7/15/03

E Messenger

The Electronic Newsletter of the Florida AFL-CIO

New Members according to the AFL-CIO Work in Progress

This week's WIP: 1,018

Year to date:  88,749

WE NEED YOUR LABOR DAY NEWS

Labor Day is OUR holiday!  The Florida AFL-CIO is compiling a press packet to send out to state-wide media to help promote your Labor Day events.  This is the best time of year to discuss the working families agenda and the press is already calling us looking for information about labor day events across the state.  As you plan your events please let us know and we will include it in our press packet.  Also, we will advertise your events on our website so that others can find out about them and help you celebrate.  Resources and flyer toolkits are available at www.aflcio.org and as always the state fed will be happy to help you plan for the media at your event.  Send your information or requests for assistance to rtemplin@flaflcio.org. 

Thanks!

Jeb Signs Workers Comp Bill

Jeb signed SB 50A today at a private construction site in Kissimmee , Florida .  Here is a copy of the text of a press release the Florida AFL-CIO sent out state-wide this morning in advance of the Governor’s signing ceremony.     

Governor’s Signature on the Workers’ Compensation Bill Promises Big Profits for Insurers, Nothing for Small Businesses or Workers 

Dwayne Sealy, a member of the Governor’s Commission for Workers’ Compensation Reform Calls the Governor’s Decision to Sign SB 50A “a complete tragedy for Florida’s workers” and pledges to continue to work with House and Senate leaders to fix the system next session.

Tallahassee – Last year the Governor made reforming Florida ’s workers’ compensation system a priority when he appointed the Governor’s Commission for Workers’ Compensation Reform and then directed the Legislature to take up the issue during both the 2003 Regular Legislative Session and Special Session A.  The Governor’s stated goals were to formulate a reform package that would make workers’ compensation more affordable and available for Florida ’s businesses while increasing the benefits paid out to injured and disabled workers.  Florida currently has some of the highest premiums and lowest worker benefits in the country, but the legislation Governor Bush is scheduled to sign today does nothing to guarantee lower premiums and slashes the benefits paid to injured and disabled workers. 

Dwayne Sealy, Secretary-Treasurer of the Florida AFL-CIO, who was appointed to the Governors’ Commission for Workers’ Compensation Reform stated in a press statement released shortly before the Governor’s signing ceremony, that the workers’ compensation legislation signed into law today is “A complete tragedy for Florida ’s workers and an utter failure for Florida ’s businesses.”  Sealy continued, “When I was appointed to the Governor’s Commission I believed that we were going to recommend a package that made workers’ comp. more affordable, more available, more efficient and more responsive to the needs of our workers and businesses.  The bill that Governor Bush signed today does none of those things.  I agreed to serve on the commission to help make the system better.  To say the bill signed today makes the system worse would be an understatement.  I have my invitation to the Governor’s signing ceremony on my desk and I am thinking of framing it as a constant reminder of what can happen when our government officials sell us out to the highest bidder” he said. 

HB 50A contains approximately $345 million in benefit cuts for injured workers, continues to force workers into the expensive hospital system for medical care, keeping medical costs some of the highest in the country; has no guarantee of premium reductions; reduces job training options to help workers find new jobs and makes it almost impossible for workers to challenge the insurance companies in the courts.    Some of the changes made to the system were gruesome at best.  For example, under current law the loss of an arm or leg is considered a catastrophic injury.  The bill to be signed by the Governor today will mandate that a worker must lose both arms, both legs, both eyes or a combination of both for the injury to be classified as catastrophic.  Another provision of the new law would deny a worker who was blinded on the job disability benefits if he or she could find sedentary work, regardless of the wage, within 50 miles of their home but doesn’t explain how the blind worker would get to the job.  Sealy said,  “During our deliberations on the commission, we identified many ways to reduce premium costs and increase workers benefits but the Governor, the House and eventually the Senate ignored these completely in favor of the insurance company line.  Florida ’s workers were nothing but cannon fodder, sacrificed in the battle to find out just how big the insurance company benefit would be.” 

