The amount of the federal subsidy is based on a sliding scale, with lower income families receiving a larger subsidy. The chart below shows some examples of how it would work. These examples are all for a Sil- ver Plan for a non-smoking family of four, with 40 year old parents. These numbers are somewhat hypo- thetical, since the Iowa Marketplace premiums will not be made public until October 1, but the actual costs will not vary substantially. Uninsured people making more than 400% of FPL can buy plans in the Marketplace, they just won’t be eligible for the federal subsidy. October 1, 2013 is the beginning of the first open enrollment period for Marketplace plans. Open enroll- ment lasts until March 31, 2014. Dur- ing that period, eligible individuals and families can sign up for Market- place plans. Coverage will start on January 1, 2014 (or later if you sign up after that). Once the open enroll- ment period ends, eligible people will have to wait till October 2014 for their next opportunity to enroll. There will be several ways to enroll in the new options. For people with access to the internet, one of the easi- In UnIty there Is strength IOWA AFL-CIO NEWS I O W A F E D E R A T I O N O F L A B O R D e s M o i n e s I o w a AFL-CIO Volume 13, Issue 2 Official Publication of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO October 2013 Iowa AFL-CIO News Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO 2000 Walker St., Suite A Des Moines, Iowa 50317 NON-PrOFIT Org. U.S. POSTage PAID PreSOrT MaIL, INC. Family Income $40,000 $50,000 $80,000 % of FPL 171% 213% 342% Premium Limit (% of Income) 4.95% 6.77% 9.5% Total Premium Cost $12,130 $12,130 $12,130 Federal Subsidy $10,148 $8,745 $4,530 Family’s Actual Insurance Cost (Annual) $1,982 $3,385 $7,600 Out of Pocket Max $4,167 $6,250 $8,333 By Ma Glasson October 1, marks the beginning of some big changes in health care under the affordable Care act, a.k.a. “Obamacare”. The affordable Care act was passed back in March of 2010, but many of its most impor- tant features do not go into effect until 2014. For people who are already cov- ered by insurance, 2014 is significant because three new plan requirements go into effect. In plan years starting on or after January 1, 2014, health insurance plans can no longer ex- clude people from coverage because of pre-existing conditions; insurance companies can no longer have annual limits on the amounts that they will pay for a person or a family; and new employees cannot be required to wait more than 90 days before they are eli- gible for insurance. For the 49 million americans who currently don’t have health insur- ance, 2014 is even more significant. Starting in 2014, those people will be able to get insurance through two new options. First, Medicaid, which currently provides insurance to many low-in- come americans, has been expand- ed to cover people who make up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). That’s single people who make less than $15,856 or a family of four that makes less than $32,499. People in this category will be eli- gible for insurance at no cost or at a very low cost ($10-$20/month). Because Medicaid is a joint federal state program, each state can decide how to implement Medicaid expan- sion, subject to federal approval. Iowa chose to adopt a hybrid ap- proach, expanding Medicaid cover people with incomes below 100% of FPL and offering people with slightly higher incomes, between 100% - 138% of FPL, private health insurance, with the premiums paid with Medicaid funds. The second major change that hap- pens in 2014 is that uninsured people will be offered new private health insurance plans through a state in- surance “Marketplace” a.k.a. “the insurance exchange”. The insurance Marketplace is essentially an on-line shopping center, where people can shop for health insurance and com- pare coverage and prices using objec- tive reliable information about each plan. Like expedia or Orbiꜩ, but for health insurance. Marketplace plans will be sold at standard prices, based on the person’s age, family size, lo- cation and whether they smoke. a person’s health history, including pre-existing conditions, will not af- fect the premium. Marketplace plans are sold by private health insurance companies. each participating company can of- fer up to five different plans, with different levels of coverage (Plati- num = 90/10, gold = 80/20, Silver = 70/30, Bronze = 60/40, and a cata- strophic plan for people under 30). In order to make the Marketplace plans affordable, the federal govern- ment will subsidize the premium for people whose income is between 138% and 400% of FPL. For a single person that would be anyone mak- ing between $15.856 - $45,960. For a family of four, that’s $32,499 - $94,200. Get Ready, Obamacare Is Coming! est ways to enroll is to go to “health- care.gov”. That website is live now and you can get information about the enrollment process and the in- surance options available in your area. In fact, you can even create an account now so that you’ll be ready to enroll right away after October 1. The heathcare.gov website has an in- teractive interview process designed to walk you through the enrollment process and guide you toward the best available options. Starting on October 1, the website will have ad- ditional information about available plans and premiums. after October 1, people can actually start enroll- ing on-line. You can also apply by phone at 1-800-318-2596 or in person at DHS offices in Iowa. People who have questions about the enrollment process or who want advice about how to enroll can get help from “Navigators”, counselors who have been trained and licensed by the federal government. In Iowa three organizations have been se- lected as