Across the state, the California Labor Federation is organizing protests at the Governor’s many offices.  At 11:30, they will meet up at the South Steps of the Capitol, and at the State Buildings in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fresno, and San Diego. You can get all of the details at this Facebook Group.

The coalition will demand that the Governor take responsibility for the state’s crisis and offer real solutions that won’t further devastate families already struggling to stay afloat in the current economic storm.

The protesters will also express their outrage at recent comments the Governor made to the media, in which he displayed a startling lack of sensitivity to the millions of Californians who would be devastated by his proposed cuts. From the Facebook group:

While Governor Schwarzenegger kicks back with his cigar, middle class families are suffering, police and firefighters are facing layoffs, and seniors, kids and people with disabilities are getting hit the hardest by the budget crisis. In fact, the Governor has imposed a new fee on low-income seniors and people with disabilities who receive home health care. He cut $10 billion dollars for education, and has proposed another $6 billion in cuts, slashing education by nearly 25%. And he eviscerated services for seniors, kids and people with disabilities by cutting over $1 billion from vital programs.

If you are around one of those locations, tweet or post some pictures. Alternatively, you can also shoot me an email with photos you would like to post.

On Wednesday at 11:30am, attend a protest at one of the Governor’s five offices:

*In San Francisco at 455 Golden Gate Ave

(Coming up to SF from the South Bay? Join the caravan departing from 2102 Almaden Rd in San Jose at 930am)

*In Sacramento at the State Capitol South Steps

*In Fresno at 2550 Mariposa Mall

*In Los Angeles at 300 South Spring St.

*In San Diego at 1350 Front St. (starts at 12:15pm)

There has been a lot of talk this week about the surprising move by Walmart to publically support President Obama’s health care reform plan, supposedly positioning themselves as a leader in the fight to bring health care to all Americans. As we mentioned in a post on our blog yesterday, this might be easier to swallow if Walmart had any history of leading by example. Instead, they usually do just the opposite.

Given Walmart’s long record of trying to build a positive reputation on ineffective work-arounds to health care coverage for employee, the recent revelations about sacrificing quality for cheap perescription drugs, and their deceptive PR campaign that severely overstated their workers’ health care coverage, it’s not hard to understand our skepticism. [get the details in the extended entry]

Despite all of their feel-good rhetoric, the reality is that nearly half of Walmart’s 675,000 employees – not to mention hundreds of thousands of children of these employees – remain without health care. The situation is not much better for the employees who are covered by Walmart’s plan, as highlighted by a Baltimore doctor in a letter to the editor in the Baltimore Sun. The submission details just how bad that coverage is for patients and doctors. Here is a short excerpt:

“I have several Wal-Mart employees as my patients. I can in all honesty declare that Wal-Mart, a wealthy corporation, for years got away with providing its employees no health care coverage at all or the type of coverage from which doctors could barely eke out payments.

Out of pocket expenses for patients are outrageous with this coverage. Hand me a Wal-Mart health insurance card, and I will let out a spontaneous sigh of exasperation because I know from experience what lies ahead is a runaround for meager compensation after I have delivered all the services.”

While we would love to think that Walmart has seen the light and is onboard to help every American attain the health care they deserve, we tend to agree with this fed up doc that “Wal-Mart is an image conscious opportunist.”

Stay up to date with the campaign against Walmart’s destructive policies at www.wakeupwalmart.com

Arnold’s latest scheme to use the budget crisis to shock doctrine is to try to shove state employee benefits reform down the throats of the Legislature’s throat on the last day. From the Bee:

California public employee unions already reeling from pay cuts have been dealt a new blow by Gov[. Arnold Schwarzenegger – a push to lower pension and retiree health care benefits for state workers hired after today.

Schwarzenegger’s call for creation of a two-tier system of retiree benefits was part of a package of proposals submitted to Democratic leaders Saturday in tense negotiations over the state’s $24.3 billion shortfall. (SacBee 6/30)

You might recall the pesnion reform concept from the Governor’s waste of a special election not of 2009 but waaaay back in 2005.  Back then, voters solidly defeated the Governor’s “reform” proposals.  Update by Brian: My bad on this. I wrote this on my cell phone, and it was a bit hard to get old info. Anyway, as runchadrun points out in the comments, Arnold pulled the initiative before it could get on the ballot because he saw the bad polling.

But the governor sees all sorts of opportunities in this budget crisis to mess with labor, so he figures why not demand that the Legislature get this done in the next 24 hours too.  Nevermind public debate over an issue that the voters aren’t necessarily on board with, Arnold has no use for the will of the people these days. That was Arnold 2.0, not our current Arnold 4.5, the Shock Doctranaire.

