John McCain Gives Working Families the Finger

By Joel Wendland

Yesterday John McCain held a town hall meeting at Worth & Co. in Bucks County, PA. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has investigated that company for intentionally refusing to pay workers the minimum wage. Pennsylvania officials say the company underpaid workers by more than $140,000. There is no doubt that McCain's actions yesterday were a deliberate statement on how he feels about working people and their rights.

Here's a brief run-down on McCain's record on working-class issues – just in case you're still in the dark:

helped block minimum wage hike in 2005

voted to filibuster minimum wage hike in 2007

compared unions to monopolies

voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007, allowing workers to form unions

opposed the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2008, which would have made it easier for women workers to sue for equal pay

McCain also failed to show up to vote last week on a measure that would have extended unemployment benefits for workers.

But McCain did pander to Big Oil on offshore drilling, and promised the most profitable companies in the country billions in new tax cuts.

By contrast, Obama backs the Fair Pay Act, for equal pay for women, would sign the Employee Free Choice Act, has proposed indexing the minimum wage to inflation, and would appoint NLRB members who would protect workers rights, wages, health and safety and so on.

John McCain favors free trade at all costs, especially to the rights of working people and the environment. He told Midwest workers that he has given up on bringing back manufacturing jobs and that more jobs would be lost under his administration.

Obama believes environmental protections and workers rights (to join unions, health and safety protections, and basic wage rights) should be central features of any international trade agreement. He voted against CAFTA and opposed the Colombia Free Trade Agreement for those reasons.

Trade is a key workers' rights issue, because if agreements prioritize trade over workers and the environment, those agreements will make it cheaper for companies to super-exploit workers and the environment in other countries, causing job losses here and the drive to bottom everywhere.

If workers are protected in all countries, however, companies have no reason to go.

On creating new jobs, McCain has offered contradictory and incoherent plans on the most important new areas staked out for job growth: green energy and green jobs.

While he is offering prizes to the biggest polluters and proposes to tie the economy forever to oil with new plans to drill offshore and in protected Arctic regions, Obama plans real investments in research and development of renewable energy alternatives, green infrastructure growth, and alternative energies.

Though John McCain has tried to lie about and hide his support for privatizing Social Security and his plans to slash Social Security and Medicare benefits, Obama opposes privatization and has offered plans to improve the financial security of the program by raising the income cap on the Social Security payroll tax to ensure that the very wealthiest Americans pay their fair share into the system.

The list on the clear and meaningful differences on working-class issues between McCain and Obama is much longer, but you get the idea.

Working people simply can't afford the risk of John McCain in the White House. In fact, we can't afford not spending every effort to work for his defeat, on ensuring an Obama victory, and on strengthening pro-worker Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress.

John McCain was for Privatizing Social Security, then against it, now he's for it

Seniors Protest Medicare "Advantage" Rip-off

The labor-affiliated Alliance for Retired Americans is calling July 23rd a day of protest to demand an end to federal subsidies for insurance companies offering privatized “Medicare Advantage” plans.

The subsidies, seen by many senior advocates as a back-door attempt to privatize Medicare, end up costing taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries more than traditional Medicare.

State insurance commissioners have complained that insurers who carry Medicare Advantage use highly aggressive sales tactics to pressure seniors to accept privatized plans.

Medicare Advantage enrollees have reported significant interruptions in their health care and unexpected medical bills.

In addition, Medicare Advantage plans often do not provide adequate emergency care coverage.

Earlier this week, health care activists in Washington State and Wisconsin drew public attention to the issue.

An analysis by Washington’s Community Action Now reveals that it costs $1,503 more per year for every Washingtonian enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan than it would cost to provide care for that person in traditional Medicare.

A similar study in Wisconsin found that Medicare Advantage costs an extra $1,533 per year than traditional Medicare.

The studies also found that every Medicare recipient is forced to pay more out of pocket expenses to fund the privatized plans.

Will Parry, President of the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans, linked the pressure on beneficiaries to accept Medicare Advantage plans to Bush's ongoing effort to privatize Social Security.

Parry said, "Medicare is headed down a similar path, and Congress needs to again take a stand to ensure that our public health care dollars go toward people’s health care, not into health industry CEOs’ wallets.”

--From Political Affairs Radio. Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes.

Letter Carriers Reach Tentative Contract Agreement, Protest Outsourcing

The National Association of Letter Carriers reached tentative agreement with the U.S. Postal Service on a new five-year agreement covering the nation's 222,000 city delivery carriers.

The tentative contract will be submitted to the active membership for ratification.

The settlement calls for general wage increases and several cost-of-living adjustments.

NALC President William H. Young President Young said. “It’s a win-win deal for the Postal Service and the nation’s city letter carriers. It offers improved job security and fair wages for letter carriers and provides an intelligent and responsible way forward on the issues of flats automation and outsourcing.”

The agreement comes as NALC members continue to protest privatization of letter carrier routes by the US postal service.

In a letter to the US Senate in June, the NALC rejected the post office's claim that privatization is more efficient or that private contractors are "small businesses."

Privatization assures that some people will get mail from less well-trained contractors who earn far less in wages and benefits.

The NALC letter compared privatization of the post office to the kind of corrupt and profit-grubbing privatization practices that fueled the disaster at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

Listeners should urge their Senators to co-sponsor S. 1457, the Mail Delivery Protection Act, which would limit the privatization efforts of the Postal Service and ensure that your mail is delivered by well-trained, fairly treated union postal workers. Go to Senate.gov and speak up.

--Joel Wendland