• Randi Weingarten Elected AFT President
• AFT Delegates Overwhelmingly Endorse Obama for President
• Congress Overrides President's Veto of Medicare Bill
• Alliance Launches TV Ad Campaign on McCain Social Security Comments
• Medicare Drug Premiums Up 16 percent Over One Year
• U.S. Healthcare System First in Cost, Last in Mortality
• Buy Union and Save with Powell's Online Bookstore
• Quote of Note: John McCain on Social Security
• Web site of the Week

Randi Weingarten Elected AFT President
Delegates to the 2008 AFT convention elected a new slate of national officers on July 14 in Chicago, voting to install Randi Weingarten as president, Antonia Cortese as secretary-treasurer and Lorretta Johnson as executive vice president. Weingarten has served 10 years as president of the 200,000-member United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the largest union local in the United States. Cortese has served the past four years as AFT executive vice president. Johnson, president of AFT-Maryland, also serves as president of the Baltimore Teachers Union's paraprofessional chapter. "The three of us are committed to improving schools, hospitals and public institutions for children, families and communities," Weingarten said. "We will build on this union's great tradition of confronting injustice, embracing the excluded, questioning conventional wisdom, challenging the status quo-and working 24/7 to improve the institutions where our members work."

A former social studies teacher and lawyer, Weingarten has been a tireless advocate for students and the union members who work with them in and out of classrooms. She is noted for her continual outreach to parents and community groups, and her success in joining them in effective coalitions. Weingarten has stood toe to toe with governors, mayors and schools chancellors on behalf of children and educators, and stands side by side with members in their total commitment to their profession and their communities.

During Weingarten's UFT tenure, the public schools saw a marked increase in student achievement. She negotiated a 43 percent increase in educators' salaries that helped the city recruit and retain qualified teachers. And her innovative differential pay programs have fostered teamwork over competition, and have amplified teachers' voices. In 2007, Weingarten mounted the single most successful organizing campaign in recent AFT history, bringing 28,000 New York City-based home child care workers into the union. Weingarten also has developed a strong national reputation for seeking new and creative ways to address persistent challenges. In that spirit, she has opened two union-operated charter schools in New York City and partnered with a pro-union private charter school operator to open another.

Antonia Cortese was first vice president of the now 600,000-member New York State United Teachers before coming to the AFT in 2004. She began her education career in Rome, N.Y., where she taught fourth grade and served as a school social worker. Lorretta Johnson began her career as a teacher's aide in the Baltimore City schools, where she organized a union to improve the work situation of paraprofessionals like herself, and has subsequently become a leading voice for Maryland's working families. Over her career, she has played a leading role in the national development of standards for the employment and training of classroom paraprofessionals, highlighting the importance of these positions in the ultimate success of schools.

All three new national officers are longtime members of the AFT executive council.

Delegates also elected 39 AFT vice presidents, ten for the first time.

AFT Delegates Overwhelmingly Endorse Obama for President
Shortly after earning the union's endorsement for president of the United States, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama asked AFT convention delegates for their help in securing a new direction in education-one that offers true opportunity for all students and steers clear of attacks on teachers masquerading as public school reform. "I want to lead a new era of mutual responsibility in education, where we all come together-parents and educators, the AFT, leaders in Washington-citizens all across America united for the sake of our children's success," Obama told delegates in a July 13 address. The candidate "we elect will make a real difference in our lives," and the AFT has what it takes to bring home victory, AFT president Edward J. McElroy told delegates. "We're ready to do the hard part-work day and night to make that happen." In his live satellite address, Obama pledged to provide children, particularly the nation's most vulnerable, with the supports they need: quality, affordable early childhood education; expanded after-school and summer learning opportunities; fully funded special education; and early intervention strategies. He vowed to chart a new approach based on adequate resources for public schools and respect for the professionals who work there. "I am tired of hearing you, the teachers who work so hard, blamed for our problems." Professional responsibilities mean professional compensation, and Obama praised new compensation systems negotiated in such AFT locals as Chicago and Cincinnati. The Illinois Democrat outlined steps he would take to keep and build excellence in the classroom, including mentoring programs for new teachers and service scholarships for teachers.

Congress Overrides President's Veto of Medicare Bill
On July 15, President Bush vetoed H.R. 6331, the "Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008". Congress quickly acted to override the veto; the House voted 383-41 (Roll Call No. 491) for the override, while the Senate voted 70-26 (Record Vote No. 177), with both chambers achieving more than the two-thirds required to pass Public Law No: 110-275. 153 Republican representatives defied the Bush administration to vote for the bill's passage, 24 more than for the legislation's initial passing on June 24; four additional Republican Senators also voted yes, along with all Democrats. Complete results of the House override vote are available at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll491.xml, and the full the Senate results can be found at http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call
_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00177.