The struggle to pass workers’ compensation reform legislation this year mirrored the one going on today to pass medical malpractice reform.  The House Leadership quickly passed legislation strongly backed by both the Governor and the insurance industry during both the 2003 Regular Session and  Special Session A.  The Senate’s attempts to carefully deliberate the issues and take a more balanced approached were rebuffed by a high intensity public pressure campaign to quickly pass the insurance industry bill as it was.  In the end, the Senate capitulated to the pressure to pass a bill before the Special Session concluded, although Senate Republicans and Democrats alike had trouble supporting it.  Senate President Jim King stated on the floor during the Special Session, “Part of the reason we are doing this is to make sure we have a workers’ compensation bill (this session).  There are a lot of provisions in this bill that people, myself included, would find objectionable.  But the final analysis is that if we don’t do this now, we don’t do it.”  In May, Senator Skip Campbell spoke of the frustration the Senate was having in getting objective information on the workers’ compensation system from the insurance carriers.  In a May 20^th press release Senator Campbell said, “All of the numbers we have had to use to study workers’ comp have come from NCCI, a group representing the insurance industry.  That’s the fox telling us how to fix the henhouse.  That is why we have a product that is so good for insurers and so bad for workers.” 

The Senate never took the opportunity to compel testimony, under oath, from the insurance carriers.  If they had, they would have a record of the industries’ attempts to use the workers’ compensation systems problems to push through changes that provide them dramatic increases in profits - profits derived almost exclusively from cuts in worker benefits.  Associated Industries of Florida, a business lobby group which also owns and operates a large workers’ compensation insurance company, boasts on their website that Mary Ann Stiles, AIF General Counsel, was “The major drafter of the business community’s proposed legislation, most of which passed.”  AIF calls the legislation, “The most significant workers’ compensation reform bill anyone can remember.”  The Associated Industries of Florida’s website is correct.  This bill will make sweeping changes to the workers’ compensation system, ones that will provide a huge benefit to the AIF’s insurance company. Senate President King has promised to commission an interim study to look at the workers’ comp issue and many Republicans have promised to offer legislation that will fix the most egregious portions of the new law.

Dwayne Sealy concluded, “There is no way that this legislation will stand the test of time.  Eventually, when thousands of workers are forced into the emergency rooms for medical care and the Medicaid rolls continue to rise, the people of Florida will realize that they were lied to and the political will to make the right reforms will be there.  I and other members of the commission are determined to keep working with Republicans and Democrats alike in the Senate to push for a new reform package but AIF and the other insurance companies are going to fight us every inch of the way.

Medical Malpractice – Senate moves forward

AP: Senate moving forward with questions for players in malpractice debate

Monday, July 14, 2003

http://www.naplesnews.com/03/07/florida/d782133a.htm

Sun-Sentinel: Malpractice inquiry opens in Legislature as deal nears

Tallahassee Bureau

Posted July 14 2003

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fmedmal14jul14,0,1486912.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

Whoa!  Insurance and Florida Medical Association BUSTED!

Senate declares testimony a win
( 07/15/2003  © Tallahassee Democrat)
More doctors are licensed in Florida than five years ago, and applications to practice medicine in the state are up. Hospital emergency rooms or trauma centers are not closing in Florida because of rising medical-malpractice premiums. The president of the state's primary medical-malpractice in...

Panel sharpens malpractice queries
(07/15/2003 © St. Petersburg Times)
TALLAHASSEE - At turns gruff and joking but always unwavering, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday grilled insurance executives, medical lobbyists and lawyers under oath as they sought answers in the state's medical malpractice debate. No subpoenas have been issued yet, but all wi...

Testimony shows insurance crisis differently
(07/15/2003 © Palm Beach Post)
TALLAHASSEE -- A different picture of the state's medical malpractice insurance crisis emerged Monday when a Senate panel took the unusual step of putting key players in the debate under oath. An executive with the largest insurance company still writing malpractice policies in Florida acknow...

