Nurses, allies back MinnesotaCare expansion as fix for state’s individual market woes

February 14, 2017 by
Rally participants signed Valentine’s Day cards to Gov. Dayton urging him to stand against legislation that would bail out insurance companies.

Rally participants signed Valentine’s Day cards to Gov. Dayton urging him to stand against legislation that would bail out insurance companies.

Union nurses rallied at the Capitol today with family farmers, small business owners, clergy and other allies in their push to expand health care coverage to all Minnesotans – and hold insurance companies accountable.

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association spent the day talking to state representatives about making health care more accessible and affordable, including a proposal by Gov. Mark Dayton to expand MinnesotaCare and make it an option for all Minnesotans buying individual insurance.

Rose Roach, MNA’s executive director, called expansion of the popular, successful insurance program for low-income Minnesotans an “obvious solution that’s been in front of us all along.” It’s preferable, she added, to Republican and industry calls for the state to subsidize a “reinsurance” fund to protect insurers from losses.

Insurance companies “want to socialize debts and privatize profits, and they dare to ask us for more,” Roach said.

Small business owners, farmers and retirees at the rally took to the podium to vent their frustrations with the individual health insurance market, which saw premiums soar and provider networks shrink dramatically this year.

Dayton and state lawmakers agreed last month to provide emergency assistance to consumers, but that’s a one-time fix, Franklin dairy farmer James Kanne said. Kanne would have paid individual premiums of $1,040 per month this year without subsidies. But farm incomes fluctuate, and he said he’s worried next year those subsidies might not be available.

web-mna-capitol2The “ultimate” fix,” Kanne said and other speakers acknowledged, would be a single-payer health system, such as the proposal long advanced by Roseville Sen. John Marty. But with Republicans controlling the Legislature, Marty’s plan is not likely to get a hearing.

“That first rung on the ladder (to single payer) is MinnesotaCare as a public option,” Kanne said.

MNA’s rally drew support from members three progressive organizations partnering with the union on the health care campaign: the Land Stewardship Project, TakeAction Minnesota and faith-based ISAIAH.

“Nurses don’t care about your insurance card or your credit card,” Roach told supporters. “They only care about your get-well card.”

After the rally participants delivered a Valentine’s Day message to Dayton “thanking him for his leadership and urging him to stand against proposed legislation that provides more money to bail out insurance companies.”

Filed Under: Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Landmark Center gallery revisits Ford plant’s final years

October 14, 2016 by

web-fordplant1

The Twin Cities Assembly Plant and its workers are the focus of a special photo exhibition hosted by St. Paul’s Landmark Center through Nov. 27.

Curated by local author and historian Brian McMahon, the retrospective showcases the work of two local photographers, David Parker and Dan Huseby. Their work helps illustrate McMahon’s forthcoming book, “The Ford Century in Minnesota.”

“This is not intended to be a history exhibit; this is intended to be an art exhibit … of what it was like to be on the assembly line,” McMahon said at an opening reception in Landmark Center’s North Gallery last night.

After 86 years of operation, Ford Motor Company shuttered the Twin Cities Assembly Plant in December 2011. The plant produced nearly 9 million vehicles and employed thousands of people, including many who lived in the nearby Highland Park neighborhood.

Former UAW Local 879 member Dan Huseby (R) was the only professional photographer granted access to the Ford Plant during its final days of operation.

Former UAW Local 879 member Dan Huseby (R) was the only professional photographer granted access to the Ford Plant during its final days of operation.

Huseby was among the roughly 800 workers, most members of United Auto Workers Local 879, who lost their jobs when the plant closed permanently. Being in the plant during its final weeks afforded Huseby, who started work on the assembly line in 2006, an opportunity to jumpstart his next career – photography.

As the final Ford Ranger made its way along the plant’s assembly line, Huseby was right there documenting the journey with his camera.

“It was kind of like watching a slow death,” he said.

But Huseby’s photographs show not only the process, but the people who built that last truck in St. Paul – people who “spent more time together with each other than they did with their own families,” he said.

“People were very proud of the work they put in and the product they built,” Huseby said, adding that it’s a feeling he shares every time he sees a Ranger on the road.

