CWA Rolls Out Campaign for Real Health Care Reform

An army of CWA health care activists is about to fan out across the country to build an even bigger movement of union members, local executive boards and congressional candidates in at least 121 targeted districts who will fight for guaranteed, affordable health care for all.

About 140 local activists and staff members took part in four days of training this week in Maryland to better understand the nation's health care crisis and learn how to motivate others to join the battle.

Workshop participants discuss health care issues at this week's training session.

"It's not just about being right about health care," CWA President Larry Cohen told the gathering. "We have to build a political movement to bring about real health care reform in this country."

Cohen, speaking to the group at a conference center near Baltimore this week, stressed that the health care campaign and the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act go hand in hand and, "we're going to link these issues like never before."  Declining collective bargaining density and union power in the United States is a primary reason for the growing number of employers who no longer provide health care and contribute to the mounting crisis.

Both the health care and Employee Free Choice Act campaigns are among the union's Strategic Industry Fund projects.

The CWA health care campaign is not focused on details of a specific plan, but rather it lays out a policy framework for universal coverage, with the goal of enacting health care legislation by 2010 and a new system to be in place by 2012.

CWA District 7 Vice President Annie Hill and Research Director Louise Novotny explained that the union hasn't adopted a single approach other than to aggressively champion those ideas that will lead to health care for all.

Part of the process, said Hill, will be to gather ideas and input from members and other unions and organizations as CWA develops a more specific recommendation for reform.

Hill headed an Executive Board committee that began work about a year ago to craft the campaign and determine which 100 congressional districts should be targeted, a list that grew to 121. They took into account the House committees each representative belongs to, how many CWA members and retirees were in their districts and whether their states would be political battlegrounds, then got feedback on the list from CWA district and sector leaders.

Participants in this week's training will be meeting with local executive boards and retired members' chapters to explain the campaign and help them enlist rank-and-file activists. Among other activities, CWA members will be asked to send postcards and signatures for the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform to members of Congress.

The CWA campaign will also join with other unions and organizations and work with willing employers.

Hill stressed that the health care campaign will in no way affect the determination CWA brings to contract negotiations. "When we sit down at the bargaining table, we're going to do everything we can to maintain quality  health care for our members," Hill said. "It's just getting harder and harder to do. We know ultimately that we need a national solution."