Labor Party Coordinators Say Hello/Goodbye
Posted by Diana on May 14, 2012
By Kimberly Hunter (outgoing coordinator): Next month I will begin training with the New York City Teaching Fellows program, through which I will teach English as a Second Language and pursue a Master of Science in Education at City College. Although I am sad this opportunity requires I leave Gainesville and my position as Labor Party coordinator, I am excited for how our local movement here connects with what’s happening in New York–from the single-payer health care bill New York State recently introduced, to several of our own Labor Party founding members, Committee of 100 donors, and former staffers who currently live in NYC and continue to organize. As a teacher, I also hope to instill in students what I have learned through working with the Alachua County Labor Party–an understanding of labor movement victories, of the need for universal health care, and of ordinary people’s power to affect change.
As I reflect on the time I have shared organizing alongside many of you and recall how little I knew about labor history and single-payer health care when the Board hired me back in December 2010, I am deeply thankful for your trust, for all you have taught me, and for how I have grown as a person and as an organizer through our collective struggle and work. As I have heard your stories of becoming politically conscious and active, I have been overwhelmed by your depth of experience and commitment. So many of you have sacrificed time, sleep, money, education, safety and have even spent time in jail for defending your rights, the rights of your friends and neighbors, and my rights as a woman and a worker. And so many of you continue to give time and money towards building a society where true social and economic justice is possible.
Because of the transformative labor, gender equality, and civil rights victories many of you have helped win in your lifetime, I know future change is possible, both on national and local levels. One day we will have single-payer health care across this nation, and I am proud our work as the Labor Party is building towards that future victory. I am also proud of the high-reaching goals we have set for the Labor Party this year, of how several of you are taking ownership of outreach and base-building efforts, and of the new leadership, energy, and talent of our new coordinator, Diana Moreno, who taught me much of what I know about organizing back when she and I were both part of Students for a Democratic Society. As I depart for New York and look forward to becoming a Labor Party Committee of 100 donor in the fall, I leave you with this call to action from Catholic Worker founder, Dorothy Day: “No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There’s too much work to do!”
By Diana Moreno (incoming coordinator): Having known Kim for a few years now and worked alongside her on issues like student rights, immigration reform and farmworker rights, I know firsthand I have some big shoes to fill. I’m really looking forward to continuing what Kim started and to bringing my own experiences as a community and labor organizer to work for the Labor Party.
I’ve lived in Gainesville for the past six years, but it became my home only four years ago, on the day I stepped into the Civic Media Center to volunteer. My involvement with the CMC was the catalysts for my political education. The CMC also introduced me to various organizations I’ve been proudly involved in, such as Students for a Democratic Society, Student/Farmworker Alliance and our local newspaper, The Fine Print. I graduated from the University of Florida in the Spring of 2011 with a BA in Political Science, but I give credit to the Gainesville community and the various organizations I’ve been a part of for most of my education. In fact, it was my community involvement that helped me land my most recent labor organizing job with the United Faculty of Florida. It’s been eye-opening to transition from being a student, a consumer of the University institution, to being an organizer, a shaker who empowers and encourages UF faculty to know their rights, join their union, and take ownership of the future of public education, rather than take what’s handed down to them by Tallahassee or UF Administration. My experience with UFF will undoubtedly contribute to my work as the new ACLP coordinator.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that many members of the Labor Party are folks whom I already recognize as leaders and activists within the Gainesville community. I’ve already had the pleasure of working with many of you, and am excited to continue working together towards the Labor Party’s mission of winning economic justice and health care for all.
Labor Party members write Letters to Editor
Posted by kimberly on May 7, 2012
Recently, two Labor Party members wrote Letters to the Editor of the Gainesville Sun, in response to a campaign by Healthcare-Now! calling for letters to local papers with the message “Nevermind the Mandate,” highlighting how the Mandate debate distracts from the real issue at hand — the need for a single-payer health insurance system that puts EVERYBODY IN, NOBODY OUT!
Dr. Bill Warrick wrote one letter, but the Sun chose not to publish it. On April 13, however, the Sun did run a letter from Al Meyer, which I’ve pasted below. They edited out the parts about H.R. 676 and health care though, which highlights the need for more of us to write letters calling for Just Health Care!
Sticks and stones add nothing to debate
There are plenty of things to criticize Barack Obama for. However, Obama is a mainstream Democratic Party politician and his policies — whether economic, health care or foreign policy — are very similar to what Democratic presidents have done since FDR.
To question his intelligence or to portray him him as someone to be feared reflects biases that go well beyond policy critiques. Rather, they are personal attacks that are more reflective of those making the attacks than of the president.
Name calling or fear monger does nothing to shed light on the problems that surround us. It does help build an atmosphere of suspicion and hate and reduces the possibilities of meaningful debate.
Perhaps that is the real intent of those involved with making these charges.
Albert Meyer,
Gainesville
Have you written a Letter to the Editor recently? Will you? Click here for tips on writing a letter, and here to send a letter to the Gainesville Sun.
Save CHOICES: Help us gather 1200 petitions by April 24!
Posted by kimberly on April 13, 2012
PLEASE NOTE: Many thanks to Sarah Cervone of the Gainesville IWW for contributing much of the summary below and calling for labor to get involved.
Time is of the e
ssence. Together with the office of Dr. Bertram J. Hughes, a local dentist who serves Choices recipients, the Alachua County Labor Party is working to collect 1200 of these petitions by April 24th, in order to re-introduce the program on the ballot. Please note that to sign the Choices petition, a person must be registered to vote in Alachua County.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
First, (1) help spread the word by forwarding this email and facebook event. Then, if you would like to (2) collect petitions on your own, you can print them (here), get your registered voter-friends to sign them, and bring them to our next Labor Party meeting on April 24. If you would like to recruit signatures with other Labor Party members, we have three opportunities at these upcoming community events:
- Saturday & Sunday, April 14-15: Spring Arts Festival (downtown)
- Wednesday evening, April 18: Community Farmers Market (Bo Diddley Plaza)
- Saturday & Sunday, April 21-22: Fifth Avenue Arts Festival (at intersection of NW 6th Street & 5th Ave)
If you and/or a friend can help gather petition signatures at one of the above events, please call Kimberly (352.215.4255) and she’ll make sure you get all the necessary materials.
Let’s help ensure 4500 Alachua County workers have a better chance of accessing health care in the future! Choices serves as an example for other counties to consider and helps point society towards a single-payer health-care system.
Rev. Dr. King’s arc of history bends towards justice because people consciously pull it in that direction. Let’s pull together… Health care is a human right!
As many of you know, funding for the Alachua County health-care program for workers called Choices has ended, and we need 1200 signed petitions (here) by April 24 in order to re-introduce it to the ballot. Choices is a health-care program for working class Alachua County residents who do not have access to health care because their employment disqualifies them from receiving Medicaid even though their employers fail to offer health benefits and neglect to pay a wage sufficient to purchase private health insurance. The program offers a wide range of services in addition to preventative health care, dental, vision and reproductive health care such as contraception.The program was supported by a .25% penny sales tax (one penny every four dollars) which expired in 2011. Unlike many other tax initiatives (such as the gas tax and road tax), the language of the Choices initiative did not allow politicians to redirect or appropriate revenues from Choices toward other expenses – 100% of the revenue is used to support health-care services. As a result, Choices experienced the rare circumstance of generating a surplus, which has allowed the program to continue into 2012. If we do not submit 1200 petitions in the next two weeks and push to pass the initiative on the ballot, approximately 4500 workers in Alachua County will lose access to basic health services when the program expires in 2013.As you have probably experienced, today’s political climate makes it difficult to campaign for a continuation of a tax-supported health-care program. Many “liberal” people believe the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) passed under President Obama will provide quality, affordable care for everyone in the U.S. However, this is not true. PPACA not only fails to cover the vision, dental and reproductive health services that are so vital for women, but it also fails to insure 23+ million peopleand allows insurance companies to provide the rest of us with incomplete coverage while charging us ever-increasing premiums, co-pays, and deductibles.Meanwhile, many “conservative” people have misrepresented Choices and programs like it as costly big government welfare “handouts.” It is important to note that:
1.) Choices recipients are workers who pay a co-payment for the services they receive and this helps prevent frivolous spending on unnecessary services, and
2.) The program emphasizes preventative health care (such as contraception), which has been shown to decrease public costs over the long term.
In actuality, Choices is an excellent example of an efficient and cost-effective program supported by a community’s ability to address localized needs through collectively contributing (the .25% penny sales tax) to a small-scale and decentralized system that can be scrutinized and supervised by the very people who support and use it.
WHY THE LABOR PARTY SUPPORTS CHOICES:
Although neither PPACA nor Choices offers the “everybody in, nobody out” single-payer health-care system we organize for as the Labor Party, Choices is an excellent program for several Labor Party members and over 4500 workers in our community. We need to support programs like Choices at the local level if we hope to eventually pass single-payer national legislation.