Protecting Our Health Care Victory: What's Next?
On Tuesday, August 3rd,
Missourians voted and passed
Proposition C by a 71% of the vote. This anti-health reform initiative
was confusing for a lot of people. It was put on the ballot by
politicians and lobbyists to protect insurance companies and to
influence elections. Proposition C posed a very narrow
question in a low turnout election. In addition, the measure
has no real effect on our lives or our health insurance status.
We're focused on moving forward with implementation of the new health reform law that will guarantee that we can get health insurance even if we get sick or lose our jobs. When fully in place in 2014, health insurance companies will not be able to cap our benefits if we need medical care and there will be limits on what they can charge us in premiums and deductibles. And this year more than 79,000 Missouri small businesses and non profits are eligible for tax credits to help pay for insurance premiums for workers!
We're glad to have the election behind us so we can focus on the real work of educating the community. It's important for all of us to keep talking about what's really in the Affordable Care Act.
Looking forward!
We will be celebrating the important reforms that will go into effect
next month:
- Insurance companies will not be allowed to turn children down because they have a pre-existing condition and they must cover the medical care relating to those conditions (this will happen for adults, too in 2014).
- Insurance companies must allow parents to keep young adults on their insurance policy until the age of 26. The young adult does not have to be a dependent of the parent(s), does not have to live with the parent(s), and may be married.
- Insurance companies will not be allowed to cancel policies when people get sick (rescission) except in cases of fraudulent application.
- New group health plans cannot charge co-pays and deductibles for preventive care and may not discriminate in favor of higher wage employees.
- The law completely bans lifetime limits and tightly restricts new plans use of annual limits.
- A temporary program to help offset the costs of employers who provide health insurance for retirees between the age of 55-64 begins.
Protect this victory: If you want to learn more about the immediate effects above, or to get more involved in our health care organizing, please contact health care organizer, Amy Smoucha, amy@mojwj.org or 314-608-3917.
Postal Workers Rally to Save Saturday Service
On July 12, 2010 Jobs with Justice
Activists and Leaders joined the America Postal Workers Union for an
informational picket to save Saturday mail delivery. Congress is
currently considering whether to eliminate Saturday service and only
delivery mail 5 days a week.
Reducing service would weaken the United States Postal Service’s ability to serve every American at an inexpensive, uniform rate, and could eventually lead to privatization. Millions of Americans could no longer rely on Saturday delivery to receive prescriptions, checks, or other important mail and outside couriers could step in and require anyone that needed something delivered on a Saturday to be charged more.
Tell your Representative to Save Saturday Service.
Read more about the picket HERE and HERE
Join Us! Tell Pinnacle Entertainment to "DO THE RIGHT THING"!
The President Casino is closing
on June 28, 2010
and Pinnacle Entertainment, which operates The President Casino,
Lumiere Place Casino, and the new River City Casino, is refusing
to keep it’s promises to the Presidents 220 workers.
Pinnacle promised priority hiring at the
Lumiere Place and River City Casinos and a retention
bonus or severance package for workers who remained
until closing.
Initially Pinnacle refused to negotiate transfers or priority hiring at their other two locations for 220 employees.It’s time for Pinnacle Entertainment to stand up and be a responsible employer to its workers and the community.
Tell them to keep their promises made to the
President Casino workers!
Come rally with UNITE HERE Local 74, St. Louis Area Jobs with Justice, Community leaders, and workers to tell Pinnacle to be responsible to their workers and the community!
"DO THE RIGHT THING" RALLY
Monday, June 28, 2010
5:00 PM
The President Casino
For more information go to www.ShameOnPinnacle.org
Good News, Bad News for MO Workers
Sunday, May 2 was the deadline to turn in signatures for November 2010 ballot initiatives in Missouri. Missouri Jobs with Justice and its members organize every year to insure the values and interests of Missouri's workers are represented in this process.
2010 sees both good news and bad news for Missouri workers on the November 2010 ballot.
- The GOOD NEWS the so-called "Save Our Secret (SOS) Ballot" initiative failed to turn in signatures to qualify this anti-democratic initiative for the ballot. Read more
- The BAD NEWS is that the Millionaire Tax Cut – the Earnings Tax initiative did turn in enough signatures that it will likely qualify for the November 2010 statewide ballot. Read more about this reckless threat to essential public services in our state's two biggest economic centers
Activists Tell Big Banks "Enough is Enough"
On Tuesday, April 27
members of Kansas City Jobs with Justice,
SEIU Local 1 and GRO participated in National
People's Action's "Showdown in the Heartland."
Hundreds of activists marched through Kansas City to tell
Bank of America and all Big Banks "ENOUGH
IS ENOUGH"!
Americans are demanding that the big banks take responsibility for the havoc they created and stop stonewalling the passage of common-sense financial reform that protects consumers and ensures they can't destroy our economy again.
This demonstration in the heart of Kansas City's financial
district included activists
from Missouri, Kansas
& Iowa and kick off a week of actions
to hold Big Banks accountable in San Francisco, New York and
Charlotte, NC.
VICTORY: Landmark Health Care Reform is a victory for working people!!
Yesterday, by a vote of 219-212, the US House of Representatives passed historic health care reform. The measure will soon be signed into law by the President.
Final legislation reduces the deficit, expands health coverage to 32 million Americans, strengthens Medicare and Medicaid, and makes health coverage more affordable for all of us!
Now it’s time to call Congressmen Cleaver,
Carnahan, and Clay
at 1-866-922-4970 to tell them THANK YOU for voting for
Health Care Reform!
Our work in Missouri ensuring that reform is implemented is beginning already, and we will need your help to bring this victory home. DONATE to Jobs with Justice health care organizing project to shore up our resources for the state fight.
JOIN US in St. Louis for a CELEBRATION tonight, Monday, 3/22 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm at Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust Street, downtown St. Louis.
http://www.schlafly.com/map.taproom.html
To RSVP or for more information contact Amy Smoucha amy@mojwj.org
Find out what health care reform means for Missouri's families and communities CLICK HERE
Register Today for 2010 Building JwJ Leadership Program
There
will be two sessions this
year.
Spring session will be Friday, March 12 through Sunday, March 14 in Kansas City, MO.
Fall session will be Friday, September 10 through Sunday, September 12 in St. Louis, MO.
Missouri's Building Jobs with Justice Leadership Development Program provides leaders insight into organizing's key concepts and skills. Community organizing principles, as first articulated and carried out by Saul Alinsky in Chicago, encouraged leaders to act together to create powerful organizations and win on issues they care about. Registration deadline for the spring session is February 12, 2010. Registration forms can be submitted online HERE or mailed to the JwJ office using the form in the brochure HERE.
Participants move through a series of sessions including such topics as: building relationships, understanding power, the meaning and understanding of self interest, issues and actions, and creating winnable campaigns. This training builds a stronger, more powerful movement for Jobs with Justice in Missouri.
Full Tuition is $500 per participant, which includes lodging, refreshments and materials. The discount for JwJ Member Organizations and Sustaining Individual Members (who give to JwJ monthly on their credit or debit card, sign up to be a Sustainer) and their members is $250. Those who cannot afford tuition out-of-pocket can work with JwJ staff to fundraise their tution. Details on the "fundraising option" are in the program's brochure. You can register and make a payment online. All questions should be directed to Jennifer Rafanan, 314-644-0466, ext 15.
St. Louis and Kansas City JwJ both name 2009 "Scrooge of the Year"
Learn more about this year's "Scrooge of the Year" party and winner in St. Louis
This year's winner in Kansas City was AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, nominated by CWA Local 6360. Stephenson led the charge to bargain a contract that slashed health care benefits, turned its back on retirees and instituted widespread layoffs.
Learn more about this year's "Scrooge of the Year" party and winner in Kansas City .
Missouri JwJ Workers' Rights Board releases a report on the American Red Cross
Posted October 8, 2009
On Thursday, Oct. 8 We told the American Red Cross "Our blood supply is too important to cut corners!"
Missouri Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board released a national report today that raises concerns about donor safety and the security of the nation's blood supply at the country's largest supplier of blood and blood products. Members of the Workers' Rights Board also hand delivered the reports to the St. Louis Chapter of the American Red Cross.
TAKE ACTION NOW! You too can tell the American Red Cross "Our blood supply is too important to cut corners!"
The investigative report, which also details the treatment of Red Cross employees and the impact this has on the organization's work, underscores the need for a new round of reforms at the troubled organization.
“Few national institutions have a prouder name or a more storied history than the American Red Cross,” writes Philip Dine, an award-winning labor reporter and the author of the report. “But many frontline blood workers see the Red Cross as an employer that is increasingly determined to cut expenses and increase revenues, even to the potential detriment of donor safety, employee wellbeing and the security of the nation’s blood supply.”
Speakers at the event include State Representative, the Reverend James Morris, Missouri House District 58, Red Cross Workers James Plotts and Mary McDougall, and Joan Suarez, Missouri Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board Chair.
Read the full report here.MO JwJ Leaders Head to DC for Employee Free Choice
Posted September 14, 2009
The Missouri delegation includes:Jerry King, St. Louis Workers Rights Board and real estate developer; Christine Grande, Human Rights Office of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph; Rhonda Perry, a family farmer from Howard County and the Missouri Rural Crisis Center as well as JwJ State Board member; and Linda Meyer, former reporter of the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis. Meyer was part of leading a union organizing campaign at the Suburban Journals that illustrates perfectly the need for the Employee Free Choice Act.
"Working people should have power to establish equal footing in their place of employment, in order to pursue a better quality of life, liberty, and happiness," says Reverend Walter Maddox, Lane Tabernacle CME Church who visited earlier this year with Congressmen William "Lacy" Clay about supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. "If we do not fight for working families, we will lose that part of the American Dream."
Jobs with Justice celebrates Labor Day by focusing on Health Care.
Posted September 10, 2009
On Monday, September 7 Jobs with Justice Leaders and Staff participated in Labor Day celebrations across the state.JwJ's top priority for this year’s celebration was to help raise the visibility of health care as a key issue for working people. Leaders and Staff worked hard canvassing the crowd in St. Louis and organizing a health care reform “yard sign-making” table for other participants in the parade in Kansas City. CLICK HERE and HERE to find out how our visibility work helped the Labor Day coverage include a critical policy issue of the day .
Jobs with Justice also sends a great THANKS TO OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN THE LABOR MOVEMENT for their hard work organizing the parade and being welcoming to allies like JwJ as part of their festivities.
St Louis Casino workers bring in their own “Lethal Weapon”
Posted on August 10, 2009
On Sunday, August 9 workers from the Lumiere and President Casinos had reason to stand tall as they learned the National Labor Relations board handed down a scathing ruling against their employer, Pinnacle Entertainment. The rulings call on Pinnacle to finally begin bargaining with the workers’ union, Workers United Local 74. The workers and their union had an “all star” cast of support on hand, including actor Danny Glover (pictured here). Also on hand were members of the St. Louis Workers Rights board, elected officials and area union leaders from throughout the labor movement.
MISSOURI'S SERVERS GET A RAISE TOMORROW – THANKS TO YOU!
Posted July 23, 2009
Tomorrow the federal minimum wage is increasing to $7.25/hour. And thanks to Proposition B, passed overwhelming with your help in Missouri in 2006, waiters and waitresses around Missouri will also get a raise. Their minimum wage is 50% of Missouri's minimum wage for non-tipped workers.
This last legislative session Jobs with Justice and the waiters and waitresses of the "Save Our Tips" campaign (see picture at right) narrowly defeated state legislation that would have excluded waiters and waitresses from increases in the minimum wage. Because of that successful campaign nearly 60,000 waiters and waitresses will get a raise tomorrow.
But the Battle is Coming Again
Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) vowed to re-introduce legislation to exclude tipped employees from future minimum wage increases – maybe even CUT their pay back to the federal minimum of $2.13/hour! With your help, JwJ and the waiters and waitresses of the "Save Our Tips" campaign will be ready to go BACK to the Capitol and defend their minimum wage.
Here's how you can help:
Donate just $20 today to help raise $2000 for a Missouri server lobby day to protecttheir wages when the attacks begin next session (or you can donate through our Facebook page)
Visit the Save Our Tips website for more information and to find out how you can continue to help.
Visit the Missouri Department of Labor for more information on tomorrow's minimum wage increase.
CWA Informational Picket
Posted July 7, 2009
On Tuesday, July 7 - We told AT&T to give workers and retirees a fair contract.
KC JwJ joined CWA members in an informational picket at AT&T in Independence, MO. CWA is fighting for a fair contract that respects retirees and protects health care for all workers’ families.
For more on this important fight, visit MO JwJ Member Organization CWA Local 6360 online.
June 17 Rally for the Employee Free Choice Act
Posted June 19, 2009
On Wednesday, June 17 - We told Elected officials To support the Employee Free Choice Act and help re-build our economy.
Kansas City Jobs with Justice and the Kansas City AFL-CIO, along with countless unions, community groups, activists and elected officials rallied on June 17 in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
Almost 150 Jobs with Justice Activists and allies gathered in the parking lot of Home Depot to remind elected officials how critical the Employee Free Choice Act is to protecting the rights of workers and rebuilding our economy.
Hear a news report on the rally from Heartland Labor Forum on KKFI
ClickHere and Here for articles on the Rally
Learn more about the Employee Free Choice Act
You Did It!! Missouri JwJ members Saved Our Tips
Posted May 29, 2009
The waiters and waitresses in Missouri will NOT have to deal with a paycut during this economic crisis. Despite the best efforts of some Missouri legislators, the waiters and waitresses in Missouri united with their allies through Jobs with Justice and defeated Rep. Tim Jones' (R-Eureka) bill to weaken the minimum wage for tipped employees.
In 2006, 76.4% of Missouri voters passed Proposition B which increased the wage for tipped employees. The ballot initiative passed in every single Missouri county by 16 points or more. Since then, business interests and their allies in the legislators have tried to chip away at the minimum wage continually.
During the last 4 months of the legislative session you sent thousands of emails, made calls, and lobbied your legislators and they heard you loud and clear. Thanks to tremendous pressure the bill died in the Senate as the legislative session came to a close on May 15.
THEY'LL BE BACK AND WE'LL BE READY!
The restaurant industry and its lobbyists were clear that they are not done trying to pick the pockets of their waiters and waitresses. We expect to see another bill to undermine the tipped employee minimum wage next session so JwJ and its leaders will continue to strengthen our network of waiters, waitresses and supporters of working people throughout the state to protect FAIR WAGES FOR SERVERS
Go HERE to learn more about leaders that gave key support to this campaign.Read more from the JwJ Solidarity Calendar.
Visit the St.
Louis Jobs with Justice site.
Visit the Kansas City Jobs
with Justice site
