[Antiracism] [Workers' Rights] oppose health care cost shifting

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

NOTE: Springfield Rally will be 12 Noon at the Verizon building, 365 State
Street, Springfield (across from STCC). For more info, contact Kathy Collins
(413) 348-8443, IBEW 2324, (413) 734-0863.

 

 

Press Advisory

For news on: Thursday, May 22     

For more info contact: Rand Wilson, 617 803-0799

 

Thursday, May 22 is Health Care Action Day...

Reform organizations and unions set for action in support of health care for
all!

 

Telecom workers oppose corporate agenda to shift burden of health care costs
to employees


Telephone employees will spearhead a day of action across Massachusetts on
Thursday, May 22 to protest efforts by Verizon and many other employers to
force workers to pay more for their health insurance premiums or increase
co-pays and deductibles.  

 

The workers -- with support from the Jobs with Justice Health Care Action
Committee -- will rally for reforms so that working families have secure,
affordable health care coverage, even if they get laid-off, change jobs or
work part time.  Verizon workers in Massachusetts are united in the IBEW and
CWA. 


Events will be held in the following 17 cities and towns in Massachusetts:
Boston, Woburn, Braintree, Weymouth, Dedham, Dorchester, Watertown, Andover,
Methuen, Lawrence, Lynn, Danvers, Lowell, Brockton, Marlboro, Boylston and
Springfield.  

 

Details about specific event times and locations can be found on the Jobs
with Justice website: HYPERLINK
"http://www.massjwj.net/node/2328"www.massjwj.net/node/2328

 

Each event will feature a short presentation about how best to solve the
problem of rising health care costs.  Workers will hold signs and pass out
an educational leaflet to the public.  Throughout the day union members will
wear stickers on the job calling for "No Cuts in Our Benefits.  Let's Fight
for Health Care for All!"

 

"Shifting premium costs and raising co-pays and deductibles for employees is
not a solution," said Russ Davis, director of Jobs with Justice.  "It won't
hold down skyrocketing health care costs or improve the quality of care.  It
only lets employers avoid their responsibility to work for real solutions."

 

"We need a 'Medicare for All' reform that would improve and expand our
national Medicare program to cover everyone and control costs more
effectively," said John Horgan, a 26-year Verizon technician and shop
steward with IBEW Local 2222.  "Medicare's administrative costs are less
than 5 percent, while overhead for private, employer-based insurance eats up
about 30 percent of health care spending."

 

Jobs with Justice's Health Care Action Committee links workers' struggles
against insurance cost shifting and cuts in health care services to help
build a larger movement for comprehensive reforms.  

 

 

Rand Wilson, Communications Coordinator

Center for Strategic Research, AFL-CIO Organizing Dept.

c/o IBEW Local 2222, 1137 Washington Street, Dorchester, MA 02124

w) (617) 929-6000, f) (617) 929-6099, c) (617) 803-0799

HYPERLINK "mailto:rwilson at aflcio.org"rwilson at aflcio.org or HYPERLINK
"mailto:rand at mindspring.com"rand at mindspring.com

 

 

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[Workers' Rights] posts opportunities for you to learn about and show
solidarity with workplace and working class struggles. And these events are
opportunities for JwJ members to fulfill their pledge: "I'll be there for
workers' rights at least five times a year!" This is the core mission of
Jobs with Justice (www.jwj.org), affirming that workers' rights are human
rights. To subscribe, send an email to wmjwj at wmjwj.org with a Subject of
"Subscribe Worker's Rights".



Western Mass Jobs with Justice
640 Page Blvd #101
Springfield MA 01104
(413) 827-0301 

 

 


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