“I’m really fortunate to have had that experience working as an autoworker – the backbone of American industry – even though I know now a factory is not my place. Behind a lens is my place.”

The Landmark Center exhibition pairs Huseby’s photos with scenes from the Ford plant captured in Parker’s 2002 photo book, “By These Hands: Portraits from the Factory Floor.”

Parker, who lives in Minneapolis, has pursued dual careers as an occupational physician and epidemiologist, and as a photographer specializing in industrial scenes, including child labor. His photographs have been widely exhibited in museums throughout North America.

The exhibit, “On the Line: Autoworkers at the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant,” is free and open to the public during Landmark Center hours. For more information, go to www.landmarkcenter.org.

Additionally, Landmark Center will host an author talk with McMahon Nov. 10, prior to the release of “The Ford Century in Minnesota.” The free event, scheduled to begin at noon in Courtroom 430, will focus on the perspectives and experiences of Ford’s Twin Cities workers. To reserve space at the talk, call 651-292-1239.

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Dems get an earful from seniors, workers during Minneapolis meetings

September 2, 2015 by
15Now Minnesota supporters rally outside the Hilton in Minneapolis during the DNC's meetings.

15Now Minnesota supporters rally outside the Hilton in Minneapolis during DNC meetings.

 

As Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and other presidential hopefuls wooed party leaders in Minneapolis during the Democratic National Committee meetings last weekend, local worker and retiree groups mobilized inside and outside the event, looking to push their concerns to the forefront of the 2016 campaign.

On Friday, activists with 15Now Minnesota rallied for a $15 minimum wage outside the downtown Hilton, where contenders for the Democratic presidential were offering much-publicized speeches.

And on Saturday, union retirees and other Minnesota seniors elbowed their way onto the agenda of the DNC Seniors Coordinating Council’s meeting. They urged the party to put forth a bold vision for strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and ensuring economic security for all seniors.

Led by the Minnesota State Retiree Council, AFL-CIO, seniors staged a program that featured testimonials, a sing-along with the Twin Cities Labor Chorus and an actor – Barry ZeVan – portraying former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ZeVan’s childhood hero.

FDR signed the Social Security Act 80 years ago, in part, to combat high rates of poverty among the nation’s seniors. Martha Johnson, a retired member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, urged party leaders to “be in the FDR tradition and take strong positions on senior issues.”

Retired AFSCME member Martha Johnson addresses the DNC's Senior Coordinating Committee.

Retired AFSCME member Martha Johnson addresses the DNC’s Senior Coordinating Committee.

‘Scrap the cap’

Johnson, a former president of the retiree council, drew a standing ovation when she called on lawmakers to “scrap” the payroll-tax cap that shields income earned above a designated amount – currently $118,500 – from Social Security deductions.

“That would fund full benefits to the middle of the century,” Johnson said, and would represent a “step toward long-term stability” for Social Security.

Other speakers warned against efforts to privatize Social Security or reduce benefits, including President Obama’s failed attempt to link annual inflationary increases to the so-called “chained CPI.” It’s estimated a third of U.S. seniors rely on Social Security as their only source of income, and weakening the program would threaten the economic security of millions of other retirees.

“People face very unattractive choices,” Johnson said. “They keep working into old age, or they retire into poverty.”

After the retirees’ program concluded, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison took the podium and pledged to keep fighting for Social Security, Medicare and income security for seniors. The Minneapolis DFLer urged retirees, in turn, to tune into debates surrounding proposed service cuts at the U.S. Postal Service and the sprawling Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The NAFTA-style trade agreement has the potential to impact prescription drug prices, Ellison warned, as pharmaceutical companies look to extend patents on pharmaceuticals and grow their profits.

“I’m just appalled – a life saving drug that you need to survive, and somebody wants to ratchet up the price on it?” Ellison said. “It’s not fair and it’s gouging people.”

Najma Ahmed speaks in favor of a $15 federal minimum wage.

Najma Ahmed speaks in favor of a $15 federal minimum wage.

Raise the wage

About 20 people joined the rally for a $15 federal minimum wage a day earlier. 15Now organizer Ty Moore said DNC officials reached out in advance of the demonstration, a sign that party leaders “understand that this issue, even with just this small crowd today, has a huge resonance in the wider community.”

15Now campaigns – alive in Minneapolis, St. Paul and at MSP International Airport – have won minimum-wage hikes in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities. And two Democratic presidential candidates, Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, already support $15 nationwide.

“We welcome that, but we want to push on,” campaign organizer Ginger Jentzen said. “We want every presidential candidate to speak to the issue of $15 an hour.”

Minnesota’s minimum wage recently increased from $8 to $9 per hour. But Najma Ahmed, who works two minimum-wage jobs and attends Minneapolis Community and Technical College, said she and her family of five “scrounge just to live.”

If given the opportunity, what would she tell the presidential candidates gathered inside the Hilton?

“I would tell them that it’s really hard as it is making $9 per hour,” Ahmed said. “I would tell them to support free education and to increase the minimum wage. We have a right to live and be paid decently.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

John Marty: Minnesota must end worker poverty

February 25, 2015 by
mug-marty

Senator John Marty

Working people should not be trapped in poverty. This was part of the social contract America made with its people 80 years ago in the New Deal. Workers will receive a minimum wage. It may not be enough to make you rich, but you will have enough to afford necessities for your family – food, housing, clothing, medical care.

We are far from fulfilling that social contract. Economic hardship affects many: one of every three Minnesota children lives in a family struggling to make ends meet. One in 10 households has times when family members go hungry because there’s no money for food. There are working people who go “home” from their jobs to a homeless shelter at night. Many of these families feel they have been left behind, as others accumulate ever-greater wealth.

Despite ample political rhetoric about “supporting the middle class,” neither party has had the courage to back initiatives to end poverty, even among working families.

The public believes working people should not live in poverty. The only public opinion poll I have seen on the issue – an April 2000 poll conducted by Lake Snell Perry Associates for Jobs for the Future, based in Boston – showed a virtual consensus, with 94 percent of Americans agreeing, “As a country, we should make sure people who work full time are able to earn enough to keep their families out of poverty.” People understand that this is a matter of fairness.

Back in 2007, Minnesota created a legislative commission to examine how we could end poverty by the year 2020. Our bipartisan commission recognized that justice for low-income workers means those workers need higher wages, some other means of paying for necessities or a combination of both. Since the Poverty Commission issued its final report in 2009, Minnesota has made little progress with the exception of last year’s increase in the minimum wage. With a public consensus that workers should not live in poverty, it is time we take action.

I have introduced legislation, Senate File 890, to ensure workers can afford basic necessities by extending the phased-in increase in the minimum wage beyond $9.50 per hour in 2016. The legislation would add 75 cents per hour every year from 2017 through 2020, when it would reach $12.50/hour.

Even at that wage level, some workers will not be able to pay for basic needs, so the legislation would more than double Minnesota’s Working Family Tax Credit – a credit designed to help working people make ends meet. The credit would jump to 120 percent of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. A one-parent, one-child family earning about $23,000 would receive $3,000 from the Minnesota credit, a boost of about $2,000 per year.

The bill increases access to affordable child care, eliminating the 7,000-family waiting list for our Child Care Assistance Program and substantially increasing the payments so low-income parents have a better choice of providers – and so child-care providers get decent compensation. To help create jobs, my proposal reestablishes the Minnesota Emergency Employment Development program, a simple but highly effective initiative to assist small businesses in hiring the unemployed. Created during a recession 30 years ago, MEED has been described as the most effective job creation program in any state in the last half century. Although this particular bill does not address health care needs, in conjunction with proposed universal health care legislation, it would help lift all workers and their families out of poverty.

The Worker Dignity Bill is not a radical approach, but let’s talk real politics. It is not likely to pass because it would require both businesses and government to do more. In politics rhetoric about supporting workers is easier than action, especially when the idea of a living wage for all workers is considered unrealistic. That must change. The current reality, where some hardworking people can’t afford food or housing, is not acceptable. This is a matter of justice. And with nine of every 10 people supporting wage justice, it is a fight we can win.

– John Marty represents Minnesota Senate District 66, which includes parts of St. Paul, Roseville, Lauderdale and Falcon Heights.

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , , , , , , ,