Economy, health care

4th CD Task: Get Congressman Altmire to Cosponsor HR 676

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Win-Win Plan:
Single-Payer
Health Care is
Better and Cheaper

This coming year, our 4th C.D. Chapter of PDA plans to participate in the national Win-Win campaign sponsored by Healthcare NOW, the national coalition backing HR676.

Join us in this new campaign to win endorsements of HR 676 – Medicare for All by local governments – counties, boroughs, townships, and school boards. In a time of fiscal crisis for local governments, saving over 50% of healthcare outlays and getting more healthcare in return is a win-win outcome for taxpayers, employees, and employers.

The employer payroll tax for health coverage under HR676 is considerably less than current local government outlays for health insurance. This is due to the $30 billion savings from eliminating private insurance companies from healthcare. HR 676 means big savings for taxpayers. Also, private and public employees will see an end to co-pays, premiums, and deductibles. And it means expanded healthcare coverage for everyone. See the Charts below:
Continue reading 4th CD Task: Get Congressman Altmire to Cosponsor HR 676 →

elections, labor

PA Labor: We Helped Obama Win, Now Turn America Around!

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Pennsylvania Labor 2008

WE DID IT!!
Above: Jim Longley, FO SEIU District of 32 BJ Chapter 22 President; Richard Bloomingdale, PA AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer; and Jack Fisher, Erie/Crawford Central Labor Council President with worksite leaflets on Barack Obama’s record of supporting working families

Below: Philadelphia CLC President Pat Eiding; Clay Smith, NALC Local 157; and Priscilla Wilmore, AFT at the Sept 4th Labor Walk in Philadelphia.

Next Step:
Employee Free
Choice Act

Thanks to the thousands of union members and volunteers who gave up countless evenings and weekends to help elect Barack Obama President by an impressive 11 – point margin. Now we enter the next phase of our campaign to Turn Around America with the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. I look forward to continuing our work together and hope to see you all, across the State.

In Solidarity,

Frank Snyder
Pennsylvania State Director
National AFL-CIO

———————————————————–

Heading into the holiday season, CLC Presidents and ALF Chairs look back on our victory on November 4th when the labor movement came out in record numbers to be the difference in Pennsylvania and Barack Obama and other AFL-CIO endorsed candidates. It is important to remember that election day was just the beginning and that now that we have a president elect who will sign the Employee Free Choice Act into law the real work starts:

“The election results on November 4th were a great success for the labor movement,” said Dave Antle, Northeast Area Labor Federation Chair and AFSCME District Council 87 Director.  “On a local level we re-elected Congressman Kanjorski and Congressman Carney, and on the national level we elected Barack Obama, a president who will sign The Employee Free Choice Act to law when it reaches his desk.  This is all thanks to the hard work of union members and their families who volunteered with the Labor 2008 program.  Because you were out talking to your fellow union members on labor walks, over the phone at member phone banks, through local union mail and at the work place with leaflets we were able to get our message out to working families and elect candidates that care about our issues.  Though our work is far from over, on November 4th we came together as a movement and made the first step in turning America around by voting for our own interests and electing Barack Obama as the next President of the United States.”
Continue reading PA Labor: We Helped Obama Win, Now Turn America Around! →

elections

More Endorsements for HR 676 – Medicare for All

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Oregon Teamster Local Endorses HR 676

Portland, Oregon.   Teamster Local 206, which represents workers in a
variety of occupations through out the state of Oregon, has endorsed HR
676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John
Conyers (D-MI).

Tom Leedham, Local 206 Secretary-Treasurer said: “Members of our union are
very involved in health care and have studied a number of proposals for
reform both at the state and national levels.  Health care and health care
issues are often the subject of discussion at our general and contract
ratification meetings.  Because we enjoy a high quality schedule of
benefits we are not inclined to support a proposal that would be a
reduction in benefits or an increase in costs for 206 Teamsters.  A
national single payer plan like HR 676 is the only program we see that
meets our quality and cost criteria.  HR 676, like no other, is consistent
with our union’s overall philosophy: ‘everybody in, nobody out’.

Economy, Infrastructure, labor

Pittsburgh Post Gazette Picks up PDA Infrastructure Alert!

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Photo: Montgomery Lock and Dam, Monaca, PA

Rivers of Green:
The new administration must
fix locks and dams

Thursday, November 13, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh owes its existence to its rivers, which first served as roads through the wilderness. To this day, the city’s economic fortunes are still linked to river traffic — this is the second-largest inland port in the United States.

Those barges plying our three rivers require an efficient, reliable system of locks and dams, which, in the region’s best interest, should be kept in good repair. As it happens, this is also in the nation’s interest. As he sets his national agenda, it is vital that President-elect Barack Obama keep this in mind because the system is under severe strain.

Continue reading Pittsburgh Post Gazette Picks up PDA Infrastructure Alert! →

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Energy Efficient River Transport at High Risk of Breakdown

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corpsinfrastructure

Don’t Wait For
Slow-Motion
River Wrecks


By Randy Shannon
Progressive Democrats of America

“As the region’s federal engineer, it is my responsibility to report that the Lower Mon Project is facing a perfect storm. Inefficient funding; the insolvency of the IWTF; an aging and crumbling infrastructure; an increase in unscheduled, unexpected repairs; and a flat-lined operations and maintenance budget coupled with rising costs…threaten the reliability of the sytem.” – Colonel Michael P. Crall, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, July 3, 2008

Our new President and Congress need to act with urgency to address the critical state of this artery of the regional economy. Don’t watch the slow motion wreck. Take action to get the word out and up the chain to Washington! The US Army Corps of Engineers is not a lobbying organization. The people of western Pennsylvania must lobby for their share of any new funds allocated to infrastructure upgrading.

