Feb. 4, 2011:NWLP
2/1/11
10:14 AM
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Single-payer summit draws 400; many union members
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
On Jan. 29, State Rep. Michael
Dembrow (D-Portland) met his coun-
terpart in Congress — U.S. Rep. John
Conyers of Detroit — at a daylong con-
ference on building a movement for
“single-payer” health care. Dembrow
is a leader of American Federation of
Teachers-Oregon; Conyers is the son of
a United Auto Workers union represen-
tative. Both are sponsors of legislation
that would take private insurance com-
panies out the center of the health care
Busted!
A sampler of recent charges of employer labor law violations filed
with the local office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Willamette Glass must reinstate workers it fired
Willamette Glass, a nonunion glass contractor in Clackamas,
agreed to reinstate four workers and pay $43,411 in back pay. That
— and a workers’ rights notice mailed to all employees — will set-
tle a charge filed by Painters District Council 5 after the Jan. 22,
2010, firing of four members of Painters Local 740. The NLRB
concluded that company president Scott Fritcher fired the four glaz-
ing and fabrication employees because of their union sympathies.
Two workers agreed to accept reinstatement, but two others de-
clined, reportedly concerned they’d be returning to a hostile envi-
ronment. The NLRB took seriously a threat by one anti-union co-
worker — that he would be going “hunting” for any union guy that
tried to steal his job. Painters organizer Mike James says District
Council 5 has not given up trying to organize the company.
Georgia-Pacific strips worker of union rights
Georgia-Pacific is accused of issuing discipline that went outside
the bounds of the union contract, to retaliate against a worker for
supporting his union, the Inland Boatmen’s Union. At a paper
product warehouse, Dave Franzen was made to enter into a “last
chance agreement” under threat of termination. The agreement
strips him of his union right not to be terminated without just cause.
The company refused to bargain over any aspect of the discipline
and refused to provide information to the union when it tried to rep-
resent him.
system — by setting up a public insur-
ance system to pay for basic health
services.
Conyers’ “Medicare for All” pro-
posal in Congress, HR 676, was kept
out of the official debate on health care
reform in 2009. But the bill that did be-
come law, the Affordable Care Act, al-
lows states to set up their own single
payer systems. Dembrow’s bill, which
he expected to introduce early this
month, would do that.
The Oregon Single Payer Confer-
ence, held at a church in downtown
Portland, drew 400 attendees from
around the state — twice as many as
organizers expected. And 50 of those
attended a workshop about the special
role organized labor could play in
bringing about a single payer system.
Union health and welfare trusts are a
working model of what a single payer
system would look like, said workshop
co-chair Tom Leedham, secretary-
treasurer of Teamsters Local 206. Be-
cause union trusts are mostly self-in-
sured, they provide a high-quality
benefit at a price that employers can’t
match.
“All the money goes into one pot,
out of which we pay claims,” Leedham
said. That’s how a single payer system
would work. While union health trusts
may rent a provider network from Blue
Cross, Leedham said, and may pay a
private company to administer claims,
no union trustee collects a salary or
makes a profit off the trust. The trust is
run to benefit all members and their
families, and no questions are asked
about pre-existing conditions or any
other insurance company loophole.
State Rep. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland), left, talks with Congressman John
Conyers (D-Michigan) about his bill in the Oregon Legislature to create a
public system of health insurance. Conyers’ bill in Congress would do the
same on a national level by extending Medicare to all Americans.
Hundreds of locals, central labor
councils, and national unions have en-
dorsed the single payer idea, said fellow
workshop co-chair Mark Dudzic, na-
tional coordinator of the group Labor
Campaign for Single Payer Health
Care. They’ve done so for pragmatic as
well as principled reasons.
Health benefits are the most con-
tentious item in bargaining union con-
tracts. And paying the ever-rising cost
of health care burns up money that
could otherwise go to wage increases or
other benefits. A single payer system
would take health care off the bargain-
ing table. It would make health care a
birthright for every American, Dudzic
said, and deliver the universal health
care that every other rich industrial
country has achieved.
Corporate-owned hospital doubles CNA workload
The NLRB has determined that unionized McKenzie-Willamette
Medical Center in Springfield broke federal labor law. The agency
issued a complaint in three separate charges filed by SEIU Local
49 and set a Feb. 15 trial date for the case to be heard. The for-profit
hospital is part of Tennessee-headquartered Community Health
Systems, the nation’s largest publicly-traded hospital company. Lo-
cal 49 staff director Ron Ruggiero said the chain is making record
profits in Springfield and elsewhere, yet refuses to bargain seriously
with its 340 union techs and support staff workers, and is asking
them to pay more for their health insurance. The hospital also dou-
bled the patient load of some certified nurse assistants — from 11 to
22 — without bargaining with the union.
Hilton manager seems to be on rampage
Hilton Portland food and beverage manager Florian Kunkel is on a
rampage, judging by recent unfair labor practice complaints. Last
month, we reported the charge that he grabbed a union contract
right out of the hands of union steward Melissa Goff. Since then,
Kunkel called one worker an idiot and made a group of workers
work on Christmas who had supported Goff in her grievance and
unfair labor practice charge. UNITE HERE Local 9 filed two
more charges and is alleging across-the-board retaliation against
seven of Goff’s co-workers for supporting her in the grievance pro-
cedure and in her unfair labor practice charge.
FEBRUARY 4, 2011
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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