-be in Washington. The historic March on Washington of Aug. 28, 1963 is known for the “I Have a Dream” speech. But the movement that led to the march and grew out of it resulted in the Civil Rights Bill, the Voting Rights Bill, and indirectly to Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, Occupational Health and Safety, and the movements to end the Vietnam War and for women’s liberation and gender/sexual equality. Today our country is again in crisis. Now it’s our time to raise our voices and make our power felt. Our Union has been joining forces with other unions, the NAACP, and a host of progressive movements for economic and social justice to plan a united response to the crisis. We include not only labor, but the key leadership of the civil rights, human rights, immigration rights, environmental and peace movements. In the next months, we will be organizing and mobilizing throughout the United States for jobs, economic security, comprehensive immigration reform, a safe and renewable energy policy and a reversal of national priorities from making wars to meeting human needs. This will culminate in a massive—and we believe historic—March on Washington. In the coming weeks and months you will get more information about this occasion through Our Life And Times magazine, our www.1199seiu.org website, and from your Delegates and Organizers in your institutions. Time to lace up your marching shoes, Sisters and Brothers.
Letters QUESTIONS ABOUT HEALTHCARE REFORM am not so sure that the plan is a smart idea. I am repulsed at the notion that a person who fails to enroll in some policy or other will be fined. Please explain how someone without the funds to obtain a policy, will benefit from a fine? I am of the belief that this entire policy is another mode of funneling large sums of money that will be hard to track. Not to mention that each senator will seek to gain as much of the entitlement as possible (as we have seen with the senator that blocked the extension of unemployment insurance until a grant was awarded to his state) until the amount remaining will result in cutbacks to the constituency. In the end, the public will be left with an ever-depleting share of the funds. What will be the condition of health care then?
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AMES LEAGUE Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Care Clinic Jamaica, NY COST OF MAGAZINE am writing this letter because I am concerned about the rising cost of our newspaper, as in the current issue of Our Life And Times. I would think that now is the time when everyone should be looking to save money, and yet our newspaper size gets larger and larger. Do we really need poster-sized pictures of our Union friends? Should we not be using recycled paper? And I might add that it is not easy to hold the 18-inch paper and turn the pages. Think of how much money we could save and the example we could set in making the issues a smaller size and using environmentally friendly paper.
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LUDMILA KRUCZYNSKI Retiree, Wurtsboro, NY AGAINST ARIZONA LAW marched on May Day to support my brothers and sisters from Mexico who are being targeted by a vicious law in Arizona, an edict so vile that some police agencies in that state decry it as racist. I am also proud of immigrant workers here from across the globe who are standing up against this attack. People come up from Mexico or elsewhere to
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New York City May 1 march work or quite simply to exist. NAFTA ruined Mexican farmers, just like other similar economic policies screwed with other countries. People come here to work and rights have to not only be protected but asserted. MIKE HAIRE Richmond University Medical Center Staten Island, NY MORE INFO ON INTERNET SITE think we need to beef up the information on our website (1199seiu.org). For example I recently went there to research the legal rights of delegates (other than the Weingarten Rights for union representation) vis a vis management according to the NLRB, the Supreme Court and other legal bodies. I have taken a quick look regarding this question on the Internet and have found that many unions provide very useful info for their delegates. If we have such information, I haven’t been able to find it. Can our website provide us with a similar help? Every delegate will thank you for it.
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EDUARDO SANTIAGO New York Presbyterian Hospital, Manhattan Editor’s Note: You make an excellent point. Our website team is currently redesigning the site to make it more accessible, more upto-date, and more pertinent to members’ lives. We have limited resources, so it will take some time. There are also several considerations that may not be apparent to everybody—restrictions based on national labor law and political funding legislation. Also, our members work under some one thousand contracts, so it is sometimes difficult to generalize.
Let’s Hear From You Our Life And Times welcomes your letters. Please email them to jamesj@1199.org or snail mail them to J.J. Johnson, 1199SEIU OLAT, 330 West 42nd St., 7th floor, New York, NY 10036. Please include your telephone number and place of work. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.
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POLITICAL ACTION
Drive Launched for
POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS Campaigns won’t succeed without funds. The long, bitter road to healthcare reform made it abundantly clear that the path to future political and legislative victories won’t be easy. That is why 1199SEIU recently launched a campaign to sign up thousands of new members to the Martin Luther King Jr. Political Action Fund. No local union in the nation has a larger fund than 1199SEIU, but, say Union leaders, the times require that we do much more. “I’ve been contributing to our Political Action Fund for the past 12 years,” says Maria Martinez, a home attendant at Queens’ Sunnyside Homecare Project. “It’s time for others to do their part so that we can all get what we need.” Organizing new workers, helping to keep struggling healthcare institutions afloat, preventing crippling budget cuts and winning decent contracts all require political activity. For example, the Maryland/D.C. Region of 1199SEIU is in the midst of its Heart of Baltimore campaign, which seeks to elevate the status of the city by elevating the status of its healthcare workers. The heart of the campaign is convincing elected officials and religious and community leaders to call upon healthcare CEOs to allow free and fair union elections for every Baltimore hospital and nursing home worker. Although one in five Baltimore residents works in health care, making it the city’s largest industry, healthcare workers in the city make less than their counterparts in every major East Coast city. In their appeal to elected officials, Union leaders have stated, “It’s impossible for a city to maintain a vibrant middle class when its biggest industry pays poverty wages.” Through its consistent political action work, the district and its allies got the Baltimore City Council to unanimously pass a resolution calling on all healthcare employers to allow secret-ballot union elections. Its challenge is to raise the wages of healthcare workers while the city and state wrestle with a budget shortfall. In recent years, 1199SEIU’s Massachusetts Division has set the pace for the rest of the nation for organizing new workers. Its political and legislative work has been central to its victories. As in Maryland, the latest budget proposal of the state legislature calls for cuts to essential healthcare services. The Division is tying its campaign to sign up new PAC contributors to the fight for adequate healthcare funding. “It’s going to be very tough for us in New Jersey this year,” says Veronica Smith,
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a CNA at New Vista NH in Newark, NJ. Smith is referring to the budget-cutting, anti-union policies of Republican Gov. Christopher Christie. “I’ve signed up about a half-dozen members since the governor was elected,” she says. Besides her work in the home, Smith is a Union delegate, a college student and the mother of a two-year-old. She says the recent walkout of Newark high school students who were protesting budget cuts inspired her. “The governor and his administration care only for the rich,” she says. “That’s why it’s important for us in 1199SEIU to organize at work and in our
communities. We need political action dollars to do that.” Maximina Delgado, a home attendant at First Chinese Presbyterian in Manhattan, has been contributing to the 1199SEIU Political Action Fund for nine years. “When I started working in home care, I wanted to have a stronger voice,” she says. “And I learned that to get better wages, conditions and benefits, we need to be politically strong.” Delgado has three grown children and 10 grandchildren. “I don’t contribute to political action just for myself,” she says. “My contribution also is an investment for other members and those who will come after us.”
“Others must do their part so that we all can get what we need.” Manhattan home attendant Maximina Delgado (top) and Newark CNA Veronica Smith (above) with daughter, Blessing, recruit co-workers to contribute to 1199SEIU’s Political Action Fund.
OUR UNION
How Healthcare Reform Affects
US
An Interview with National Benefit Fund Director Mitra Behroozi
National Benefit Fund Director, Mitra Behroozi
Q: Can you talk about the significance of the Patient Protection and Reconciliation Act of 2010 for the nation’s healthcare system? A: The law’s major thrust is to expand coverage as was done in Massachusetts. The first goal is to seek near-universal coverage — which will be a wonderful thing. Solving other problems will follow. But we finally have a national healthcare policy, and we’re the last industrialized country to do so. The law’s major impact
Reforms’ emphasis on primary care and disease management seek to create a more efficient system for patients and providers.
will be felt in 2014. By that point nearly half of all Americans will have Medicare or Medicaid coverage. The threat of fines will presumably have expanded employer coverage. And through the individual mandate, those without coverage will be required to buy it through exchanges. If the Massachusetts model is followed, this will make coverage more accessible. The law will also stop insurance company practices such as denying coverage for pre-existing conditions or terminating coverage based on illness. Insurers have been able to get away with profitable practices like these for too long, especially in states with very little regulation. They’ll have to stop such abuses immediately. At the 1199SEIU Benefit Funds, we spend no more than approximately seven cents of every dollar for benefits administration. Some of the law’s new requirements will make insurance companies operate more like our Fund.
Q: How will the new legislation impact 1199SEIU members? A: The new law won’t have a major impact on those of us covered by the National Benefit Fund. But there are some unknowns, such as what applies to us and when. For example, the new law places
insurance companies and union funds on different timelines because of our collective bargaining agreements. We’re working now to resolve any questions and issues with the national SEIU and others. We want to make sure that we have input during the implementation stage to ensure that we can maintain the coverage we’ve always provided. Q: What aspects of the legislation are most beneficial for 1199SEIU members? A: Our benefits are already comprehensive, prohibit dropping coverage for pre-existing conditions and, of course, are affordable to our members with no out-of-pocket costs. These are the main standards that the new law sets out. Of course, the most important benefit to us may be how this law reins in healthcare cost inflation. Over the long term, our ability to continue comprehensive coverage to our members could be impacted by rising healthcare costs, so a number of opportunities and innovations in the new law may help us. I know that the Union has been looking for ways that members can engage with their employers to help provide the most efficient and highest quality health care to help rein in costs. But one thing we are looking at now is a short-term subsidy for
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Opportunities for Homecare
early retiree benefits. There’s a $5 billion pool of money that’s supposed to help offset those costs. Another important provision of the new law closes the Medicare Part D “donut hole”—a cost now covered by the Fund for our eligible retirees. Closing the “donut hole” will also save thousands of dollars per year for those 1199 retirees who are not eligible for Fund benefits. Q: Can you talk about some ways the new law will affect our institutions’ funding? A: The new law is going to affect institutional funding, but not as badly as we had previously thought. There are likely to be changes in how our hospitals will get paid. For example, funding will favor something called Accountable Care Organizations (“ACOs”). That’s basically a hospital-based network of providers. The institution gets paid a fixed amount for providing all the care to an individual and must figure out how to use that money. Massachusetts is talking about moving to this model within five years. This is going to change how care is delivered. I know the Union wants to be part of helping to organize this new model with our institutions. Q: How will this affect our safety net hospitals? A: Like all of our hospitals, the
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“The first goal is to seek near-universal coverage—which will be a wonderful thing. Solving other problems will follow.”
safety net hospitals must move toward primary care. In theory, the best hospital bed is an empty hospital bed because of effective prevention and chronic disease management. Of course there will always be people who will need hospital care, but our hospitals will need to continue retooling to provide more outpatient and other primary services. It’s going to take a lot of ingenuity and a lot of focus from the Union and our employers to make this happen. Q: Can you talk about how the legislation may affect specific workers like our homecare or our long-term care workers?
A: Some of our members have no healthcare coverage or their employers offer bare bones coverage that’s too expensive for members to buy into. In 2014, some will become eligible for Medicaid and Family Health Plus. Many of them already are. But because so many of our members work several jobs or many hours to pay rent and put food on the table, a lot of them make too much money and aren’t eligible for these programs—even though their incomes aren’t that high. Starting in 2014, subsidies will become available for them to buy insurance. Q: National Benefit Fund members have expressed concerns that their plan is a “Cadillac Plan” and they will have to pay tax on it. Is this the case? A: First, that provision isn’t effective until 2018, so members shouldn’t have any sleepless nights now. Second, the cost of the benefits in a plan has to be worth $27,500 for that tax to take effect. Our average member’s coverage cost is approximately $12,000 for a family of four, so that’s a big difference. Yes, healthcare costs are quickly increasing, but I don’t think we’ll be near $27,500 by 2018. And even if it does get close, the Fund will pay the tax only on the amount over $27,500, not our members.
The nation’s new healthcare law includes incentives for the growth of home and community care as alternatives to expensive institutional long-term care for the elderly and disabled. These reforms present an opportunity to win better conditions for our homecare members. For example, in the New York City metropolitan area, many homecare agencies simply refuse to provide healthcare coverage for their workers, so contracts have been difficult to negotiate. Now, employers will either have to pay something towards employee health insurance or pay a fine if they don’t. For the first time, agencies will have to meet some obligation with respect to the healthcare coverage of their workers. Sonia Blackburn, a home health aide with the Helping Hands Agency on Long Island in New York, hopes reforms will stabilize benefits for home health workers. “Where I work, our health insurance was partially funded through a government grant,” she says. “It expired in November. I’m diabetic and I haven’t been able to buy medication since January. I was just in the emergency room recently.” In Massachusetts, which has been on the leading edge of healthcare reform, the new legislation may help fill in the gaps for those who make too much to qualify for state and federal programs but too little to afford their own healthcare coverage, like Personal Care Assistant Denise Leschernier of Quincy, Mass. “I went into the hospital and they kept me overnight and I have no insurance,” she says. “That stay cost me $15,000. I’m a person who has always kept my credit good and kept up with my bills.” “I’ve met hundreds of PCA’s over the last year and a half where this is more common than not,” she says. “People get caught up in the system because they’re told they make too much money, but they still need help.”
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THE WORK WE DO
Brookdale University Hospital & Medical Center
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rookdale University Hospital & Medical Center is one of Brooklyn, New York’s largest hospitals—a level-1 trauma center with over 500 beds, several clinics, and a nursing home. It serves a large section of eastern Brooklyn including Brownsville, East New York and Canarsie. The hospital is a struggling safety net institution that provides care for large numbers of poor and uninsured patients. The historic healthcare law that will provide coverage for 32 million uninsured is a beginning towards increasing revenue for Brookdale and hospitals like it. But there is still much work to be done in creating a healthcare system that works for everyone. While that’s happening, the low-income and uninsured will continue to rely on our vital safety net institutions and the people who work in them for their care.
1. MRI technologist Carlos Anguiano performs a brain MRI on patient Jasmin Rivera. “This MRI imaging modality is one of the newest,” he says. “When I was in school I wrote a paper about MRIs and the more I wrote about it the more I wanted to become an MRI tech.” 2. George Lennon sweeps up the pot-washing area after spending time loading the dishwashing belt. “I’m flexible. I have a lot of skills,” says Lennon. “I’m an ex-inventory control manager. I did that for 17 years. I do pantry work here and I’m also the night porter. I clean up in the back here.” 3. Lenworth Lewis has worked in Brookdale’s kitchen for four years. “It’s non-stop until you go to lunch, then you’re back on again,” he says. “Some days you’re really exhausted. Especially when workers call out sick or when it’s really hot in the summer.”
4. Christopher Decoteau has worked in Brookdale’s housekeeping department for 21 years. He works on the Mother Baby Unit. “The challenge of the job is getting everything done,” he says. “The buffing, mopping, dusting, cleaning—everything. And making sure it all gets done between 7:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.”
7. Dietary worker Hector Alvarez does maintenance and a multitude of other tasks in Brookdale’s kitchen. “I wash the machines and the floors. This machine is the kettle. They make foods like gravy and soup in it. It holds about 25 pounds. We make all the food here for our hospital and nursing home.”
5. Advanced imaging technologist Paulette Forbes demonstrates the preparation of a patient for bone density testing. “It’s important for women to have these tests,” says Forbes. “Women in menopause and pre-menopause even. We help the doctors who use the information to determine if treatment is needed going forward.”
8. “When I come in I get my stuff together and start the patients’ rooms,” says housekeeper Olga Dawkins. Dawkins also works on Brookdale’s Mother Baby Unit. “I sweep, clean the bathroom, wipe down everything that’s within their hand reach. I clean their bathrooms and face basins. I want to make sure they have comfort and can be happy.”
6. Olubunmi Oduwusi, an x-ray technologist and mammographer, is training in bone densitometry and MRI. “People always call us technicians but we’re technologists,” she says. “Technicians fix things. We make images. We save lives.”
9. Michael Deboulet cleans pans in Brookdale’s kitchen. “Sometimes I work on the line, sometimes I clean. My shift just started and the day is young. I usually work 12 to 8:30. It’s hard work,” he says. “I try to watch the news when I get home sometimes and I fall asleep, but it’s what pays the bills.”
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OUR UNION
How Will Our
INSTITUTIONS FARE? At New York City’s Bronx Lebanon Hospital, members say reforms may bring relief. he landmark healthcare reform bill signed by Pres. Obama in March—The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act— expands health coverage to include some 32 million individuals and overhauls the nation’s healthcare delivery system, largely by reworking how it’s financed. Areas that will see significant shifts include Medicaid, which will expand in 2014; the health insurance industry, which will be subject to major reforms; and long-term care, for which less expensive coverage will be more widely available. There are measures which encourage cooperation between institutions and physicians in managing patients’ care. And these are measures which call for the study of innovations in quality patient care and the implementation of these new models on a larger scale over time. Wilma Mitchell, an activity therapist at Bronx Lebanon Hospital in New York City, is open to change, especially if it will help struggling institutions. Safety net hospitals like hers desperately need relief from years of spiraling healthcare costs, she says. “We’ve dealt with the closing of so many of our important programs over the years,” says Mitchell, an 1199SEIU delegate. “For example, this year they said the money wasn’t there for our adult day treatment program. We’re the only clinic in this area that provides treatment for the needs of those clients.”
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ronx Lebanon social worker Shirley Riley-Griffin hopes that the changes move towards a reorganized healthcare system, and that they keep funds in community institutions like Bronx Leb. “One of my big concerns has always been more accessibility for the people of our communities,” says Riley-Griffin. “People need to be able to get prescriptions, benefits and services. People who come to places like Bronx Lebanon aren’t able to pay a lot for medical services. These are people who squeeze every penny out of their pockets to pay for these things. They are really struggling.” Luqmon Kelosho, a Bronx Lebanon patient care technician, is optimistic about the changes ahead. “These plans are great for our institutions even though they make people nervous at first,” he says. “They’re really going to cut wasteful spending. People look at these plans like they are going to cost a lot of money, but really they are about the future. I think when people see what happens over time they will see that this law is the best thing that could have happened.” “It’s true,” agrees Jazmin Haygood, a call center associate at Bronx Lebanon. “People don’t need a second x-ray or a second MRI, but a lot of the time they just don’t know any better. These changes will make things better.” Jefroy Morrishay, a Bronx Lebanon electrician, says the new law—with all of its unknowns—is progress. “Over the years here we have experienced so many budget cuts. I’m hoping that the people who are leading the charge for this legislation are in a position to finally provide more services,” says Morrishay. “I’m really looking at this in a positive light.”
B “These plans are great for our institutions even though they are going to make people nervous at first.” Bronx Lebanon workers Shirley Riley-Griffin, a social worker, and Luqmon Kelosho, a patient care technician, discussing their hopes for healthcare reform.
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1199ers joined labor activists and others at a March 22 demonstration in Washington, D.C. for immigration reform.
We Join Fight Against Racial Profiling Law “When I see what’s happening in Arizona, it breaks my heart.” Even before Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed immigration bill SB 1070 into law, 1199SEIU had joined millions across the country in the fight for progressive immigration reform. But the passage of the apartheid-like law has energized members and millions across the country in opposition to it and has underscored the urgency for federal immigration legislation that provides a path to citizenship. SB 1070 makes it a state crime for a non-citizen to be in Arizona without carrying registration documents, and it
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requires police to determine a person’s immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally. Many conservatives have expressed support for the law and elected officials in many states across the country are discussing similar legislation in their states. Critics of the law, including the 1199SEIU leadership, say that the legislation is a license for racial profiling and harassment and that Latinos will become suspect in their own communities, regardless of their immigration status. “I think it stinks,” says John Rusinko, a member of the 1199SEIU executive board and a maintenance worker at Catskill Regional Hospital in Callicoon, NY. “This type of law can easily be used to harass union members. To paraphrase the old saying, ‘when they came for them I didn’t say anything because I’m not Latino. In the end, when they came for me, there was nobody to help’.” In response, scores of organizations and leaders are calling for a boycott of Arizona and the scheduled 2011 Major League all-star baseball game unless the law is rescinded. Many cities, including several in Arizona, have joined the boycott call. 1199SEIU has long associated itself with the fight for immigration reform. On April 30, 1199ers demonstrated outside the offices of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Lower Manhattan. On March 22, ten busloads of members from the New York City metropolitan region, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington, D.C. joined at least 200,000
marchers from across the country in Washington to press for immigration legislation. Among the 1199ers at the demonstration was Polly Henry, a CNA at Cold Spring Hills Rehab, in Syosset, Long Island. Henry, who came to the U.S. in 1990 from Jamaica, became a citizen in 2009. Suffolk County, where she lives, has been the scene of a number of recent hate crimes and antiimmigrant activity. “There is an atmosphere of so much fear. It’s mostly Hispanic people it’s directed at,” she says of Suffolk County. “It’s a shame. In this country, immigration is supposed to be a given. It’s what made this country. There are a few people who don’t seem to understand that and think they own this country. When I see what’s happening in Arizona, it breaks my heart.” “When you are undocumented you are overwhelmed with fear sometimes,” she says. “There are just so many problems you face—simple things like going to the doctor or dentist, the financial stress. You can’t go home to see your family. People don’t understand our life in the shadows.”
Even before Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed immigration bill SB 1070 into law, 1199SEIU had joined millions across the country in the fight for progressive immigration reform.
POLITICAL ACTION
We Target the Real
ENEMY Wall Street got bailed out. Main Street got sold out. The U.S. financial industry posted record profits of more than $61 billion in 2009, almost three times the previous record. And the U.S. economy has grown in each of the last three quarters. Yet the U.S. unemployment rate remains stuck at just under 10 percent. Real unemployment is close to twice that. With the passage of healthcare reform, the U.S. labor movement and progressive organizations are now taking steps to defend and extend that victory. The focus has shifted to building the U.S. economy by putting the country back to work. “The number one
priority in our nation should be job creation,” says John Kapusniak, senior biomedical technologist at Community General Hospital in Syracuse. New York State labor leaders argue that we can’t create the necessary number of jobs by reducing spending. Throughout 1199SEIU, members are locked in battles to prevent state administrations from slashing healthcare spending. For example, this year New York State faces its greatest budget shortfall since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many of New York’s elected officials are looking to balance
the budget at the expense of basic human needs and jobs, particularly in health care and education. 1199ers say there is a better and fairer way: Because Wall Street created the problem, it is only fair that it help provide the solution. That was the message 1199SEIU brought to New York City’s financial district April 29 when they joined 15,000 other union members and activists at a march and rally. Led by AFL-CIO Pres. Richard Trumka, the NAACP, National People’s Action and Move On, the marchers demanded, “Wall Street, fix the mess you made.” The call to the rally stated, “America lost 8.5 million jobs because of the financial crisis created by Wall Street, and now is 11 million jobs in the hole.” Speakers at the rally noted that never before has Wall Street made so much money while doing so little for economic and job growth. The organizers of the march said they understand the concerns of activists in the Tea Party movement, but did not agree with the Tea Party focus. Tea Party members aim their fire at Pres. Barack Obama and are opposed to government intervention to curb the excesses of the corporations. Leaders of the Wall Street demonstration demand government intervention to force the rich and the corporations to do the right thing. Among the demands the marchers and organizers made to finance industry were: • End opposition of the banks and
Wall Street 1199ers marched on Wall Street on April 29 and in Lower Manhattan on May 1 for economic reform, labor and immigrant rights.
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JAY MALLIN PHOTO
financial firms to Wall Street reform. • Stop the use of speculative financial instruments that make profit for the few while hurting the many. • Take responsibility for the clean up of the mess by paying your fair share of the cost of creating the jobs you destroyed. In Albany, N.Y. just two days before the Wall Street demonstration, 1199ers, as part of a coalition of union and community allies, met with legislators to press for an end to the state budget impasse. The message of 1199ers and their allies was the same as the April 29 action: Wall Street should not continue to prosper while the working families on Main Street are still hurting. Rather than cut vital services to help fix the state’s fiscal crisis, coalition members said that the appropriate solution is for those who have already been bailed out with taxpayer dollars to make a modest contribution that would balance the budget and create jobs. This message was echoed by 1199SEIU and the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) in joint statements earlier in the budget process. “It is astonishing that health care is still on the chopping block after seven previous cuts, multiple facility closures and the loss of thousands of healthcare jobs,” read a statement issued by 1199SEIU Pres. George Gresham and GNYHA Pres. Kenneth Raske. Similar statements have come from 1119SEIU leaders in each of the Union’s districts. “While taking positive steps to
May Day
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protect vital homecare services provided by Personal Care Attendants, the [Massachusetts] House budget proposal does not do enough to address the funding shortfalls within many community hospitals, neighborhood clinics and nursing homes that care for low-income families,” declared 1199SEIU VP Veronica Turner in an April 14 statement. 1199SEIU members in New Jersey have united with a broad coalition of groups in NJ for Health Care to prevent Gov. Chris Christie from challenging aspects of the federal healthcare reform law. In the Maryland/D.C. region of the Union, “The Heart of Baltimore Campaign” makes clear that the best way to help Main Streeters is to preserve healthcare funding to elevate the status of hospital workers. This also can be accomplished by permitting healthcare workers to join unions and get on the path to decent wages and benefits without employer interference. Both Darien Hill and his mother, Sheila Saunders, are 1199SEIU delegates at Great Baltimore Medical Center. “We definitely have to step up our political activity,” says Hill. “Nothing happens without capital. We have to out-organize the opposition, but organizing is not enough. And unions have to play a bigger role. We know that without unions, we’d all be screwed. Winning the reforms that we need will be a long process. We have to keep up the pressure.”
Sheila Saunders and her son, Darien Hill, are delegates and activists at Baltimore Greater Medical Center.
“Nothing happens without capital. We have to outorganize the opposition, but organizing is not enough. And unions have to play a bigger role.”
PEOPLE
Respiratory therapist Sharon Broadnax is also a gifted illustrator.
“My Art Allows Me To Touch The Child In Me” As a neonatal pediatric specialist, Sharon Broadnax, a respiratory therapist, is devoted to the care of children. “The babies I work with are sick, but I can always get a smile out of them,” she says. “I try to touch them by being funny or with my own smile.” Broadnax, who works at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, is also a gifted illustrator. Her specialty is children’s art. Much of her work is fantastic and colorful, depicting dreamlike or playful scenes. “My art allows me to touch the child in me,” she says. “I started drawing when I was very young. It was a way to let my imagination go wild. I went to college, but never pursued art. It wasn’t until 9/11 that I realized life is short, so I went back to art school. I took some courses in graphic design and painting and got my degree.” Broadnax says her work as a respiratory therapist definitely influences her art. “I see things that make up stories all the time. And I try to capture it in my drawings,” she says. “My art also gives me a safe place where I can be happy because the world can be harsh and we all need that place.”
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Around the Union
What’s Happening Log on to 1199seiu.org As 1199SEIU continues to grow numerically and geographically, it becomes more difficult to keep abreast of developments within the Union. But members don’t have to remain in the dark. By logging on to www.1199seiu.org, members can follow the major developments within the Union, including news from their districts. Pages with links are devoted to each 1199SEIU District. The website cannot take the place of members attending Union meetings and activities, but it’s a valuable asset to help members and supporters keep up with developments and activities throughout the Union and beyond. On the home page, members can press on links to the following sections: News Center, Press Center, Campaign Center, Latest Alerts, Members, Occupations, Retirees, Regions, Upcoming Events, The Monitor and Our Life And Times. Links to the 1199SEIU Family of Funds and the 1199SEIU Facebook and Twitter
pages also are on the home page. Also, there is a section devoted to upcoming events throughout the Union and a section to provide or change members’ contact information. In April and May, stories about 1199SEIU’s campaigns to fight attempted state healthcare budget cuts were featured prominently on the site. The site contains news that the mainstream media usually ignores. For example, it carried dispatches and photos by Our Life And Times editor J.J. Johnson about the international world climate conference in Bolivia in April. The conference attracted some 30,000 participants from 130 countries. The Campaign Center page contains links that direct members to pages on homecare battles in New York, organizing in Baltimore, hospital organizing campaigns in Massachusetts, support for victims of the Haiti earthquake and assistance in applying for the Earned Income Tax Credit. In May, the 1199SEIU New Organizing Department launched its new organizing web page with links to the 1199SEIU main site. It is an excellent starting point for healthcare workers who are seeking to organize and for 1199ers who would like to help non-union workers gain the benefits of unionizing.
The website cannot take the place of members attending Union meetings and activities, but it’s a valuable asset to help members and supporters keep up with developments and activities throughout the Union and beyond.
Executive Council Approves Merger with SEIU Healthcare Florida If approved by members, the new Region will be a major victory in a Right to Work State. The 1199SEIU Executive Council voted unanimously on April 23 to approve a merger with SEIU Healthcare Florida, the 15,000-member SEIU local that represents workers at 75 hospitals and 10 nursing homes throughout southern Florida. The merger is scheduled to take effect on July 20 of this year. It’s subject to approval by a secret ballot vote by Florida members. If approved, the merger will create the 1199SEIU Florida Region. It will be headed by Monica Russo, who will serve as Exec. V.P. / Regional Director. The Region will have an executive board and members will be represented on the 1199SEIU Executive Council. 1199SEIU members already have a close relationship with Florida Healthcare members. Many 1199ers have volunteered to participate in Florida organizing drives and others have spent time in Florida as 1199SEIU heroes working on presidential election campaigns. Many members also move and retire to Florida. SEIU Healthcare Florida VP Stella Williams spoke to the 1199SEIU Exec. Council meeting in New York City on April 23. Williams started her career with District 1115 some 27 years ago and knows firsthand
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how union membership can change workers’ conditions. “Florida is a right to work state; There’s a joke that it’s a right to work like a dog state and change nothing,” she said. “My co-workers and I were able to get health care paid for by our employer and a defined pension. Those things were unheard of in Florida.” The merger is also an opportunity for the Union to build strength in Florida’s panhandle, where there is virtually no density. “I’m voting yes because it’s time to expand our reach to more hospitals in Florida,” said Eduardo Eguino from Miami’s Kendall Regional Medical Center. “With more resources more healthcare workers will be able to join our Union, and together we can win better benefits, like a pension.” Ana Macias, an RN at North Shore Medical Center in Miami, said the move is not just a benefit for Florida workers. “Joining 1199SEIU is just the first step for us to become an even more powerful force,” said Macias. “I’m voting yes because I want to be part of a union that has national recognition so that all workers around the country can have a stronger voice.”
CHRIS DAVIS PHOTO
Members of SEIU Healthcare Florida, who at press time are voting on a merger with 1199SEIU.
“With more resources more healthcare workers will be able to join our Union, and together we can win better benefits, like a pension.” Eduardo Eguino Miami’s Kendall Regional Medical Center
THE BACK PAGE
Support Families on Main Street Not Financiers on Wall Street. 1199SEIU is fighting to strengthen healthcare reform and implement immigration and labor reform. Visit Us Onl www.1 ine at 199sei u.org For the Latest News