Look, some sort of pension and retiree benefits reform will probably happen in the near future. But this is a big deal for the future of the state, and to slam it down the state’s collective throats does not give the issue the proper respect.

Let’s deal with the issue at hand, and get to the business of pension reform when a full plan can be fully debated in the public.

(Posted by Steve Smith, California Labor Federation)

The campaign to repeal the egregious corporate tax giveaways that were part of the last budget deal is gathering steam. Thanks to Brian and David for their coverage of this issue – it seems to being having some resonance with folks who are fed up with sweetheart deals for corporations at the expense of the rest of us.

To continue the momentum, the California Labor Federation is organizing statewide actions tomorrow at Chevron gas stations to raise awareness about how desperately flawed these tax breaks are. The actions come on the heels of last week’s letter to the governor and legislative leaders, signed by 75 organizations,  calling for the repeal of corporate tax breaks before an additional dime is cut from services.

Why Chevron? Because there couldn’t be a better example of how upside down our budget process has become.

(Edit by Brian, see the flip)

As Calitics has noted, the last budget deal included corporate tax breaks that will cost the state billions in revenue, including a tax giveaway just like the one that Chevron’s been lobbying to get for years. These giveaways amount to $2.5 billion a year, every year, permanently, to Chevron and a handful of the world’s largest corporations.

To get those huge tax breaks, Chevron has invested heavily. Chevron has six separate lobbying firms working for them in Sacramento. They racked up more than $6 million in lobbying bills in just five years. And that doesn’t include the $48 million they’ve on spent California campaign contributions since 2005.

It’s clear that all the corporate tax giveaways and high-powered lobbyists are paying off for Chevron. During just three months of 2008, Chevron raked in $7.9 billion in profits – more than doubling their profits from a year earlier.

Chevron’s abuse of corporate tax breaks is costing us all. Because Chevron’s not paying its fair share, we’re looking at fewer teachers in our classrooms, fewer firefighters and police protecting our families, and almost a million more kids without health insurance.

We hope you can join us tomorrow to shed some light on how these corporate tax breaks are impacting all Californians. You can find all locations and times for the actions at our Facebook group, No More Budget Cuts Until Corporate Tax Breaks Are Shut Down . And if you haven’t signed the online petition to repeal corporate tax giveaways, please take a second to do so.

(The California EFCA would provide easier access to unions for farmworkers. It will pass out of the legislature, the question is whether Arnold will sign it. He should. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Another Reason for the California Employee Free Choice Act

Supposedly we have the water available, we have the shade available, we have bathrooms available but dare not use them for fear of being fired. It was as if we had none at all.

— Rigoberto Ramirez, Blueberry worker

We’ve shared stories with you about farm workers who’ve had no water to drink. Now we want to tell you about workers who do have water, but don’t have the opportunity to drink it because of the pressure put on them by the companies they work for. Please read their stories and then take action to help them by sending Gov. Schwarzenegger and your legislators an e-mail today.

YOU CAN TAKE ACTION TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR FARMWORKERS!

The following is from a May 26th complaint the UFW filed on behalf of workers at Munger Farms, where 3 farm labor contractors employ more than 40 crews and 1,000 workers to harvest blueberries. Pickers are working hourly, but have a huge quota of 5 boxes a day–which forces them to work through their breaks, not drink water or go to the bathroom for fear of losing their jobs. This is not an imaginary fear. It happened to about 60 workers on May 26. The workers were promised 3 days of work. They were fired after one day before they even had the chance to acclimatize themselves to the brutal pace demanded. Here is the story of an experienced blueberry picker, Guillermo Cruz:

We started working at 8 am and we were asked to pick 5 boxes of blueberries for the day which is a total of 65 pounds of blueberries. I did everything that I could to meet the quota. Company supervisors were constantly on top of us and yelling at us if we dropped any blueberries on the ground which made us very nervous and confused on what to do. Workers could not afford to go to drink water or even go to the restroom because of the tremendous fear of losing their jobs. Some workers even worked through their lunch breaks to try to meet the quota. The company would not even allow us to take our third break. Many workers were running and going as fast as they could to try to meet the goal. I was one of the few that was able to make 4 boxes and could not understand why I would be fired if I had done everything in my power to meet the quota. The time we worked we saw crews of 60 workers going and coming because of the tremendous pressure to meet the quota and the company was firing workers every day.

Some of the workers are still waiting for their pay checks.