Navigators: Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa, Planned Parent- hood of the Heartland, and genesis Health System. Is this a big deal? For the esti- mated 250,000 people in Iowa with- out health insurance it certainly is. Low and middle income workers who are not offered insurance by their employers will finally have an affordable insurance option. even those of us who already have in- surance will benefit as more of our neighbors have access to routine medical care and preventative serv- ices. Iowans will be healthier and more productive, not overnight cer- tainly, but within just a few years. and our premiums should stop in- creasing so fast, since hospitals and doctors won’t be passing on the cost of uncompensated emergency room care (estimated to be about $1,100/ year for every insured person). and it all starts soon! Ma Glasson is a Labor Educator at the University of Iowa and the Presi- dent of AFT Local 716. The opinions expressed in this article are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Iowa or AFT.
Transcript
The amount of the federal subsidy is based on a sliding scale, with lower income families receiving a larger subsidy. The chart below shows some examples of how it would work. These examples are all for a Sil-ver Plan for a non-smoking family of four, with 40 year old parents. These numbers are somewhat hypo-thetical, since the Iowa Marketplace premiums will not be made public until October 1, but the actual costs will not vary substantially. Uninsured people making more than 400% of FPL can buy plans in the Marketplace, they just won’t be eligible for the federal subsidy. October 1, 2013 is the beginning of the first open enrollment period for Marketplace plans. Open enroll-ment lasts until March 31, 2014. Dur-ing that period, eligible individuals and families can sign up for Market-place plans. Coverage will start on January 1, 2014 (or later if you sign up after that). Once the open enroll-ment period ends, eligible people will have to wait till October 2014 for their next opportunity to enroll. There will be several ways to enroll in the new options. For people with access to the internet, one of the easi-
In UnIty there Is strength
IOWAAFL-CIONEWS
IOW
A FEDERATION OF LABO
R
Des Moines Iowa
AFL-CIO
Volume 13, Issue 2 Official Publication of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO October 2013
Iow
a A
FL-C
IO N
ews
Iow
a Fe
dera
tion
of L
abor
, AFL
-CIO
2000
Wal
ker S
t., S
uite
AD
es M
oine
s, Io
wa
5031
7
NO
N-P
rO
FIT
Or
g.
U.S
. PO
STa
ge
PAID
PreS
Or
T M
aIL
, IN
C.
Family Income $40,000 $50,000 $80,000% of FPL 171% 213% 342%Premium Limit (% of Income) 4.95% 6.77% 9.5%Total Premium Cost $12,130 $12,130 $12,130Federal Subsidy $10,148 $8,745 $4,530Family’s Actual Insurance Cost (Annual) $1,982 $3,385 $7,600 Out of Pocket Max $4,167 $6,250 $8,333
By Matt Glasson October 1, marks the beginning of some big changes in health care under the affordable Care act, a.k.a. “Obamacare”. The affordable Care act was passed back in March of 2010, but many of its most impor-tant features do not go into effect until 2014. For people who are already cov-ered by insurance, 2014 is significant because three new plan requirements go into effect. In plan years starting on or after January 1, 2014, health insurance plans can no longer ex-clude people from coverage because of pre-existing conditions; insurance companies can no longer have annual limits on the amounts that they will pay for a person or a family; and new employees cannot be required to wait more than 90 days before they are eli-gible for insurance. For the 49 million americans who currently don’t have health insur-ance, 2014 is even more significant. Starting in 2014, those people will be able to get insurance through two new options. First, Medicaid, which currently provides insurance to many low-in-come americans, has been expand-ed to cover people who make up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). That’s single people who make less than $15,856 or a family of four that makes less than $32,499. People in this category will be eli-gible for insurance at no cost or at a very low cost ($10-$20/month). Because Medicaid is a joint federal
state program, each state can decide how to implement Medicaid expan-sion, subject to federal approval. Iowa chose to adopt a hybrid ap-proach, expanding Medicaid cover people with incomes below 100% of FPL and offering people with
slightly higher incomes, between 100% - 138% of FPL, private health insurance, with the premiums paid with Medicaid funds. The second major change that hap-pens in 2014 is that uninsured people will be offered new private health insurance plans through a state in-surance “Marketplace” a.k.a. “the insurance exchange”. The insurance Marketplace is essentially an on-line shopping center, where people can shop for health insurance and com-pare coverage and prices using objec-tive reliable information about each plan. Like expedia or Orbitz, but for health insurance. Marketplace plans will be sold at standard prices, based on the person’s age, family size, lo-cation and whether they smoke. a person’s health history, including pre-existing conditions, will not af-fect the premium. Marketplace plans are sold by private health insurance companies. each participating company can of-fer up to five different plans, with different levels of coverage (Plati-num = 90/10, gold = 80/20, Silver = 70/30, Bronze = 60/40, and a cata-strophic plan for people under 30).In order to make the Marketplace
plans affordable, the federal govern-ment will subsidize the premium for people whose income is between 138% and 400% of FPL. For a single person that would be anyone mak-ing between $15.856 - $45,960. For a family of four, that’s $32,499 - $94,200.
Get Ready, Obamacare Is Coming!est ways to enroll is to go to “health-care.gov”. That website is live now and you can get information about the enrollment process and the in-surance options available in your area. In fact, you can even create an account now so that you’ll be ready to enroll right away after October 1. The heathcare.gov website has an in-teractive interview process designed to walk you through the enrollment process and guide you toward the best available options. Starting on October 1, the website will have ad-ditional information about available plans and premiums. after October 1, people can actually start enroll-ing on-line. You can also apply by phone at 1-800-318-2596 or in person at DHS offices in Iowa. People who have questions about the enrollment process or who want advice about how to enroll can get help from “Navigators”, counselors who have been trained and licensed by the federal government. In Iowa three organizations have been se-lected as Navigators: Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa, Planned Parent-hood of the Heartland, and genesis Health System. Is this a big deal? For the esti-mated 250,000 people in Iowa with-out health insurance it certainly is. Low and middle income workers who are not offered insurance by their employers will finally have an affordable insurance option. even those of us who already have in-surance will benefit as more of our neighbors have access to routine medical care and preventative serv-ices. Iowans will be healthier and more productive, not overnight cer-tainly, but within just a few years. and our premiums should stop in-creasing so fast, since hospitals and doctors won’t be passing on the cost of uncompensated emergency room care (estimated to be about $1,100/year for every insured person). and it all starts soon! Matt Glasson is a Labor Educator at the University of Iowa and the Presi-dent of AFT Local 716. The opinions expressed in this article are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Iowa or AFT.
Page 2 IOWA AFL-CIO NEWS October 2013
Injured workers’ in the state of Iowa must demand a well-run, fair and impartial Workers’ Com-pensation agency. While workers’ compensation is not always at the forefront of our thoughts, it can be one of the most important aspects of state government when you or a family member becomes disabled due to an injury on the job. Workers’ Compensation Com-missioner Chris J. godfrey has been on the job in Iowa since 2006 working to make improvements to his agency’s timeliness in hearing and deciding suits between injured workers’ and their employers. For decades injured Iowans and their
families have been hampered in receiving workers’ compensation benefits in a timely manner. Commissioner godfrey, whom governor Branstad and his staff have attempted to force him from his position as Commissioner by cutting his salary by nearly $40,0000.00, has placed an emphasis on reducing the backlog of cases on appeal from the first level of hearings in his agency.
In the past such appeals could take up to two years to be decided by prior commissioners. Commissioner godfrey entered his position with over 370 appeals pending with ap-proximately 25 new appeals added each month. The commissioner has recently announced that within 2 months all appeals will be decided in the same month they are submitted by the attorneys and that there are
under 50 appeals currently pending. This quick turnaround on appeals is a great benefit for injured Iowans and their families waiting for their workers’ compensation benefits, a wait often made without any other means of income or support. This ac-complishment of the Commissioner is an illustration of why Iowans must demand intelligent and dedicated public servants.
