------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the July 1, 2004 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
THOUSANDS MARCH FOR HEALTH CARE Thousands of workers and their families marched for health care in New York June 19. The Service Employees union initiated the demonstration as part of day of actions across the U.S. called "Bridging the Gap: Health Care for All." While many marchers were SEIU members, contingents also came from other unions, including the Professional Staff Congress representing faculty and staff at the City University of New York (CUNY), and progressive neighborhood groups. Posters for the march were posted throughout the Lower East Side and other working-class neighborhoods the week before. The march started in Brooklyn at Cadman Plaza, trekked across the Brook lyn Bridge, and wound up with a rally in front of the Federal Building in lower Manhattan. At the rally, rank-and-file workers spoke about what the lack of affordable health coverage meant to their lives and living standards, as well as the pain and suffering of the uninsured. One janitor from SEIU Local 32BJ, recently unionized, saw his salary go from $6.15 to $9.25 an hour, but still doesn't have medical benefits. Another speaker had been limited to 19 hours a week when she worked for the Research Foundation of CUNY because an additional hour would have qualified her for medical benefits. Even union members with medical insur ance often lack dental or prescription coverage. "We have to fight to keep the health care we have in the face of rising costs," said Mike Fishman, president of Local 32BJ. The union represents 70,000 building-service workers in the New York metropolitan area. John Sweeney, president of the national AFL-CIO, said: "Health-care costs are a national crisis. Every other industrialized country in the world has put together a national health-care system. It's about time these workers rise and demand universal health care." While the union, whose members are mostly immigrants, marched past City Hall, heavily-armed cops in flack jackets and holding assault rifles stood guard over the offices of billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg. --G. Dunkel - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
