National news:
▪  In BusinessWeek -- Employee Free Choice Act: Labor vs. business -- As unionizing law, would the Employee Free Choice Act help workers or hurt U.S. competitiveness? Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus and lawmaker George Miller offer different views.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Huge bailout plan faces hurdles in Congress -- Before spending $700 billion on a bailout, Democrats want greater legislative oversight of the Treasury Department, more direct assistance for homeowners and limits on the pay of top executives whose firms seek help.
▪  In today's News Tribune -- If public must buy bad debt, it should get justice, too (editorial) -- For starters, the Justice Department can bring criminal charges or civil action against corporate officers who knowingly traded in bad debt. Watching CEOs walk away from failed companies with millions of dollars in their pockets has been the single most grating thing about this debacle.
▪  In Sunday's Chicago Tribune -- Growth, income at odds -- Since the 2001 recession, the American workforce has contributed to a robust 20% growth in productivity. Yet seven years later, most middle-class American households have less inflation-adjusted income.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Study ties wage disparities to outlook on gender roles -- Men with egalitarian attitudes about the role of women in society earn significantly less on average than men who hold more traditional views about women's place in the world, according to a new study.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2008
Join the health care discussion on Tuesday in Vancouver

In recent months, the Healthy Washington Coalition has been hosting a series of seven public meetings about Washington residents' values and priorities for health care reform as state lawmakers prepare to consider five reform proposals in 2009. If you missed previous meetings, you still have a chance to participate in this critically important discussion. The next meeting will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23 in Vancouver at the Clark PUD Community Room, 1200 Ft. Vancouver Way.

For more information about these meetings, visit the HWC web site at www.HealthyWACoalition.org. Here is an opinion column by Jeff Smith, M.D. and Patty Rose of the Pierce County Central Labor Council that was published in The News Tribune following the HWC meeting in Tacoma:

2009 may be the year that Washington
takes major health care steps

The thing about “solving the health care crisis,” is that most everybody agrees it is necessary and we all appear motivated to proceed. But we just can’t take that first significant step.

Some prefer to wait for a national solution. Some want to wait and see if what other states are trying works. And some appear willing to just plain wait.

Well, we are pleased to report that the waiting may soon be over. And after the well-attended health care caucus hosted earlier July 1 in Tacoma by the Healthy Washington Coalition, there is finally reason for optimism.

More than 200 members of our community – students and senior citizens, doctors and other health care professionals, business owners, union members and retirees, community activists and concerned citizens, and a few state legislators – all gathered to discuss and debate what our primary values should be as the state Legislature is poised to shape a significant new effort in 2009 to address the health care crisis.

And a crisis is exactly what we have.

More than 76,000 citizens in Pierce County now lack health care coverage, and many of those who do have coverage are woefully underinsured. Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy, and a shocking three-quarters of the people who have filed for bankruptcy had health insurance coverage.

As the prices of gasoline, food and other necessities skyrocket, there is a great likelihood that even more working families will drop into the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured.

Our local businesses – especially small businesses – face those same cost pressures. Many of those business owners who have somehow managed to maintain health benefits for their employees through more than a decade of double-digit cost increases will no longer be in a position to do so if they want to stay in business.

Meanwhile, the “anchor” employers of our state, like Boeing and Weyerhaeuser, struggle to stay competitive but face more and more pressure to outsource jobs to other countries where dramatic health care inflation is not driving up their labor costs.

To its credit, the Legislature last year approved Senate Bill 6333 to have an independent firm do a cost-benefit analysis of five different proposals to improve access to quality health care for all Washingtonians. As the 2009 legislative session approaches, you’ll be hearing more about these various plans that incorporate ideas supported by the business community, health care industry, labor unions, community and religious groups and many others.

But in the meantime, our lawmakers need to know what Washingtonians’ guiding values are, as they consider how to proceed. And that was the point of the health care caucus in Tacoma. We discussed, debated and voted on many different values that all incorporate worthwhile goals for health care reform, but each of us was asked to choose only our top four. In Tacoma, they were:

 •  Cover everyone.

 •  Eliminate disparities in access to health care and in health outcomes based on factors such as income, ethnicity and job status.

 •  Assure the cost of health care, including prescriptions, is affordable.

 •  Assure access to care when people need it and in a way that meets their needs.

There is every chance that we in Pierce County may have different priorities than the folks in Vancouver, Yakima or Spokane. That’s why these caucuses are happening in seven different locations around the state.

But given the number and enthusiasm of the people who turned out on a beautiful summer night in Tacoma, we are hopeful that 2009 will finally be the year that we stop debating the issue – or waiting for somebody else to fix the problem – and we take a major step toward health care reform.

The people who live in Washington and the businesses that operate here can’t afford to wait any longer.

Dr. Jeff Smith is the medical director of Community Health Care in Tacoma, and Patty Rose is secretary treasurer of the Pierce County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. To learn more about the health care caucuses, go to www.HealthyWACoalition.org.

Copyright © ^{2008 --  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO}