Bill Clinton Rallies Miami Students to Support Alex Sink for Governor

Former President Bill Clinton, left, joins Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink for an early vote rally in Miami at Miami Dade College North Campus, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010. President Clinton addressed how critical voting for Sink is, especially during an election year that will so greatly impact the future of Florida

By John Lantigua Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 10:01 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010
Posted: 11:48 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010

MIAMI — MIAMI- Former president Bill Clinton had an enthusiastic college crowd of about 600 at his feet Thursday morning and told them what the political experts were saying about them.

He said predictions are that as many as 55 percent of young people who voted in 2008 —and helped elect President Barack Obama -- will not vote this time. Clinton imagined such a young person saying they had "something else to do on Election Day."

"Like heck you do," he shouted at the crowd.

AFL-CIO Blog Archives for September 2010

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AFL-CIO Blog Archives for July 2010

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Report: Ascension Hospitals Disrespect Nurses’ Rights

by James Parks, Jul 19, 2010

Three Michigan hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health System consistently refuse to respect workers’ freedom to join a union and bargain collectively, according to a new report by Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ). The report shows the Catholic hospitals’ actions directly oppose long-standing Catholic social teachings. In fact, IWJ says, the anti-union behavior and worker disrespect demonstrated in the report represent “a fall from grace,” and so named the report: “Ascension Health: A Fall From Grace.”

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OSHA Launches New Whistleblower Protection Site

by Mike Hall, Jul 16, 2010

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that workers who blow the whistle on safety violations and other unlawful practices “play an important role in assuring compliance with federal laws.”

But, say workplace safety advocates, too many times workers don’t speak up about safety and health problems on the job because they fear retaliation from their employers, even though it’s illegal.


OSHA now has a new website specifically dedicated to its whistleblower protection program, www.whistleblowers.gov. The site is designed to provide workers, employers and the public with easily accessible information about the 18 federal whistleblower protection statutes that OSHA currently administers. OSHA chief David Michaels says:

Dr. Donald Berwick: The Leader We Need for Health Medicare and Medicaid

John August, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents 90,000 health care workers, describes why Dr. Donald Berwick is a good choice to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

President Obama appointed Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) this week.

The decision was lauded by the New York Times. “Dr. Berwick’s major credential for the job is that he leads the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), a consulting group that promotes measures to improve the quality and safety of health care while reducing its costs. He has been enormously successful at getting health care professionals and institutions to work together to reform their practices—exactly what the agency needs.” (New York Times editorial, July 8, 2010.)

Happy 75th, Social Security, Watch Out for Deficit Scam

by Mike Hall, Jul 15, 2010

Seventy-five years ago this August, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law. Today, the nation’s most successful safety net, a program that has provided retirement security and kept hundreds of millions of seniors out of poverty, is under attack.

Politicians like House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) want to raise the retirement age to 70, and leading members of the federal budget deficit commission are trial-ballooning benefit cuts

Social Security Cuts Eyed by Deficit Commission ‘Especially Painful,’ Report Finds

by Mike Hall, Jul 15, 2010

Next month, Social Security, one of the nation’s most successful and important government programs, turns 75. It is the cornerstone of retirement security for tens of millions of Americans.

(Today, the U.S. House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security will examine the success of Social Security 75 years after President Franklin Roosevelt signed it into law. We’ll be covering the hearing.)

‘Off With Their Heads’ Says Queen Meg in Attack on California Nurses

by Mike Hall, Jul 14, 2010

Meg Whitman, Republican candidate for California governor and billionaire former CEO of eBay has picked a fight with the California Nurses Association (CNA) that political observers think may backfire and energize nurses across the Golden State to work even harder to defeat Whitman in November. Meanwhile, the California Labor Federation launched a new online video and video game (left) that highlights Whitman’s job-slashing corporate history.

Some Real Questions for Chamber’s ‘Jobs Summit’

by James Parks, Jul 14, 2010

When the U.S. Chamber of Commerce kicks off its “Jobs for America: Summit 2010” this afternoon in Washington, D.C., the question workers most want participants to answer is: Will the Chamber help create good jobs at home or will it just keep backing corporations who chase the bottom line by sending jobs overseas?

Rather than straight talk about how corporate greed created the jobs crisis, Chamber leaders are expected to raise the same tired blather that too much regulation is strangling business. (Let’s see. There was SO much regulation of the financial industry in recent years that Big Banks didn’t run wild and wreck the economy. Oh, wait….)


Here are three questions the AFL-CIO and working people would like to ask the Chamber: