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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2009)
JUNE 5, 2009:NWLP 6/2/09 10:18 AM Page 2 Union officials affirm Sotomayor for High Court WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — The AFL-CIO and Change to Win la- bor federations are giving strong back- ing to federal appellate judge Sonia So- tomayor, President Barack Obama’s nominee for the first U.S. Supreme Court vacancy during his White House term. Sotomayor, 54, now a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, was nominated by Obama to succeed Associate Justice David Souter, who intends to retire at the end of June. Retiring AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called Sotomayor, the first Hispanic-American Supreme Court nominee, “a brilliant jurist” who “would bring a direct and personal un- derstanding of the struggles workers face every day.” Anna Burger, chair of Change to Win, said there are few people with So- tomayor’s legal acumen and accumu- lated wisdom. “But beyond her bril- liance, her three-decade career in the law and her distinguished record, Judge Sotomayor’s personal story of achieve- ment has given her a rare insight into b h m k the lives of people who get up and go to work each day to make a better life for their families.” Sotomayor was raised in a South Bronx public housing project by par- ents who moved from Puerto Rico. Her mother was a nurse and her late father worked in a factory. She graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude, edited the Yale Law Journal, served as a New York City prosecutor and corporate lawyer before being ap- pointed to the bench by President George H. W. Bush in 1992. Sweeney added that Sotomayor has consistently interpreted U.S. labor laws in the manner in which they were in- tended. “She has enforced the rights of all workers to be free of all types of dis- crimination at work, to be the paid the correct wages, and to receive health benefits to which they are entitled. She has recognized that persecution for union activity can be a basis for grant- ing asylum in the U. S,” he said. A database search turned up three notable Sotomayor rulings on labor is- sues, including one high-profile deci- sion four years after she became a U.S. Bennett Hartman Morris & Kaplan, llp Attorneys at Law Oregon’s Full Service Union Law Firm Representing Workers Since 1960 Serious Injury and Death Cases • Construction Injuries • Automobile Accidents • Medical, Dental, and Legal Malpractice • Bicycle and Motorcycle Accidents • Pedestrian Accidents • Premises Liability (injuries on premises) • Workers’ Compensation Injuries • Social Security Claims We Work Hard for Hard-Working People! 111 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 1650 Portland, Oregon 97204 (503) 227-4600 www.bennetthartman.com Our Legal Staff are Proud Members of UFCW Local 555 PAGE 2 District Judge in 1991. Her injunction against the baseball team owners ended their 1995 intransigence that forced the unionized players to strike. The strike lasted a few days and her court order made clear the owners had to bargain in good faith and reach a contract. A second Sotomayor case is pend- ing before the current Supreme Court, but that decision will occur before she joins the bench, assuming the Demo- cratic-run Senate confirms her nomina- tion. That case, argued earlier this year, involves the city of New Haven’s years- old exam for its firefighters. When New Haven gave the exam for the promo- tions, the whites and one Hispanic- American passed, and all the blacks did not. The city threw out the test as racially biased in its effect. Those who passed the test sued. The federal district court in Con- necticut ruled for the city, and a three- judge 2nd Circuit panel, including So- tomayor, agreed. But other Republican- appointed 2nd Circuit judges who were not on the panel were upset enough to file their own dissent, urging the Supreme Court to take the case, which it did. The third Sotomayor ruling in- volved a health benefits case. In 2005, the administrator of Empire Health Choice Assurance, Inc., a health plan for New York-based federal workers, sued the estate of a dead worker trying to recover benefits the plan had paid before the worker died. Sotomayor wrote for a three-judge appellate panel, which ruled 2-1 for the worker’s heirs. Sotomayor said there was no federal jurisdiction. She ruled “it was not enough” that the health care plan was created by federal law, since the plan “was not an instrumentality of the fed- eral government, but merely the result of federal legislation.” ...Wyden health bill is sick (From Page 1) with quality, affordable health insur- ance for every American,” he said. In addition to taxing benefits, union officials are protesting two other as- pects of the bill: Union members would be forced to give up their negotiated health care plans whether they liked them or not; and the bill doesn’t include a public option for workers to choose from. Asked by a reporter why labor was- n’t pursuing a single-payer plan to elim- inate all the wrangling over health care reform, Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, said a single- player plan isn’t going to happen. “I don’t know if we ever get to sin- gle-payer in this country,” he re- sponded. “What you’re talking about is tearing completely down the existing 7LUHG RI :RUNLQJ LQ 3$,1" 0RVW ,QVXUDQFH 3ODQV $FFHSWHG 3 528'/< 6 (59,1* 3 257/$1' : 25.(56 ) 25 2 9(5 < ($56 system and starting from scratch. I just don’t see how that’s going to happen.” Wyden introduced SB 391 in Febru- ary. The bill has a dozen co-sponsors, including Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Arlen Specter (R- Penn), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Mary Landrieu (D-La), Mike Crapo (R- Idaho), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Lamar Alexander (R- Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (R- S.C.), and Bob Bennett (R-Utah). “We’re deeply disappointed that Wyden won’t commit to a public op- tion,” Allen said. The three unions are sharing the cost of the $60,000 radio ad buy on stations airing in Portland and Eugene. The group also has a Web site: www.stopwydenshealthtax.com. %HHVRQ &KLURSUDFWLF Paying the price for health insurance • Health insurance premiums for Oregon working families have sky- rocketed, increasing 85 percent from 2000 to 2007. • For family health coverage in Oregon during this time, the average annual combined premium for em- ployers and employees rose from $6,654 to $12,321. • For family health coverage in Oregon from 2000 to 2007, the av- erage employer’s portion of annual premiums rose 77 percent, while the average worker’s share grew by 111 percent. • From 2000 to 2007, the median earnings of Oregon workers in- creased 18 percent, from $22,401 to $26,444. During that time health in- surance premiums for Oregon work- ing families rose 4.7 times faster than median earnings. • Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly-traded health insur- ance companies — Aetna, Ameri- group Corp., Centene Corp., CIGNA Corp., Coventry Health Care Inc., Health Net Inc., Humana Inc., Unit- edHealth Group Inc., Universal American Corp., and WellPoint — rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007, from $2.4 billion to $12.9 billion, ac- cording to U.S. Securities and ex- change Commission filings. • In 2007 alone the chief execu- tive officers at these companies col- lected combined total compensation of $118.6 million — an average of $11.9 million each. That is 468 times more than the $25,434 an av- erage American worker made that year. From Health Care for America Now! May 2009 KHOSV EULQJ WKH UHOLHI \RX QHHG 7UHDWPHQW IRU SDLQ GXH WR RYHUXVH DQG UHSHWLWLYH PRWLRQ &KLURSUDFWLF DGMXVWPHQWV 7UHDWPHQW IRU DFFLGHQW DQG VSRUWVUHODWHG LQMXULHV 5HKDELOLWDWLRQ H[HUFLVHV 7KHUDSHXWLF PDVVDJH ,QWHUQDO GLDJQRVLV DQG WUHDWPHQW /DE WHVWV DQG [UD\V (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. 4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150, Portland, Ore. 97213 Telephone: (503) 288-3311 Editor: Michael Gutwig Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non- profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore- gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union members. Group rates available to trade union organizations. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150, PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 'U 'DQ %HHVRQ &KLURSUDFWRU 6( 7KLUWHHQWK $YH LQ 6HOOZRRG &$// NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS JUNE 5, 2009
