Union members agree that health care reform belongs at the top of this year’s legislative agenda. Over the past five years, employment-based coverage has dropped 5 percent and the number of uninsured Californians has grown by 3 percent.

California’s unions responded to this crisis in 2003 when we took on health care reform and sponsored SB 2 (Burton/Speier). In the last five years, we have done extensive research into other reform possibilities and last year helped enact a prescription drug plan. But 2007 is promising to be the year for health care reform. Elected officials are finally recognizing that our health care system is in crisis and there is momentum for change.

In addition to health care reform, California’s unions are working to restore fairness for injured workers in the Workers’ Compensation system and to strengthen the rights of workers to organize and form a union.

We all feel the impact of the health care crisis; those of us with coverage are paying more and getting less. Premium costs have increased by double digits and union members are paying the difference—with higher out of pocket costs, giving up raises and other benefits, or accepting reduced quality of health care plans.

Pharmaceutical and insurance companies are two of the most profitable industries in the world and, together, they are diverting more and more of our health care spending away from services and toward administration, advertising and profits. In 2006, insurance companies nationally made over $9 billion in profits and pharmaceutical companies made over $39 billion.

As employer-based coverage declines, we all pay the price for the 6.7 million— nearly one in five—uninsured Californians. Union members with coverage pay a portion of their premiums to subsidize the cost of the uninsured. We are subsidizing profitable companies like Wal-Mart that refuse to provide healthcare coverage to their workers.

And more union members themselves are joining the ranks of the uninsured. Our members are being forced into part-time status so that they won’t be eligible for health insurance. Nearly 50 percent of the UFCW retail clerks in Southern California are uninsured because their second-tier new hires face waiting periods of 12-30 months before they are eligible for coverage.

This is an unsustainable situation. It is clear that we cannot solve the health care crisis at the bargaining table.

The Executive Council of the California Labor Federation adopted five guiding principles for health care reform in December 2006. These principles are built on the values that union members and health care trustees have fought for in our own contracts.
1. Guaranteeing affordable and universal coverage,
2. Containing health care costs,
3. Requiring employers to pay their fair share,
4. Choosing our own doctors, and
5. Improving the quality of care.

We will judge every health care reform proposal against these five guiding principles.

Unions have been at the forefront of every worker justice issue in this country and in this state for the past century. We’ve fought hard to win paid family leave, prevailing wage protections, increased unemployment and disability insurance benefits, and an increased minimum wage, and we’ve battled continuously for the freedom to join a union and bargain collectively.

Once again we’re on the front lines, this time to win health care reform.

California’s workers’ compensation system has undergone dramatic changes over the past five years. Employers have enjoyed significant savings to the tune of $11 billion. Insurance companies are reaping historic profits. And injured workers are suffering.

Permanently injured workers have had their benefits slashed by over 50 percent. Temporarily disabled workers face steep limits on their benefits. Medical treatment is delayed and denied and injured workers aren’t being allowed to return even after they have fully recovered.

Cost savings were supposed to come from less dispute and less litigation in the system. Instead, savings have come off the backs of injured workers. The pendulum has swung too far. California’s unions are committed to restoring fairness for injured workers by pursuing the following legislation:

• Restore Permanent Disability (PD) Benefits. Governor Schwarzenegger’s regulations have slashed permanent disability benefits by over 50 percent. In 2005, the Governor vetoed a bill to partially restore these benefits (SB 815 Perata). Lower PD benefits have taken away incentives for employers to return injured workers to their jobs. SB 936 (Perata) and AB 1212 (Nuñez) are legislative vehicles to restore some of these benefits.

• Adjust two-year Temporary Disability (TD) benefit cap. The Schwarzenegger reforms cap temporary disability benefits to 24 months. Some injured workers have now maxed out their TD benefits and are forced to rely on worker-funded State Disability Insurance (SDI) benefits or go without. AB 338 (Coto) would provide injured workers a longer window of time to accrue benefits, extend the time limit on benefits, and determine that delays in accepting claims or in receiving needed medical care should not count against the TD time limit.

• Fix the return to work process. The best outcome for injured workers and employers is for injured workers to return to work. Recent changes create disincentives for employers to allow a return to work through lower permanent disability benefits and less vocational training. SB 942 (Migden) would provide new incentives for employers to return injured workers back to work and penalties if they fail to do so.

• Proof of insurance coverage. Last year, Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation to create a publicly accessible database of employers’ workers’ comp coverage. Such a database would allow injured workers, medical providers, and contractors to determine if an employer has workers’ comp insurance and who their carrier is. Twenty-six states currently have such a database. AB 507 (DeLaTorre) has been reintroduced.

For many American workers, the right to organize exists only on paper. While 58 percent of eligible workers say they would like to join a union, only 7.4 percent of private sector workers were in a union in 2006. This disparity reflects the shortcomings of current laws meant to protect workers who assert their right to organize.

In its 2005 annual report, the National Labor Relations Board established that 31,358 people were disciplined or fired for union activity. In 92 percent of organizing campaigns, workers are required to attend mandatory anti-union meetings with their boss; in 75 percent of campaigns, employers hire anti-union consultants; and in 25 percent, a worker is fired for advocating for the union.

The federal Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would reform the National Labor Relations Act by providing for:
• Union recognition when a majority of workers signs union authorization cards;
• First contract mediation and arbitration to ensure good faith bargaining; and
• Meaningful penalties for violations of the Act.

These provisions would make it possible for workers to decide whether to join a union free from employer harassment and intimidation. Passage of the EFCA is the top priority for the national labor movement.

We will work with our state’s legislators to maximize their support for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Last year, Bush’s hand-picked members of the National Labor Relations Board issued a series of decisions called “Kentucky River,” in which the Board concluded that a group of charge nurses were supervisors and that the National Labor Relations Act did not apply to them. Without the protection of the Act, charge nurses do not have the right to organize or bargain collectively with management. This decision is a frontal assault on our right to join unions.

Nearly 80,000 Registered Nurses in California could lose union protection if this decision is allowed to stand. In fact, under Kentucky River, just about any lead worker, whether a charge nurse or a foreman, could be deemed a supervisor and taken out of the bargaining unit. This ruling could potentially impact eight million workers across the country and over 250,000 in California alone.

The Labor Federation will sponsor a resolution calling on Congress to amend the National Labor Relations Act to overturn the decision in Kentucky River and protect union members from losing their collective bargaining rights.