AFT and Alliance for Retired Americans members sent thousands of letters to Congress and submitted dozens of letters to the editor to ensure physicians continue to treat Medicare patients, low-income seniors receive extra assistance with healthcare costs, and Medicare Advantage programs will be reformed so that more money goes to seniors and not large corporations. The law replaces the reduction in fees with a rate freeze for 2008 and a 1.1 percent increase in 2009. It will cost about $20 billion over five years, but much of the cost will be offset by reductions in payments to Medicare Advantage plans. The law reduces payments to the plans by about $14 billion over five years. Senator Obama voted for the override. Senator McCain voted to sustain President Bush's veto.

Alliance Launches TV Ad Campaign on McCain Social Security Comments
The Alliance for Retired Americans launched a television advertising campaign on July 22 to respond to a recent statement by Senator John McCain that Social Security is "a disgrace." The issue ads run this week in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Clarks Summit Pa., coinciding with a McCain visit to Wilkes-Barre on July 23. Working with area seniors and community groups, the AFL-CIO retiree group plans a protest event that day to spotlight Senator McCain's position on Social Security. "Forty Two million Americans receive Social Security benefits-these are our nation's elderly, our widows and widowers, and our young children who have seen a parent die. Helping them is not a disgrace. Social Security has kept millions out of poverty, and is one our nation's greatest success stories," said Edward F. Coyle, Alliance executive director.

Medicare Drug Premiums up 16 percent over One Year
Most seniors in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program are paying higher monthly premiums this year, with the three-quarters of beneficiaries signed up for the ten largest plans paying an average $26.39 per month-16 percent higher than in 2007. The cost for AARP MedicareRx Preferred, the program's most popular plan, rose by 15 percent to $32.08 a month, while premiums for the second and third most popular options, Humana PDP Standard and Humana PDP Enhanced, rose by 69 percent and 6 percent, respectively. The average percentage increase for these Part D plans is greater than both the hike in Medicare's Part B premium for outpatient care, up 3 percent for 2008, and the average premium cost for workers' drug-benefits, up just more than 9 percent over last year for large employers. The newest increases are likely to be viewed as a hardship by many retirees; the combined costs of Medicare premiums already total almost one-third of the average monthly Social Security check.

U.S. Healthcare System First in Cost, Last in Mortality
According to a report released July 17 by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System, a nonprofit research group in New York, U.S. healthcare is the most expensive in the world, but does not meet critical benchmarks for quality, access, and other major performance measures. While America spends twice as much per capita on healthcare, it ranks lower than most other industrialized nations on numerous indicators of overall care; the U.S. score averaged 65 out of 100 over 37 categories, and fell to last for preventing deaths through use of timely and effective medical care. As healthcare costs increase and even the insured face medical bills they cannot afford, Americans also have less access to care than they did a year earlier-an estimated 75 million people in the U.S. have either no or inadequate health insurance.

Buy Union and Save with Powell's Online Bookstore
Time to catch up on some summer reading? Check out Powell's-the highly acclaimed online bookstore (and the largest unionized bookstore in the country). Powell's features an outstanding selection of new and used bestsellers, textbooks, kids' books, technical books, e-books, even rare and collectibles. A portion of every sale made through the AFT + link goes to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund. You can also take advantage of award-winning e-mail newsletters featuring book reviews, recent arrivals, specials and discounts. Orders totaling $50 or more receive free economy shipping. Shop now by visiting Powell's bookstore online special AFT + Web link.

Quote of Note: John McCain on Social SecurityQuote of Note

"We are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed."

Los Angeles Times
July 14, 2008

Last week media accounts revealed that despite Senator McCain's views about Social Security, he received $23,157 in Social Security benefits in 2007, an average of $1,929.75 each month.

Web Site of the Week: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/efca_card_support

The AFL-CIO is seeking 500,000 signatures supporting the Employee Free Choice Act by Labor Day. The Act can help reclaim the American Dream by restoring workers' freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life. The Federation's ultimate goal is to gather 1 million signatures.

Contributors and sources: Bill Cunningham, Matt Jacob, Wall Street Juornal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Post AFL-CIO Now, Associated Press, Commonwealth Fund, Congress Daily, Alliance for Retired Americans Friday Alert, Kaiser Health Policy Report. Frank Stella, editor; Cassandra Bouknight, design.