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AFL-CIO Dept. for Professional Employees Applauds AMA Position on Collective Bargaining for Physicia
Morton Bahr, in his capacity as chair of the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees, wrote to the head of the American Medical Association on June 25 applauding the AMA "for recognizing the power of collective bargaining to restore the voice of physicians in our nation's health care system."
Bahr, who is president of the Communications Workers of America and a vice president of the AFL-CIO, pledged the DPE's support of legislation to allow collective bargaining for doctors and urged that organized labor and the AMA work together to improve the health care system.
The text of Bahr's letter to Dr. Randolph D. Smoak, Jr., Chairman of the AMA's board of trustees follows:
Dear Dr. Smoak:
On behalf of the four million professional workers represented by the 23 affiliates of the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees, I congratulate the AMA for recognizing the power of collective bargaining to restore the voice of physicians in our nation's health care system.
Several AFL-CIO affiliated unions currently represent thousands of physicians and other heath care workers. We have succeeded in dramatically improving both the health care profession and the quality health care that patients receive where we engage in the collective bargaining process.
We further share your support for legislation that provides antitrust relief for physicians and medical groups for the purposes of collective bargaining. We are available to provide assistance and coordination to achieve this mutual goal.
Organized labor also has a deep concern over the future of affordable quality health care. Like AMA members, we are concerned that many insurance carriers are more occupied with cost cuts and the bottom line than they are with patient care. Meanwhile, the number of uninsured working Americans now stands at 43 million and is growing at the rate of a million a year. We stand ready to engage in a serious dialogue with the AMA over the future directions of health care in America.
I encourage you to share this letter with your Board and to discuss how organized labor and the AMA can work together to fight for patients (more than 14 million of whom are our members) and to improve the health and well-being of all Americans. I look forward to hearing from you soon on these vital issues.
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Bahr, who is president of the Communications Workers of America and a vice president of the AFL-CIO, pledged the DPE's support of legislation to allow collective bargaining for doctors and urged that organized labor and the AMA work together to improve the health care system.
The text of Bahr's letter to Dr. Randolph D. Smoak, Jr., Chairman of the AMA's board of trustees follows:
Dear Dr. Smoak:
On behalf of the four million professional workers represented by the 23 affiliates of the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees, I congratulate the AMA for recognizing the power of collective bargaining to restore the voice of physicians in our nation's health care system.
Several AFL-CIO affiliated unions currently represent thousands of physicians and other heath care workers. We have succeeded in dramatically improving both the health care profession and the quality health care that patients receive where we engage in the collective bargaining process.
We further share your support for legislation that provides antitrust relief for physicians and medical groups for the purposes of collective bargaining. We are available to provide assistance and coordination to achieve this mutual goal.
Organized labor also has a deep concern over the future of affordable quality health care. Like AMA members, we are concerned that many insurance carriers are more occupied with cost cuts and the bottom line than they are with patient care. Meanwhile, the number of uninsured working Americans now stands at 43 million and is growing at the rate of a million a year. We stand ready to engage in a serious dialogue with the AMA over the future directions of health care in America.
I encourage you to share this letter with your Board and to discuss how organized labor and the AMA can work together to fight for patients (more than 14 million of whom are our members) and to improve the health and well-being of all Americans. I look forward to hearing from you soon on these vital issues.
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