Archive for March, 2008

95% RESPONDENTS OF AFL-CIO SURVEY SAY AMERICA MUST OVERHAUL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Results from the 2008 Health Care for America Survey sponsored by the AFL-CIO are now in in which over 26,000 people took the survey between mid-January and early March, findings include:

• 1/3 of respondents report skipping medical care because of cost, and 1/4 had serious problems paying for the care they needed
• 95% of respondents said America’s health care system needs fundamental change or to be completely rebuilt
• 79% said health care is a very important voting issue, and 97% said they plan to vote in the November elections

Link to results from selected states OR view complete survey results and other useful analysis at www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/survey

Tax Cap Would Harm Schoolkids

Proposal would take a toll on the quality of education, thwart ability to draw the best to help boost economy
BY BRUCE VENTIMIGLIA

(originally posted March 18, 2008)

Bruce Ventimiglia is chief executive of Saratoga Capital Management in Garden City and co-chair of the Business and Labor Coalition of New York.

A new governor takes the reins in Albany today, and property tax reform should be at the top of his to-do list. Few would argue against the need for such reform in the Empire State. New Yorkers, after all, pay among the highest property taxes in the nation, and skyrocketing costs have been a driving force in the state’s continued exodus of residents and businesses.

While it’s encouraging to see efforts to address this serious problem, a plan by the former governor to cap property-tax increases would have the effect of limiting revenue available for schools - and therefore could ultimately cause far more harm than good.

Defects Go Unfixed for Years in Dozens of Dams, New York Comptroller Finds

By Anthony DePalma

New York State’s oversight of thousands of dams has been so deficient in recent years that serious problems in dozens of dams holding back billions of gallons of water have gone years without being fixed, according to a report released on Tuesday by the New York State comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli.

The deficiencies of one dam in the report, on Rainbow Lake in the Adirondacks, were first noted 36 years ago but have not yet been corrected, the report said.

Millions of Jobs of a Different Collar

By Steven Greenhouse

EVERYONE knows what blue-collar and white-collar jobs are, but now a job of another hue — green — has entered the lexicon.

Presidential candidates talk about the promise of “green collar” jobs — an economy with millions of workers installing solar panels, weatherizing homes, brewing biofuels, building hybrid cars and erecting giant wind turbines. Labor unions view these new jobs as replacements for positions lost to overseas manufacturing and outsourcing. Urban groups view training in green jobs as a route out of poverty. And environmentalists say they are crucial to combating climate change.

BALCONY Co-Sponsors Rochester Health Care Forum Set for April 4th.

BALCONY, the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, is co-sponsoring with MANY and the American Cancer Society a business and labor roundtable discussion on health care in the workforce and on how the current health insurance coverage might be changed to include all New Yorkers. The forum will take place on April 4, 2008 from 8 to 11 A.M. at the Rochester Institute of Technology and will feature business and labor leaders from the upstate communities surrounding Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo. Among the forum topics that will be discussed are the impact of high health care costs and uninsured rates on area business and labor and an evaluation of the current health care reform proposals that New York State is considering. The forum is being organized by Mainstream New York, and the other co-sponsors along with BALCONY are the American Cancer Society, the National Federation of International Business, the New York State United Teachers, and the Rochester Business Alliance.

Contact Bill Bastuk of Mainstream New York for further details. His phone is (585) 503-6826 and his e-mail address is wbastuk@rochester.rr.com.