By Doug Cunningham

The Sheet Metal Workers union continues to withhold contributions to political candidates until health care reform is passed that does not tax health care benefits. Sheet Metal Workers President Michael Sullivan says every penny of that money is being spent instead to stop the health care benefits tax. Vincent Panvini is Director of Government Affairs for the Sheet Metal Workers.

[Panvini] : “They don’t wanna tax the rich people in this country – millionaires. They want to tax labor but they don’t want to tax capital.”

 By Doug Cunningham

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz is including all stakeholders in the Kingsbridge Armory re-development - presenting The Related Companies with a Community Benefits Agreement. A community coalition wants good living wage jobs from the project. Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance President Teresa Anderson, speaking on WBAI’s Building Bridges program.

[Anderson]: “This would be an opportunity not to fix the entire problem, but at least set the bar a little higher for the kind of jobs that have to come in to a community.”

Jackie Schechner of Health Care For America Now says despite private insurance lobby efforts to stop it, her organization believes Health care reform will include a strong public option plan.   [Schechner]: “We are absolutely confident the president understands the power of a strong public health insurance option. We know that we have strong champions in Congress. We’ve got Democratic leadership behind it. And we know that we’ve got three-quarters of the American public that understands the value of a strong public health insurance option.”

Mama Mexico restaurants in New York and New Jersey have been hit with a lawsuit. Seven current and former workers at three locations are alleging the establishments violated labor laws regarding wages and overtime compensation. Individual workers have also made claims against the restaurants which include assault and battery, intimidation, pregnancy discrimination, and maintaining a hostile work environment. Mama Mexico has been a consistent recipient of the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences five star diamond award.

Workers at Wellsville Manor Care Center in Wellsville, New York have ratified their first union contract. In May nearly 100 workers at the facility voted to become members of SEIU 1199. The contract will provide tuition for members who wish to extend their health care education/ It also gives the workers an annual three percent raise, increased employer contributions to health insurance and additional days off.  

New York’s manufacturing sector received some good news on Monday. For the first time in more than a year the Empire State Manufacturing Survey increased by 13 points signaling that general business conditions have moved from contraction to growth. The increase sets the index at 12.1 which is the highest rate since 2007. However, employment conditions remain in the negative, but they did improve during the last month.

The AARP is rolling out a new campaign to battle misinformation regarding health care reform. Bob O’Connell is with AARP New York’s Executive Council and he says one of the biggest fears he has heard is that reform would lead to elimination or reductions in coverage they are currently happy with:

[O’Connell]: “what the President has proposed, is that we not change people who are satisfied with their current health coverage; they can maintain that. But some of the myths that have been going around have created that kind of anxiety."

The AARP is rolling out an informational campaign in all 50 states to make sure Congress knows that those over 50 want to fix what’s broken and preserve what works. The organization hopes the advertising campaign on television, radio and in print will set the record straight.

[O’Connell2]: "People are basically coming up with a lot of myths about health care proposals that are floating around and they're distorting everything."

A study published this week in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine says there could be a link between immune system cancer found in a handful of World Trade Center emergency responders and the September 11 tragedy. Eight instances of the cancer were found out of 28,252 emergency responders sampled. It is the second most common type of cancer that affects the blood, bone marrow or lymph nodes, but according to researchers it isn’t as commonly found in the age groups sampled. The researchers have released the information to encourage those who worked at the site to be alert.

 By Doug Cunningham

A bill being rushing to passage in the U.S. Senate includes an amendment threatening the wages and benefits of postal workers. It requires contract arbitrators to tilt toward the postal service. Chuck Zlatkin is Legislative and Political director for the New York metro area local of the American Postal Workers Union.

[Zlatkin]: “Including this amendment in the legislation, in effect, threatens our collective bargaining and everything that we’ve gained in the 39 years that we’ve had collective bargaining.”

 By Doug Cunningham

Hundreds of Bronx residents called on Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz this week to vote no on the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment until the developer – The Related Companies – pledges to create living wage jobs. Fred Lemoine is with Metallic Lathers Ironworkers Local 46.

[Fred Lemoine]: “What we’re lookin’ for is a development that has living wage jobs once it’s constructed, has building trades unions building the project, has as many Bronx residents as possible on the project.”