Injured Workers Deserve A Well-RunWorkers’ Compensation Agency
October and November ElectionsSpecial Election — October 22 House District 33
Brian Meyer — Labor Endorsed
CLC Endorsed City/County Elections — Nov. 5th Des Moines: Skip Moore — Des Moines City Council Kevin Trevillyan — West Des Moines City CouncilCedar Rapids: Justin Shields and Chuck Swore for Cedar Rapids City Council Benton County: Shelley Parbs — County Supervisor Ottumwa: Frank Flanders — Mayor City Council — Matt Dalby, Skip Stevens, Robert LaPoint
and Belinda Smith-Cicarella. These are all the candidates endorsed at time of publication, as more are endorsed we will post them on the web page and in the Updates.
Officers
In UnIty there Is strength
IOWAAFL-CIONEWS
IOW
A FEDERATION OF LABO
R
Des Moines Iowa
Official Publication of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The Iowa AFL-CIO News is theofficial publication of the
Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO2000 Walker St., Suite A Des Moines, Iowa 50317
By Charlie Wishman, Secretary TreasurerIowa Federation of Labor, afl-cio I had the privilege of being invit-ed this year to the Blackhawk Un-ion Council’s Labor Day picnic and my family and I had a great time. Working for the labor movement, each year I get the opportunity to attend at least one Labor Day celebration somewhere around Iowa. at one point during this year’s picnic, a reporter from a local TV station asked if she could ask me a few questions. She then proceeded to ask me three questions, all with the exact same tone and slant to it which was basically, – “What happened to unions that they are losing mem-bership over the years?” I was annoyed with the ques-tions but laid out several reasons that membership has fallen in the past year and indeed over the past thirty years; poorly thought out free trade agreements that sell out workers, the rush of local and state gov-ernments to lay off or out-source workers, and the global economy being crashed by banks or other financial institu-tions too big to fail. really though, you can’t blame her for asking those questions. and looking over the press coverage from all across Iowa, you’ll see that trend in the reporting on Labor Day events. It’s easy to do a story that says “It’s Labor Day, but unions are down, farther than any time in recent memory.” That’s the conven-tional wisdom, and whether or not we like it, that’s what the general public thinks. There’s reason to have hope and optimism – even if the media or public doesn’t care to know the la-bor movement is evolving. Maybe it looks different than what we’re used to, but exciting things are hap-pening. Low Wage Workers are Fight-ing Back: Just recently fast food workers from 60 cities from Mis-soula, MT to New York, NY went out on strike to demand a livable wage for their families. Some may see this as symbolic, but if you con-sider someone making minimum wage and probably relying on that for an important part of their in-come is giving that up even for a day to stand up for their wages and working conditions, that’s a huge step in our economy. These strikes didn’t happen by accident, they were supported by labor unions tapping into the helplessness that these workers feel. The arguments against this seem to be that cheese-burgers would somehow cost too much (they wouldn’t, ask austral-ia with its $15.30/hour minimum wage) and that these workers are supposed to live in poverty so that they will someday want to not live
in poverty. That’s some twisted logic on its face, even if you want to claim there is a job for everyone looking for one currently. Walmart workers too continue to fight back with strikes and pickets, and they won’t stop anytime soon. Community Partnerships: Some-times we’re not that great at work-
ing with community partners, and sometimes they don’t work so well with us. But there are now local and national discussions going on that are strengthening those alliances, and each side realizes we do actual-ly share most of the same common goals, and we can’t fight these fights alone. Whether or not you’re talking about wage theft issues, access to health care, economic justice, fight-ing the destruction of family farms – we’re all fighting corporations
that are out for the 1%, not you or your family. american Federation of Teachers (aFT) President randi Weingarten has been saying lately things like, “every movement in this country that has been success-ful starts with community and labor together. If we want to rebuild the movement – community is the new
density.” Living in a so called “right to work” state, that’s something we all need to think about. Organizing Non-Traditional Workplaces: Community partner-ships can’t replace our core values of organizing workplaces for a bet-ter economic future. Just recently, a Lobstering Workers Union was formed in Maine – the first in its in-dustry. Car Wash workers are form-ing their own unions in New York, Los angeles and other places. auto
plants in the Deep South where lit-tle traction for workers’ rights has been found are considering organ-izing. Workers at guitar shops in Chicago are joining rWDSU. Sag-aFTra won a landmark contract for dancers on music tours and mu-sic videos. People everywhere, in all kinds of workplaces are crying out
for representation. These are just a very few exam-ples. Unfortunately, many of these workers don’t know where to turn to for help. We have a bright future, no matter what the media narrative is. In fact, if the youth are our future, things look good because young people like unions. With 61% of young people view-ing unions favorably, that’s fertile territory to rebuild the movement on. That’s 10 points higher than the national average, according to a Pew poll. Sadly, though young people are the only age group to view unions more favorable than corpo-rations. We’ve been here before. after extreme crackdowns from the federal govern-
ment, bad labor laws being passed, and a “roaring golden age” that didn’t ever “trickle down,” we had union density numbers pretty simi-lar today in the 1920’s. Know your history, and know what’s going on in the labor movement across america. Many of the answers to our current struggles lie in our past, and some lie in new ideas. We just have to be willing to look at things in a new way, not in the way the media still looks at us.
