(The IBT issued the following news release on March 4.)
WASHINGTON — Today, in the largest one-day demonstration in support of comprehensive health care reform, hundreds of thousands of union workers and concerned community members from union locals, retiree groups, and grassroots community organizations participated in a nationwide “Health Care Action Day” in more than 125 communities across the country.
“Health insurance plans cover 75 percent of the union workforce compared to less than half of all nonunion workers,” said James P. Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “Forty million Americans are without health insurance. Millions more have inadequate coverage. As more jobs are destroyed or moved overseas, millions more are left without health insurance. This day of action is the first step in addressing the deplorable condition in which more and more working families find themselves. Health Care Action Day is challenging politicians to improve and expand health care coverage, with the ultimate goal of providing health care for all.”
Sixty thousand Teamster members from 77 Teamster Locals joined hundreds of thousands of other union members from 175 local unions in wearing “HEALTH CARE FOR ALL” stickers. The day of action, sponsored by Jobs With Justice, was joined by eight national unions.
One cornerstone of the action day is on-the-job mobilizations by union members who are angry about pressure from their employers to pay for runaway health care costs, a situation made worse by President Bush’s new Medicare law that encourages companies to shift drug costs to retirees.
A second focus is at the community level where 25 local Jobs With Justice (JWJ) coalitions are organizing over 120 grassroots actions that include demonstrations and marches, educational forums and hearings, delegations to lobby elected representatives and pass city council resolutions, events calling attention to the crushing burden of health care debt on working families, protests at facilities where cuts threaten essential community services, and setting up mock clinics to dispense “prescriptions for change.” Six national health care reform organizations also sponsored Health Care Action Day.
A state-by-state list where workplace and community-based Health Care actions are taking place can be found on the JWJ web site at www.jwj.org.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States and Canada.