Bloomberg is reporting that 27 unions stood up to Rahm yesterday:
Twenty-seven U.S. labor unions defied White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and announced their opposition to the $829 billion health-care measure passed yesterday by the Senate Finance Committee.
snip
The unions say in a full-page newspaper advertisement today that lawmakers need to make "substantial" changes to the bill or they will urge their members to seek its defeat on the Senate floor. Emanuel asked organized labor not to go public in opposition, said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Looks like the rush to a Snowe Job may get slowed down.
More, after the fold.
Remember NAFTA? Emanuel f..ked (to use of of his favorite words) organized labor then also.
What's the big problem? No public option and taxing union member's health care plans so as to raise the prices of them.
Unions are upset that the legislation lacks a public option and would tax insurance companies for "Cadillac" healthcare plans.
Several unions have negotiated over time to secure top notch benefits for their workers and are worried that such a tax will result in higher premiums.
The Hill
The ad’s headline is: "Our Bottom Line for Health Care Reform." Calling for "good, affordable health care," it says, "We aren’t there yet. The Senate Finance Committee bill is deeply flawed."
The unions want Congress to create a so-called public option, a government health plan that would compete with private insurers, and to require that almost all employers provide health care or contribute to a fund subsidizing coverage. Neither provision is in the measure that the Finance Committee approved, 14-9.
Bloomberg
Baucus could have taxed the top 1%. President Obama originally asked that the reform be funded with increased taxes on the wealthy:
Mr. Obama said as he has before that he would prefer to raise revenues by capping the itemized tax deductions wealthy Americans can make.
cbsnews, July 1, 2009
The United Auto Workers, the Air Line Pilots Association, the United Steel Workers, the Communications Workers of America, AFSCME, and the AFL-CIO were among the unions signing the ad.
The ad will state, "Real health care reform and nothing less."
AP: Unions will oppose Baucus bill unless it's changed
I don't think Mr. Trumka is afraid of Rahm Emanuel.
McEntee said Emanuel called him and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on a Sunday last month and asked them not to oppose the legislation while the Finance Committee was considering it. "We didn’t talk to any senators about our opposition," he said.
Emanuel pressed labor again last week not to oppose the bill once it was approved by the committee, according to McEntee. "That was not the commitment we made," he said.
Bloomberg
Back in August, Mr. Trumka laid it on the line:
MADDOW: Sam Stein of "The Huffington Post" today posted an interview with you in which you said that Democrats who vote against a public option for health care reform shouldn’t necessarily count on any support from labor when they were up for re-election. Is the public option a do or die for labor?
TRUMKA: Absolutely. Without the public option, this bill instead of being health insurance reform, it will become health insurance company grab number two.
TRUMKA: Without a public option in this bill, it’s no longer health insurance reform.
TRUMKA: Republicans are out to protect the insurance industry. They’re not standing with the American worker, the American public. The American public is demanding this bill, and any politician I think that votes against the public option does so at his or her own peril.
TRUMKA: And the public option, by the way, will allow people to vote with their feet. When these companies keep increasing prices and the quality goes down, they’ll be able to walk away and go somewhere where they can get quality health care.
TRUMKA: We’re only going to get one bite at this apple. And if we pass a weak bill that’s not going to break the stranglehold that those insurance companies have over the health care industry, we’re not going to get another shot at it for a number of years.
TRUMKA: The American public, Democrat, independent and Republican, wants action now and that must include a public option because without it, health insurance reform becomes a health insurance company grab for the insurance companies.
Daily Kos TV
More Trumka from August:
AFL-CIO's Trumka at SMWIA: Which Side Are They On?
Signalling a shift within the labor movement, the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka praises Democrats in Washington those who have stood by working people.
He goes on to warn those who have wavered on labor and health care reform about the consequences of stabbing working people in the back and vows labor will not forget their actions.
They may have Senator Snowe. We have Richard Trumka, the Progressive Caucus, and working people. I'll take our chances.
Reid has to make a choice: Which side are you on? Working people or Snowe.