The Labor Movement Is Not Dying
Iowa Federationof Labor
LegislativeConference
February10 – 11
Page 4 IOWA AFL-CIO NEWS October 2013
Our Day - Labor’s Day
October 2013 IOWA AFL-CIO NEWS Page 5
Our Day - Labor’s Day
Page 6 IOWA AFL-CIO NEWS October 2013
By Tracey Leone On august 20th, the Iowa Federa-tion of Labor hosted a young work-ers conference in conjunction with the Central Labor Council Confer-ence and our annual Convention. Twenty young workers from thir-teen different unions across the state participated in the daylong conference, learning from each oth-er about how young worker groups are organizing and building Soli-darity. The event was led by Tahir Duck-ett, aFL-CIO National Young Work-er Coordinator, who wanted to learn from their success at activat-ing young union members, saying, “You folks in Iowa have some of the most successful young workers programs, and I want to learn from you.” In the afternoon, the young work-ers broke into two groups – one fo-cused on how they can work with the labor councils to help elect endorsed School Board Candidates. The other group discussed the possibility of getting a Solidarity License Plate issued that would promote unions across the state and possible set up a funding mechanism for Statewide Next Up projects. Stay tuned as this story unfolds. Later in the day the Young Work-ers met with the Central Labor Council group and discussed ways to work together. also this year, the Iowa Federa-tion of Labor Convention Delegates elected Nick Herrrington, UFCW 222, to be the first young worker representative to serve on the ex-ecutive Board. Nick said, ““I am excited to be elected the first young worker representative to serve on the Iowa Federation of Labor’s ex-
ecutive Board. I am looking forward to getting more young workers in-volved in labor solidarity programs across the state.”
OTheR YOuNG WORkeR ACTIvITIeS AROuND
The STATe uSW 105 NeXt Generation currently meets once a month on the second Thursday of each
month. right now they are heav-ily involved in the member action communication teams. This Christ-mas they will be sponsoring a Toys for Tots drive like are in charge of organizing our Local’s children’s Christmas party. early next year they will hold a trivia night or host a poker tournament to help fund 2014 activities, most of important of which will be communicating and building strength among our membership in advance of their next contract negotiations. In Cedar Rapids, IBeW 405’s young worker group, renew, inte-grates their activities with Hawk-eye Labor Council’s young workers group, NuHawk. They meet on the 3rd Sunday of every month. ON La-bor Day, they organized a funraiser for Operation Backpack, a program
through HaCaP to provide a back-back full of non-perishable food for children enrolled in the free and re-duced lunch program to take home and have food through the week-end. ON September 21st, Nuhawk is holding a trivia night on to raise additional funds for Operation Backpack. going into next year, Nu-hawk and renew will be involved with the Labor 2014 Program, help-
ing knock on doors and phone bank to help elect endorsed candidates at the County, State and National lev-els. They are focused on recruiting more people to get involved and to help build power, especially among unions who have yet to participate in Next Up. QC Next uP is most proud of the work they did recently in suc-cessfully electing one of their mem-bers, 25 year old Maria Dickmann, to the Davenport School Board. Maria was a community member of QC Next up, having been involved with the local chapter of MoveOn, and will soon serve as the youngest member of the school board. They will host a movie night on Sep-tember 20, showing “Brothers on the Line” at the UaW Hall. Their next meeting is October 1st at 6PM
