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However, the statistics listed on the AFL-CIO website about "Health Care Facts" are sobering. 47 million people, including 8.7 million children have no health coverage at all. Health care premiums were $1,320 on average in 2001, but skyrocketed to $3,266 in 2007. According to the graphic "Exploding Health Care Costs are Devastating Working Families," every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for a bankruptcy that is related to medical care, and other than the pharmaceutical and health insurance companies, even employers are being "crippled" by health care costs. This means lower wages for workers, as employers pass the increased expense onto workers, and hire fewer workers because of the cost of healthcare. Ultimately it is heartening to read that the AFL-CIO is mobilizing behind the move to put healthcare at the top of the national agenda, even if it has not devised the perfect solution to insure that everyone has affordable and adequate care.
Another issue the union is mobilized about is the issue of gender equality, on an international as well as a national level. More than 1.2 billion women or 40% of total women world-wide earn less money than their male counterparts (Parks 2008). Women are also more likely to be unemployed, poor and often face violence and harassment...
American women still earn 88 cents for every dollar a man is paid for the same type of employment, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This wage gap costs the average full-time U.S. woman worker between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her work life. African-American women earn only 68 cents and Latinas 57 cents for every dollar that men earn for the same type of work (Parks 2008).
The union's position on wage inequality is heartening to read, because it shows once again it has an international as well as a national focus, and it demands the improvement of the lives of not simply its dues-paying membership, but of all working people. Wage discrimination embraces everything from fair pay issues, to harassment and discrimination in the workplace, as well as traditional union issues like family leave and benefits. However, employers, regardless of creed, color, class, or gender often oppose non-discriminatory legislation because of a fear it will increase costs and a chance of being sued by irate employees. The need for such regulation to protect minority and female workers is again testimony to the need for unions, who are advocates for specifically worker-related issues, and articulate the worker's perspective nationally and internationally, as well as during specific instances of union and management negotiations.
Works Cited
Health Care Facts." AFL-CIO. 13 Mar 2008. http://www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/facts.cfm
Join the Fight for Health Care." AFL-CIO. 13 Mar 2008. http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/1_million_petition/?qp_source=hc%5fjobseconomy
Parks, James. "International Women's Day: Women Still Trail Men in Pay After 100
Years." 7 May 2008. AFL-CIO. 13 Mar 2008. http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/07/international-womens-day-women-still-trail-men-in-pay-after-100-years
Works Cited
Health Care Facts." AFL-CIO. 13 Mar 2008. http://www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/facts.cfm
Join the Fight for Health Care." AFL-CIO. 13 Mar 2008. http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/1_million_petition/?qp_source=hc%5fjobseconomy
Parks, James. "International Women's Day: Women Still Trail Men in Pay After 100
Years." 7 May 2008. AFL-CIO. 13 Mar 2008. http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/07/international-womens-day-women-still-trail-men-in-pay-after-100-years
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