After extensive deliberation, the AFL-CIO Executive Council, with the strong support and recommendation of AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka, agreed on March 18, 2010 to support and fight to pass the president’s health care reform bill.
In a letter to union presidents and activists, President Trumka stated:
” This was not a decision we made casually because we know this bill is not perfect. But it is the best opportunity we have had in decades to begin fixing America’s broken health care system.
If you need proof this bill is worth fighting for, look no further than the swarm of insurance company lobbyists all over Capitol Hill trying to stop it!
Today I’m asking you to join us and do everything you can to help pass this bill.
Call your representative . . . at 1-877-3-AFLCIO to support the health care bill before Congress.Together we have fought to improve this bill every day for more than a year, and our actions made it far better. The president’s health care reform bill will immediately stop the worst greed-driven insurance company abuses like:
Denying care because of pre-existing conditions
Toughen penalties on employers that try to run from their responsibilities
Put the burden of paying for health care where it belongs—on the wealthy
Get life-saving health coverage to 30 million more people.This is our moment. We can’t miss this opportunity. The long-term health security that will result from this bill is the most important thing we can do for our future—for our children and their children.
Today I’m asking you to do everything you can to help pass this bill.
Call your representative . . . . at 1-877-3-AFLCIO and tell your representative: Pass heath care reform.Join me as the labor movement helps make history again.
In solidarity,
Richard L. Trumka
AFL-CIO President “
TCU’s President Bob Scardelletti has never wavered from his opposition to the excise tax.
Union members express strong views on the excise tax and other issues that pertain to our jobs as evidenced by a recent machinist’s poll. Click here
The original Senate version put the excise tax in effect in 2013 but the AFL-CIO successfully negotiated with President Obama to delay the implementation of the excise tax until 2018. President Scardelletti said, “this gives us 8 years to work on it, and I will never rest until the excise tax is eliminated.”
Related information from the Washington Post:
Health-Care bill before the house.
A look at key provisions that would be made to the Senate bill if reconciliation was put into it.
5 Questions about health-care legislation.
Five questions about the bill, the process and what it ultimately means to the American people.