CWA turns out in force to demand health care reform now
Posted on June 30, 2009 by: Bill Salganik | Category: CWA's Health Care Campaign
Some 3,000 CWA members joined in a rally at the Capital and two days of lobbying last week to demand that the government fix our broken health system.
Lillian Pichardo, from CWA Local 1037 in Newark, N.J., said she had come "because we want to reinforce that we want universal health care. Everywhere in the United States, people are suffering from illness and they can't get treated."
"We need universal health care, and we've got to bring down the cost," agreed Eric Richardson, from CWA Local 3204 in Atlanta. "Health care needs to be available for everyone, and it needs to be affordable for everyone."
The rally was sponsored by Health Care for America Now!, one of CWA's partner organizations. An estimated 10,000 people attended. CWA President Larry Cohen, joining other labor, political and community leaders, told the rally crowd, "We have a message to employers: 'Get off our backs and get by our sides and fight together for health care for all.' "
CWA members didn't just stand outside the Capitol with signs - they went inside to tell members of Congress that we want health reform and the Employee Free Choice Act passed this year. They stressed CWA's priorities for health reform: Make all employers pay their fair share; cover pre-Medicare retirees; provide a public health plan to compete with private insurance companies; and don't tax health benefits.
In all, CWA members talked with 207 members of Congress or their staff members.
Cecelia Valdez, from CWA Local 7026 in Tucson, Ariz., brought along her 11-year-old son, Emilio, when she went to speak to her Congressman, Rep. Raul Grijalva, who offered a pledge of strong support.
"It's getting more and more difficult to negotiate contracts because the company holds us hostage to health care," said Valdez, speaking of recent bargaining with her employer, Qwest, which resulted in workers paying a share of premiums for the first time. She said, "You couldn't see you got a raise because the health care went up."