KERO Ch 23, 6/1/2009 UFW Prepared To Press Charges – UFW Representatives May File Against Munger Farms

DELANO, Calif. — Last week, dozens of blueberry pickers were protesting against unfair working conditions in Delano. Monday night the United Farm Workers Union said that they are ready to press charges against the berry farmers. Dozens of field workers said they were fired and never paid. MORE

This is not the only incident. On May 26, the UFW filed charges on behalf of Giumarra vineyard worker Francisco Farfan. Francisco was suspended and sent home for the day after the foreman said Francisco had gone too many times to drink water. He was keeping up with the workload demanded. It was hotter than 100 degrees that day. Francisco believes he was suspended for taking safety measures that did not impede his work performance and to which he is legally entitled.

Two days later the UFW also filed charges on behalf of vineyard workers at Sunrise Agriculture. Again, the about 100 workers there did have water. The problem was they were not allowed to drink the water unless they were on an official break–10 minutes every 4 hrs–or at lunch. These workers also did not have shade to protect them from the sun and were not trained in heat safety as required by law.

Such incidents show that workers need the ability to speak up without being afraid of losing their jobs. It’s why SB789 CA Employee Free Choice Act for Farm Workers is so vital. This bill will make it easier for farm workers to organize, speak up to improve working conditions and help enforce the laws that CA’s government cannot enforce. SB789 passed the CA state senate and will next be heard in the assembly and then go to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Please take action today and tell them to pass SB789, a bill that will give farm workers the power to protect themselves.

Farm workers can not wait. Violations occur every day and little is done. Complaints regarding lack of drinking water, shade and work breaks to make use of these simple but lifesaving measures are an everyday occurrence for farm workers (worker stories). Last year six farm workers died of heat-related causes. Fifteen farm workers have died of heat-related complications since July 2004.

If you get time, this short documentary made late last summer is worth watching.  It’s 20 minutes long.  California’s Harvest of Shame is narrated by Speaker Emeritus Nunez, himself the son of a migrant farm worker, and includes a prologue and epilogue by actor and activist Martin Sheen.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR FARMWORKERS!

With Max Baucus’ Senate Finance Committee continuing to shut out the voices of single payer advocates while rolling out the red carpet for the insurance giants and other health care corporations, five more were arrested today and dozens of other nurses stood before the committee in a dramatic silent protest.

Today’s action — the second in a week that led to 8 arrests — coincided with the anniversary of the birth of Nightingale. It also marked the kickoff of two days of actions by nurses from around the country who are pressing for a legislative agenda for quality nursing care and a single standard of quality care for all.

Here’s AP.  Here’s a link to a photo of the nurses being arrested.  The Wash Times covers it here and here’s Patricia Murphy.

Action!  Fax Mad Max and tell him single-payer deserves a voice in the debate!

All told, this is the most media coverage single-payer healthcare has received since SiCKO was released in 2007-ironic given that it comes from an attempt by Washington insiders to keep America’s caregivers out and stifle discussion of their healthcare plan.

“What a disgrace that RNs and physicians are shut out and arrested while the insurance industry is given a seat at the table. We would expect that from the Bush administration, not in the time the Obama administration,” said NNOC/CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. “The Baucus Committee can arrest nurses, but they can not silence the voices of RNs who will continue to speak from their hearts on behalf of their patients who want and deserve real reform.”

Standing up in the audience and speaking before she was arrested, Sue Cannon RN, said, “don’t guarantee drug profits, guarantee health care. We’re entrusted to care for our patients, and we can’t do that without single payer, guaranteed healthcare. We need no more Blue Crosses and double crosses.”

“In honor of Florence Nightingale, patients need access to healthcare. We need to protect our patients, we need single payer now,” said NNOC/CNA Board member DeAnn McEwen, RN.

Also raising their voices and accepting arrest were Steve Fenichel and Judy Dasovich, two physician members of the Physicians for a National Health Program, and  Jerry Call of PNHP and Health Care Now.

Some 40 other RNs staged a silent protest — standing before the committee in red nursing scrubs and turning their backs to show signs reading “Nurses and Patients First. Stop AHIP. Pass Single Payer.” AHIP, America’s Health Insurance Plans, is the private insurance industry lobby arm that is given a regular voice by the Baucus Committee, which is in the forefront of discussion on a health plan.

The protests, before a sea of reporters and cameras marked a continuing escalation of voices of protest —  last week eight were arrested — in an ongoing spectacle in which the committee has bent over backwards to accommodate the insurers, the drug companies, the coalitions representing America’s largest corporate interests, even the rightwing Heritage Foundation and conservative think tanks. All while excluding the doctors and nurses who favor single payer and have the most direct, hands on experience with our failed insurance based healthcare system.

Noting the shut out, Call said to the committee, “60 percent of the chairs at the table should be for single payer advocates because 60 percent of the people want single payer” reform.

That’s a system in which choice of doctor and other providers is guaranteed, with comprehensive benefits, real cost controls, and an end to insurance industry denials of care.

And more pix here.

After years of shredding our public health infrastructure and ill advised minimal preparations for the next great global pandemic, the spreading swine flu threat is at last making clear the very real calamity that could be just around the corner. If not today, surely from the next epidemic.

The Obama administration’s call on Congress Tuesday to allocate $1.5 billion for combating the virus is a start, but only a start. The RNs of the National Nurses Organizing Committee and California Nurses Association (NNOC/CNA) believe that far more is needed in federal action, in regulatory crackdown on insurance practices that potentially inhibit those who are infected from seeking help, and in global coordination.

From SARS to avian flu to the swine influenza, the only question has not been if, but when.

Three years ago, during the advent of an avian flu outbreak, in an article by Conn Hallinan and Carl Bloice in the national magazine of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, we warned that the “firewalls for stopping the next great pandemic are getting thinner.”

If the swine flu or the next pandemic has only the fatality of the 1918-1919 global influenza pandemic — 2.7 percent — it would have a catastrophic effect. That pandemic killed 675,000 Americans and anywhere from 50 to 100 million people at a time when the world’s population was less than a third what it is today, and when populations were far more isolated.

Obviously, there have been medical advances in the past 90 years. But on many other levels, conditions remain as precarious as ever.

In the U.S., public health services are often first on the chopping block when budgets are tight — such as the now evidently foolhardy decision of politicians to slash $870 million from the President’s economic stimulus bill that was allotted to fight pandemics.

And many politicians compete to see who can transfer more resources from the public setting into the pockets of private healthcare corporations — often while harvesting hefty campaign contributions from those same companies.

The result is a virtual decimation of many community clinics, especially in rural and medically underserved communities, and a starving of badly needed funds for public hospitals and services.

Over the past eight years especially, we’ve also seen a rash of hospital and emergency room closures, reductions in available hospital beds, and the type of equipment needed to fight pandemics. For example, in 2005, we noted, there were only 105,000 mechanical ventilators, between 75,000 and 80,000 of which are in constant use. Ventilators are particularly important if a pandemic takes on the characteristics of the 1918-1919 flu in which a major killer was acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Hospital and bed closures are all too often driven by the insatiable lust of healthcare industry corporations for greater profit that can be secured by relocating in wealthier communities or re-allocating resources to more profitable services, such as boutique clinics and surgery centers. Such is curse of our absurd reliance on the privatization of healthcare.

An immediate shift in priorities and thinking is needed, if not for swine flu, for the coming plague. Here’s the first call to action by the national nurses movement (link is a .pdf):

• Recruit and mobilize teams of scientists to create the appropriate effective vaccine for the virus.  

• Cease and desist any reductions in public health programs at federal, state and local levels. Lift any freezes on public health funding currently in place.

• Implement a moratorium on any closures of emergency rooms, layoffs of direct healthcare personnel, and reductions of hospital beds.

• Allocate funding for recruitment and retention of school nurses, public health nurses.

• Expand the network of community clinics, especially in medically underserved areas.

• Add thousands of additional ventilators/respirators, which are critically needed in the event of epidemics.

• Assure the availability of protective equipment for all healthcare personnel.

• Require all insurance companies to suspend or waive all out-of-pocket expenses, including co-pays, deductibles, or co-insurance that discourage individuals from seeking preventive care for early signs of infection.

On the international level, it’s apparent that the World Health Organization is overwhelmed. A global infrastructure similar to what is being discussed for the economic crisis should be formed and sanctioned, at least by the G20.  International cooperation and most importantly, transparency of data from all sources, health care facilities, governments, and individuals, is essential to identify the virus and track its patterns.  The global health community must have the authority to require systematic, uniformly collected information to be reported on influenza cases in order to start formulating an effective vaccine.

Within the U.S., we should learn the lessons of the 1918-1919 flu pandemic, one of which was the enormous mitigating effect on mortality of adequate nursing care. We need to rededicate our nation to expanding the supply of nurses and safe patient care in our hospitals and clinics, which is a central component of the healthcare safety net that is especially vital at times of public health crises.

Finally, in order to promote containment and convention, we must eliminate the greed-driven barriers to care based on ability to pay.

Recent reports have emphasized the growing number of Americans who are skipping routine medical screenings, exams, and general preventive care due to the skyrocketing co-pays, deductibles, and other use charges imposed by insurance companies.

Price gouging by the healthcare industry has already put tens of millions of families in healthcare jeopardy, especially in an economic crisis. At a time when untold numbers are already exposed to a dangerous virus, we need to be removing any barriers to medical care that would exacerbate the spread of contagion. We can not afford to wait.

The updated CNA/NNOC swine flu page is here.