at the elks Lodge in rock Island, hosted by aFge 2119 young work-ers. They are also going to buy a table just for young workers at the QC Hall of Fame Banquet October 11th in order to “celebrate achieve-ments and struggles of unionists that came before us” said Brett Utz, Chair. He added, “Next year we will focus on a long meaning-ful campaign on one central issue involving change for social justice and mobilizing younger members that are not already involved with their local or the QC Fed.” He add-ed that many of the active QC Next Up members now have leadership roles within their local, taking with them the experiences they learned as next up members. Des Moines South Central Iowa Federation of Labor, has a new group with co-chairs Jason Stegman and Tony Mitchell. This group just finished their first fund raiser sell-ing food at the Labor Day Picnic. They have future plans on hosting a statewide Labor Jam. Lee County The Lee County Labor Council hosted their inau-gural Hall of Fame event. Next Up members robert Cale (UFCW 617), Tim Wilson (USW 3311), Drake Custer (BCTgM 48g) and Leslie Deguzman (UFCW 617) participated actively with the Hall of Fame committee and inaugural Hall of Fame ceremony. Next Up saw the importance of honoring those who fought for their gen-eration as well as generations to come. Committee members spent months developing structure for the Hall of Fame program and planning the ceremony, which was held on May 5th of this year. There were seven inductees this year from locals within the council. These working class champions led organizing drives, fund raisers and fought for safety standards and working conditions: It didn’t take long to see that these induct-ees had been at the forefront of the same battles we continue to fight. The members of Lee County Next Up are grateful to the Lee County Labor Council for the opportunity to participate in this process and also learn more about some of the heroes from Lee County’s labor movement. More recently Lee County Next UP members were heavily involved in the recent school board elections. These efforts helped elect all three of their endorsed candidates in the Keokuk School Board. Though they lost the election in Ft Madison, this was the first effort to work on elec-toral politics in that city and a good base to work more in that city es-pecially in the upcoming city elec-tions. Many of us have been busy with our own locals and the recent school board elections, but in the future we hope to further educate young workers, possibly through a documentary film night and Labor Center courses.
Around The State With Young Workers
LikeTheseyoungWorkergroups
OnFacebook
Facebook.com\uSW Next generation
Facebook.com\QC.NEXTuP
Facebook.com\Next upHawkeye Area Workers
Konnect
Facebook.com\Des Moines Labor Next up Facebook.com\Lee County
Next up
October 2013 IOWA AFL-CIO NEWS Page 7
Iowa Federation of Labor executive Council. Back row: Mark Fallis (NALC); Marty hathaway (AFSCMe); Nick harrington (uFCW); Bill Gerhard (LiuNA); Jerry Nowadzky (IAMAW); John herrig (IAMAW); Wayne Sawtelle (IAFF); Dan Prymek (LiuNA). Front row: Stacey Andersen (GMP); Jeff Liske (uA); ken Sagar (IBeW); Charlie Wishman (AFT); Bill hanes (IBeW); Bruce Clark (APWu) and Steve Abbott (CWA). Not pictured: Robert Gilmore (IuPAT); Danny homan (AFSCMe); ken Larson (AFGe) and Jan Laue (BCTGM). — photo by Kerry Bowen
elections, resolutions, classes, fo-rum and speakers filled the 57th an-nual Iowa Federation of Labor Con-vention. The Iowa Federation of Labor Convention was held at Prairie Meadows the end of august, where close to 200 delegates attended. Ken Sagar was reelected as Presi-dent of the Iowa Federation of La-bor, and Charlie Wishman was also reelected at Secretary/Treasurer, both to four year terms. Some of the executive Council returned, while there were a few newly elected board members (See photo ). There were numerous speakers, while the highlights were gover-nor Howard Dean. He spoke to the delegates about a program he is in-volved with that works on moving states from purple to blue. aPWU president Cliff guffey spoke, and encouraged everyone to help save the postal service. resolutions dealt with necessary changes in the constitution, as well as other issues such as: Immigra-tion, progressive taxation, oppose outsourcing, support a gas tax in-crease, stop attacks on the USPS, oppose cuts to Medicare and social security and support for high speed rail, as well as several others. a main resolutions that passed unanimously was to endorse Con-gressman Bruce Braley as the labor candidate for Senator. The delegates were offered sever-
al training classes including, social media, affordable Care act, aLeC and Iowa’s economic future. The delegates and guest were
part of a congressional district one forum, where candidates, Swati Dandekar, anesa Kajtazovic, Pat Murphy, Dave O’Brien and Monica
Vernon, were allowed a few min-utes to address the convention, then asked three questions, and allowed closing remarks.
2013 Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Labor hall of Fame inductees Ron Montgomery, Jan Laue and ken Rains. — photo by Kerry Bowen
The Iowa Federation of Labor inducted three people into the 31st annual Labor Hall of Fame as part of the Iowa Federation of Labor Convention.
2013 IFL Convention Was Productive
On Thursday evening, august 22, Congressman Bruce Braley wel-comed Jan Laue, ron Montgomery and Ken rains. Jan Laue, has been active in the la-
bor movement for over 30 years. She was a business agent for BCT Local 417 and went on to become the first women elected as a full-time officer of the Iowa Federation of Labor. She is currently President of the Iowa alliance for retired americans. ron Montgomery started his union career in 1967 when he joined the International Printing and graphic Communications, Local 86, while employed at Meredith Print-ing. In 1974 he made Local 86 his-tory when he was elected business
agent, the youngest in their history. He served on the IFL board. Ken raines, started working for Northwestern Bell in 1957 where he then joined the Communications Workers of america (CWa). He be-came president of CWa locals 7114 (atlantic)and merged 7113 (Coun-cil Bluffs). He was instrumental in starting the CeW Iowa State Coun-cil - the first in the CWa. He served on the IFL board for several years. He is still active with the CWa retir-ees group.
2013 hall Of Fame Inductees honored
Iowa DailyLabor News
get a sample of the labor news from around Iowa and the country every morning right on your computer, tablet or smart phone.Send us an email that you want to subscribe and we will sign you up.Send to [email protected]
Page 8 IOWA AFL-CIO NEWS October 2013
CLC’s are comprised of elected or appointed delegates from area unions. These delegates are responsible for representing their local union in the discussions and decision-making in council meetings, committee sessions and other forums. Some of the things a CLC should be doing: Support affiliate organizations
621 e StreetFort Dodge, Iowa 50501(515) 955-8301union Affiliation: NaLCe-mail: [email protected] InfoCredit Union Center – basement13 S. 3rd Street, Fort Dodge2nd Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.
NORTh IOWA NINeLABOR COuNCIL, AFL-CIO
Mailing AddressVacanthome AddressVacantMeeting InfoLabor Temple – P/C510 S. Pennsylvania, Mason City4th Thursdays at 6:00 p.m.
NORThWeST IOWALABOR COuNCIL, AFL-CIO
Mailing AddressJohn Hamm3038 S. Lakeport, #100Sioux City, Iowa 51106(712) 276-0473 – central body(712) 276-0872 – faxhome Address109 W. gilman TerraceSioux City, Iowa 51105(712) 233-1218 – homeunion Affiliation: Uaemail: [email protected] Meeting InfoUFCW #222 HallSame as above3rd Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.
QuAD CITYFeDeRATION OF LABOR, AFL-CIO
Mailing AddressDino Leone4600 – 46th Street, Suite 4rock Island, Illinois 61201(309) 788-1303home Address9115 Turkey Hollow roadTaylor ridge, IL 61284(309) 738-3193union Affiliation aFSCMe Council 31e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] InfoLabor Hall311-1/2 – 21st Street
rock Island, Illinois(309) 788-13033rd Mondays at 6:00 p.m.
Mailing AddressSteve Siegel411 N. CourtOttumwa, Iowa 52501(641) 683-4630 – business – Wapello Co. Supervisorshome AddressSame(641) 682-6227 – home(515) 971-3325 – cellunion Affiliation: aFSCMeemail: [email protected] InfoLabor Temple, 116 N. green, Ottumwa3rd Mondays at 5:00 p.m.
SOuThWeST IOWALABOR COuNCIL, AFL-CIO
Mailing AddressBill Biede2109 avenue aCouncil Bluffs, Iowa 51502home AddressSame(712) 322-0156union Affiliation: BSOIWemail: [email protected] InfoFirefighters Local 151827 S. 8th Street, Council Bluffs3rd Mondays at 7:00 p.m.
Central Labor Councils (CLC’s)and contract campaigns; build strong locals through mobilization and educa-tion; develop strong ties with organizations throughout our communities and project a strong political voice. If you or your local is not active with your CLC, here is a list of CLC Presidents – join, support and get active!