Click on this link gx-dam-jl-10-26 to view a map of the US Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District facilities. See the location of the fourteen of twenty-three locks and dams that are rated at high risk of breakdown.

For more information read the US Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District 2008 State of the Infrastructure report at this link corpsinfrastructure.

Click on this link comparetransport-modes to view a graphic comparison of river, rail, and ground transport efficiency.

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Economy, Infrastructure

Pittsburgh Infrastructure Emergency

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Lock and Dam #6
Lock and Dam #6

Allegheny Lock and
Dam #6 on the Verge
of Catastrophic Failure

By Randy Shannon
Progressive Democrats of America

The Ohio River and its tributaries, the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River are the artery of commerce to the Port of Pittsburgh, the second largest inland port of the United States. Due to years of negligence and underfunding of our infrastructure this navigation system is on the verge of catastrophic failure. The Army Corps of Engineers press release linked here

nr08_302ally6

states in the calmest language possible that we face a potential social, economic, and ecological disaster due to the critical disrepair of the locks and dams that make the rivers navigable. A dam failure would flood thousands of acres, starve water and sanitation facilities, and halt navigation. Most economic activity in the region will shut down, including the Pittsburgh International Airport and steel and cement production. The region would experience shortages of gasoline and basic foodstuff. Twelve coal fired electric power plants would face shutdown due to the halt of coal shipments on the rivers.
Continue reading Pittsburgh Infrastructure Emergency →

elections

Help the Change – Sign the Online Petition to Cut Lieberman

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lieberman
Dump Lieberman! Don’t Wait for Change!

Please join me to urge the Democratic Party Senate leaders to strip Sen. Joe Lieberman, who campaigned for war and austerity with McCain, of all and any leadership positions with the majority Democratic caucus.

I just signed this petition to the members of the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, who now determine Joe Lieberman’s fate as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Harry Reid has told Lieberman that he has to go, but Joe is now openly threatening the caucus.  Please sign this petition and let them know that Lieberman must go, once and for all.

After you sign the petition please send your friends the link to this site.

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/petition/nomorejoe/fdayfl

Here is list of Senators on the Committee

http://democrats.senate.gov/steering/index.cfm?pg=6

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elections, labor

What Makes Pennsylvania Blue: Labor and Hard Struggles for Justice

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raccoon-polls-eve

Photo: Overflow Voters at Raccoon VFD

Making History
at the Raccoon
VFD Polling Place

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

There was a lot more to working the polls in this historic election than checking signatures and passing out palm cards.

It was glorious Fall day at the semi-rural fire-hall-turned-voting-center in Raccoon Township, Beaver County, Western PA. I arrived early, but the hall was packed. Most people were in good spirits. Long-time neighbors chatted, older folks marveled at the uncommon turnout among younger voters, and parents worried about fretful children. The main buzz was about one thing: whether they were for Obama or against him, everyone knew they were about to make history.

“I’ve never seen such a turnout,” said Marion Prasjner, president of the local Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees Chapter 2020. Prasjner is eighty years old and very savvy. He’s with PDA and an Obama supporter. Continue reading What Makes Pennsylvania Blue: Labor and Hard Struggles for Justice →

elections, health care, labor

‘Uncounted’ Event: Healthcare, Not Warfare! Secure Our Vote! Victory for Obama-Biden!

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Photo: Solid Labor turnout for PDA Dinner

P.D.A. Unity
Event Inspires
PA’s 4th CD

By Randy Shannon
PA 4th CD Chapter,
Progressive Democrats of America

“Welcome! Welcome retired steelworkers! Welcome union activists! Welcome Obama volunteers! Welcome Minority Coalition and NAACP! Welcome Peace Links and NOW members! And welcome PDA members,” said Tina Shannon, Chairperson of the Pennsylvania 4th CD Chapter.

To growing applause, Shannon opened the dinner and screening of “Uncounted” before 166 progressive activists from Beaver and surrounding counties at the Polish National Alliance hall in Monaca, PA. Next to her on the podium were posters celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the New Deal in Pennsylvania.

She then recognized Dennis Rousseau, a leader of the Carpenter’s Union, and Democratic candidate for 14th District Legislator, Denise Cox, Vice-President of the Beaver-Lawrence Labor Council and candidate for Home Rule Study Commission, Jean Friday, the President of the Pennsylvania Association of Retired Americans, Marie Malagreca, former national director of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees, Nancy Werme, Beaver County Prothonotary, and Carol Fiorucci, Beaver County Register of Wills.
Continue reading ‘Uncounted’ Event: Healthcare, Not Warfare! Secure Our Vote! Victory for Obama-Biden! →

elections

‘SteelBlitz For Barack’ Hits Beaver County

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Photo: Kyle Jones, Beaver Falls Obama Fan

AFL-CIO and the
Steelers Going
All Out for Obama

By Carl Davidson

Progressives for Obama

Organized labor has set its sights on winning Western Pennsylvania for Barack Obama. They see a victory in this battleground “swing state” as critical to the national election, and are pulling out all stops to “Git ‘er done.”

AFL-CIO chief John Sweeny came to the IBEW Local 712 Hall in Vanport, Pa on October 25. He was joined by United Steelworker union top officials as well as members of Pittsburgh Steelers football team who were scheduled to be at the afternoon rally. In between, the unions deployed over 2200 rank-and-file union members to knock on the doors of some 31,000 union family homes across the state in a single afternoon, an effort that will become even more earnest in the next ten days. Continue reading ‘SteelBlitz For Barack’ Hits Beaver County →