Our broken health care system is getting worse by the day. With recent cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, 17 million more people could lose their health care this year. This is on top of 26 million people who are already uninsured. Employers continue to demand that workers pay ever higher shares of the cost of insurance, while insurance company profits continue to rise.
Trade officials from the U.S., Mexico and Canada are preparing to meet and consider changes to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the successor agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). UE is joining allies who are mobilizing across the continent to stand up for workers, family farmers, and communities; reject the race-to-the-bottom that pits people across borders against each other; and build solidarity across movements for good jobs, environmental protection, and economic justice.
In his new booklet The Fundamentals of Electoral Organizing, longtime community organizer Tomás Garduño has provided a clear and accessible how-to guide for working people who want to make electoral politics better through organizing. As he writes in the introduction, “I have written this booklet for working-class people who want to organize other working-class people in our shared interests of building political power.”
The Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in Louisiana v Callais, which effectively guts the one remaining section of the Voting Rights Act, is a blatantly racist attack on Black people that will hurt all workers. As a result of this decision, Black voters and other voters of color will be disenfranchised, and anti-labor politicians will find it even easier to gerrymander their way into permanent majorities.
The Majority Agenda is a set of policy changes which are supported by significant majorities of Americans and have the potential to improve the lives of millions of working people. The 14 policy briefs which make up the report are all short, clear, and easy to read. They are grouped into three broad categories: good jobs, strong infrastructure, and fair play.
On Saturday President Trump, who ran for office pledging to keep the U.S. out of military entanglements overseas, ordered extensive military strikes on Iran. These strikes are unconstitutional and reckless, and will make the world a more dangerous place on many levels. They come at great cost in both human lives and treasure.
In a poll conducted in November by the MedicareForAll PAC, over 50 percent of voters expressed support for the single-payer “Medicare for All” healthcare system that UE has long demanded. After listening to a robust and balanced description of a government-provided system that noted that taxes would increase for some Americans if implemented, 54 percent of voters supported such a system. The support is especially pronounced among Black Americans (77 percent support), women under age 50 (71 percent support), and those under 30 (74 percent support).
The UE General Executive Board has issued a statement condemning the murders of Alex Jeffrey Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, demanding that their killers be held legally accountable, calling for a no vote on the Homeland Security Appropriations bill that is up for Senate approval, and demanding that Congress abolish ICE entirely.
In a move reminiscent of Cold War-era attacks on UE, the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, fueled by misinformation from far-right political groups, has demanded five years’ worth of financial audits from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). This is a clear attempt to discredit one of the most militant and effective unions in the U.S., and a close UE ally.
This past weekend, the administration escalated its attacks on Venezuela, kidnapping the sitting President and First Lady. UE encourages all UE members and allies to take action by joining local protests against war and by demanding that their elected officials at all levels publicly condemn this attack. U.S. Senators and Members of Congress can be contacted by calling the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Contact information for state governors and representatives can be found at usa.gov/elected-officials.