Good Reasons to Vote in 2002
Protecting Social Security, enhancing
Medicare, and maintaining Davis-Bacon and state prevailing
wage laws are just three of the many reasons to vote on November
5th. With both houses of Congress, 36 governorships, and
several anti-worker, pro-business ballot initiatives at stake,
organized labor is gearing up for a series of tough political
battles this election season.
Corporate scandals and plunging
stock market values haven’t
stopped President Bush’s plan to privatize Social
Security. The Bush-appointed Social Security commission
outlined several ways to privatize Social Security in
its recent report, each of which would result in drastic
cuts in traditional Social Security benefits (retirement
income, disability and death benefits), and require a
portion of workers’ Social
Security payroll taxes to be shifted to unsecured private
accounts. According to an analysis of the commission’s
recommendations by the Century Foundation — Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities, under these schemes “more
than $1 trillion over the next 10 years and almost $3
trillion over the next 20 years” would be shifted
from Social Security to these private accounts.
For workers
in physically demanding jobs, such as those performed
by BAC members, the changes proposed by the President’s
commission would be even worse. The proposal uses “a
back-door method to raise the retirement age before
workers can collect full benefits,” according
to the Institute for America’s Future.
Double-digit increases in the cost of prescription
drugs have hurt all of us, but for many of the 40 million
people over age 65 covered by Medicare it’s a
life or death issue. An analysis of the Bush administration’s
proposal conducted by the Congressional Research Service
shows the “Republican
bill’s benefits are about 40 percent less than
benefits in legislation proposed by Democrats.” Under
the Bush proposal senior citizens would have to pay
higher premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, and use
HMO-type plans to obtain prescription drug coverage.
In contrast, House and Senate Democratic proposals
call for Medicare to “cover a large portion of
beneficiaries’ prescription
costs, set a cap on out-of-pocket expenses and carry
a $25-a-month premium.”
BAC is working to defeat
the Republican backed bill Medicare Prescription Drug
Act of 2002 (H.R. 4954) in the House, and supports
the McCain-Schumer The Greater Access to Pharmaceuticals
Act (S. 812) in the Senate.
Davis-Bacon and state prevailing
wage laws (sometimes called “little
Davis-Bacon” laws), require contractors to
pay their employees the prevailing — or most
common — wage
in a given market on state and federally funded
construction projects. These laws ensure that workers
are paid a fair wage, and discourage contractors
from bringing low-wage workers into a community
and undercutting the local workforce and the community’s
economic base.
Congress is now considering the
Water Investment Act of 2002 (S. 1961) and the
Water Quality Financing Act of 2002 (H.R. 3930). These bills
would provide states with $35 billion in federal funds to
build water infrastructure for required clean water projects.
The bills
are in jeopardy, however, because House Majority
Leader Dick Armey has announced that he will not allow H.R.
3930 to come to the floor because it includes Davis-Bacon
wage provisions. A win by Armey and other opponents
of Davis-Bacon on this bill would create a bigger
threat to Davis-Bacon and state prevailing wage laws on new
school construction funding proposals, and undercut
wages being paid on school construction projects.
You can act now by calling your representative toll-free
at 1-877-611-0063 and urging them to support Davis-Bacon
provisions in S. 1961 and H.R. 3930, and all federally
financed infrastructure programs.
Remember, labor’s turnout at the polls on Election
Day is the most effective tool we have to get elected officials
to take notice, listen, and respond to our needs on these
and other important issues.respond to our needs on these and other important issues.
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