By The PA. AFL-CIO

– On Thursday, July 30, 2015 workers employed by Bowhead Support Group LLC at Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, PA voted overwhelmingly to form their union with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, (IAM), in a union election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.

The group of nearly 1,000 workers at Letterkenny includes welders, electricians, and machinists in addition to vehicle equipment repair technicians. The vote was 485-144 in favor of the IAM. Under NLRB rules, results are determined by a simple majority of those casting ballots.

Stagnant wages, reduced benefits and sharp increases in healthcare costs were among the key issues that triggered the year-long organizing effort. Additional issues included job bidding and arbitrary layoffs without regard to seniority or ability.

“I’ve been a union member at another employer, and I’ve seen first-hand how collective bargaining can stabilize a workplace and give workers a voice on the job,” said Terry “T-bone” Young, a 7 1/2 –year Warehouse Specialist at the Letterkenny facility. “The only real way to protect our wages, healthcare benefits and seniority rights is with an IAM contract.”

Eastern Territory General Vice President Lynn Tucker, Jr. stated, “I’d like to welcome the new members of Bowhead. They recognized that IAM representation and a collective bargaining agreement as the best way to improve their careers and the economic security of their families. This campaign had to overcome some very large hurdles to be successful, and I extend my thanks to GLR Gary Anthony, the Eastern Territory Staff, and District 1 DBR Danny Chmelko, his staff, the Grand Lodge Organizing Department and the Districts, Locals that assisted in this organizing effort.”

President Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Snyder called it another huge victory for the entire labor movement but especially for these workers who will now have the strength that comes with having a collective voice on the job.

On behalf of our affiliates and our Vice Presidents we congratulate the workers, the leadership, and the staff of the IAM in their huge victory which is not only important to them but is just as huge for the entire labor movement. “This victory demonstrates what working people can form their union in spite of the obstacle and hurdles they may confront. It provides additional momentum as we move forward in rebuilding our labor movement and the middle class,” Bloomingdale said.

Secretary-Treasurer Snyder described the huge the victory as another big step in rebuilding the labor movement in Pennsylvania which is needed to bring fairness and dignity to all workers. “Every working family that believes in coming together to improve their lives is celebrating your success. Let us know if we may be of any assistance in getting your first contract,” Snyder said.

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO along with several unions sent letters of endorsement to help let the workers know they had the support of thousands of workers in their area and across Pennsylvania.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6227

By Richard Harris

– A Yale University study analyzed the experience of 60 million Americans covered by traditional Medicare between 1999 and 2013, and found “jaw-dropping improvements in almost every area,” the lead author says.
Ann Cutting/Getty Images

Here’s a bit of good news for Medicare, the popular government program that’s turning 50 this week. Older Americans on Medicare are spending less time in the hospital; they’re living longer; and the cost of a typical hospital stay has actually come down over the past 15 years, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Doctors, hospitals and government administrators have put a lot of effort into making Medicare more efficient in the past 15 years. Dr. Harlan Krumholz and colleagues at Yale University took on a study to see whether that effort has paid off.

“The results were rather remarkable,” says Krumholz, a cardiologist and leading health care researcher. “We found jaw-dropping improvements in almost every area that we looked at.”

The researchers looked at the experience of 60 million older Americans covered by traditional Medicare between 1999 and 2013. They found that mortality rates dropped steadily during that time, and people were much less likely to end up in the hospital.

“If the rates had stayed the same in 2013 as they had been in 1999, we would have seen almost 3.5 million more hospitalizations in 2013,” Krumholz says.

“People who were being hospitalized were having much better outcomes after the hospitalization,” he says. “They had a much better chance of survival.”

And the average cost of a hospital stay dropped too, he says, from $3,290 to $2,801 in inflation-adjusted dollars over the 15-year period for patients in the traditional Medicare program. (Researchers couldn’t quantify the experience in Medicare Advantage, the managed-care alternative to Medicare).

Krumholz attributes the improvement to a wide variety of measures designed to boost patients’ health, from prevention programs to advances in medical care. He says some of the savings also came about because medical care shifted from hospitals to less expensive outpatient clinics.

“They’re pointing out a very good thing in the medical system,” says economist Craig Garthwaite at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He says the recession, which helped slow rising health care costs overall, apparently played a minor role in this story of Medicare.

Costs really are being contained, Garthwaite says. One other reason that’s happening is that the federal government is reimbursing hospitals and doctors less for treating Medicare patients.

“That’s an easy way to get control of medical spending in Medicare,” Garthwaite says, but “it’s just not something we can do in the private market, and we have to worry about how sustainable it is for the Medicare program overall.”

With the post-World War II baby boom now reaching retirement age, more and more people are turning 65 and becoming eligible for Medicare. That growth continues to drive up the overall cost of the program, even as that average cost per illness or hospitalization comes down. And as older Americans live longer lives, they use Medicare for more years than previous generations did.

Medicare is still running a bit of a deficit, but the situation is improving. The program’s trustees say its trust fund will be solvent through 2030. Some adjustments would be needed to keep the program in good financial health beyond that date.

Garthwaite says other recent trends could make matters worse, with one especially worrisome example being sharply rising drug prices.

“Some of these [new cancer] products are providing only a few months of life for several hundred thousand dollars,” he says. And the system doesn’t do a good job of making difficult judgments in situations like that.

Joseph Antos, an economist in health policy at the American Enterprise Institute, agrees that the good news from the Yale study doesn’t assure a rosy future. He’s concerned about the financial health of Medicare if, for example, an effective drug for Alzheimer’s disease is developed.

“I would argue that if anybody came up with an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s today, that treatment would be hailed as a major breakthrough and we wouldn’t be looking at the cost,” Antos says.

And that would almost certainly break the pattern that’s been documented over the past 15 years, where improving health has actually helped drive down the cost of medical care.

Source – http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/07/28/426740179/happy-50th-birthday-medicare-your-patients-are-getting-healthier

By Aaron Moselle

– A political corruption scandal and an open state Senate seat mean some Philadelphia voters are heading to the polls next month to pick new lawmakers.

Three special elections scheduled for Aug. 11 will mint new state representatives in the 174th District in Northeast Philadelphia; Southwest Philadelphia’s 191st District; and the 195th District in North and West Philadelphia.

Democrat John Sabatina Jr. resigned from his post in the 174th after winning a special election to the state Senate.

Ronald Waters resigned in the 191st after pleading guilty to conflict-of-interest charges. Ditto for Michelle Brownlee, who represented the 195th.

Waters and Brownlee were both part of a sting operation that caught several lawmakers accepting money or cash in exchange for official acts.

Democratic committeewoman Donna Bullock, who last worked for Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke, is one of two candidates running to replace Brownlee.

“I wanted to serve my community … to improve our schools, create job opportunities,” said Bullock.

She will face Republican ward leader Adam Lang, who wants to protect longtime homeowners in his Sharswood neighborhood from being pushed out by gentrification.

“The first piece of legislation I would introduce would be to change the tax assessment system to where a property’s tax assessment is locked in at the value that someone purchases their house,” Lang said.

In the 174th, Republican Timothy Dailey, a teacher, will challenge former City Councilman Ed Neilson.

In the 191st, Democrat Joanna McClinton, chief counsel to state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, is going up against political consultant Tracey Gordon, who is running as a member of the Tracey Gordon Party, and Republican Army veteran Charles Wilkins.

The candidates who win will serve the remaining 16 months of the two-year terms.

Voter registration heavily favors Democrats in all three districts, though voters with any party affiliation will be able to cast a ballot.

Source – http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/84509-special-vote-set-for-aug-11-to-elect-three-to-pa-house-

By Sean Kitchen

– Yesterday, Budget Guru and House Speaker Mike Turzai claimed that House Republicans are ready for a veto override, but there’s an issue. A math issue to be exact.

“We have to look at overriding if we’re not going to have a substantive discussion,” Mr. Turzai, R-Marshall, said at a luncheon of the Pennsylvania Press Club, adding that Mr. Wolf’s own budget proposal has too little legislative support for negotiators to simply meet in the middle.

“I can assure you that many of my Democratic colleagues are not interested in Gov. Wolf’s tax package, and they would be more than happy with House Bill 1192,” Mr. Turzai said, referring to the Republican-crafted budget. “Some have even privately called it quite responsible. I think that’s a direction we have to consider.”

But here’s the problem. There are 203 members with Republicans holding 120 seats. To get a veto override, House Republicans would need 13 Democrats to defect and override Governor Wolf’s veto, which will not happen because there is one person who came into Harrisburg with a mandate, and that is Governor Wolf. Wolf campaigned on raising a severance tax and among others to fund public education. Republicans claim to have a mandate because of their outrageous majorities, but they do not because of the ridiculous gerrymandering that happened in 2010.

Source – http://www.ragingchickenpress.org/2015/07/28/pabudget-guru-mike-turzai-fails-at-first-grade-math/

By The Pa. AFL-CIO

– A pair of bills in Congress are seeking to undermine the rights of rank and file workers at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. These two radical bills, HR 1994 – introduced by Rep. Jeff Miller (FL), and S 1082 – introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), represent a knee-jerk reaction to calls for accountability at the VA. Instead of taking concrete steps to improve services at the VA, these bills seek to scapegoat front line employees while giving a free pass to managers who engage in misconduct.

If this legislation passes, every VA worker will be an at-will employee, with no meaningful recourse – even if their termination was a result of whistle blower retaliation or discrimination.

Stand with our brothers and sisters in AFGE now! E-mail or call your members of Congress, and tell them to OPPOSE HB 1994 and S 1082.

Go to – https://www.afge.org/?Page=SaveDueProcessattheVA to Take Action! NOW, and to download flyers and fact sheets that will arm you with the information you need today!

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6211