Senate experts dispute myths
( 07/15/2003  © Bradenton Herald)
More doctors are licensed in Florida than five years ago, and applications to practice medicine in the state are up. Hospital emergency rooms or trauma centers are not closing in Florida due to rising medical malpractice premiums. The president of the state's primary medical malpractice insure...

Insurer says medical malpractice reform unnecessary in Florida
(07/15/2003 © Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)
TALLAHASSEE · After three years of sharp increases in Florida doctors' malpractice insurance rates, the head of the state's largest insurer for physicians defended the increases as 'reasonable' and told a Senate panel Monday that his firm doesn't need legislative reforms to remain profitable. Dur...

Senators still have basic queries in yearlong malpractice fight
(07/15/2003 © Gainesville Sun)
Legislative debate on the cost of medical malpractice insurance has gone on for nearly a year, but a skeptical Senate still has some basic questions: Are doctors leaving Florida in large numbers? Are big lawsuits driving up rates? What might make premiums go down? And the Senate continued Monday ...

Senators seek truth with testimony
( 07/15/2003  © Northwest Florida Daily News)
* Florida lawmakers grill officials under oath to get some straight answers in malpractice debate. By DAVID ROYSE Associated Press Writer TALLAHASSEE - Legislative debate on the cost of medical malpractice insurance has gone on for nearly a year, but a skeptical Senate still has some b...

Bush still taking heat for med mal arm twisting

Malpractice issue exposes tactics used by Governor
( 07/15/2003  © Charlotte Sun Herald)
Reports from Tallahassee about arm-twisting tactics used to push through medical malpractice reform provide an eye-opening account of how money-driven our political system is becoming. For the second time this summer, legislators are working in a special session called by Gov. Jeb Bush to deal wi...

Daniel Ruth/Tampa Tribune: That Wacky, Zany, LIBERAL Jeb Bush Is At It Again!

Published: Jul 14, 2003

http://tampatrib.com/News/columns/MGA4VDXZ3ID.html

St. Pete Times: Gov. Bush would have done well not to follow this bad example

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/13/Columns/Gov_Bush_would_have_d.shtml

More tax cuts on the way

Myriam Marquez/Orlando Sentinel: Tax fairness? Get real

Published July 13, 2003

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/columnists/orl-edpmarquez13071303jul13,0,6384785.column

Gainesville Sun: State House is calling for tax relief

Web tools

http://www.gainesvillesun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030713/EDITORIALS/307120007

Education

Education secrets
(07/15/2003 © St. Petersburg Times)
Over a two-year span, Florida government is indirectly handing $138-million to private contractors whose work is not scrutinized and whose identities may not even be known. As incredible as that may sound, it actually gets worse. An administrator charged with overseeing the contracts wrote a mem...

St. Pete Times: How can state be 'elite' when so many are lagging

Letters to the Editor

© St. Petersburg Times

published July 14, 2003

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/14/Opinion/How_can_state_be__eli.shtml

AP: State Reportedly Not Tracking Funds For Private Schools

The Associated Press

Published: Jul 14, 2003

http://tampatrib.com/floridametronews/MGAMOGRZ3ID.html

Palm Beach Post: Why tests don't mean learning

Monday, July 14, 2003

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/today/opinion_f3111a1de688509300cb.html

St. Pete Times: Unecessary overhaul

President Bush's intentions to overhaul Head Start contradict the success of the program, which helped more than 900,000 underprivileged children last year.

A Times Editorial

© St. Petersburg Times

published July 14, 2003

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/14/Opinion/Unecessary_overhaul.shtml

Gainesville Sun: Florida 's dirty secret

http://www.gainesvillesun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030713/EDITORIALS/307120010

The Legislature left universities in a jam by failing to allocate any money to match contributions made to them.

Election 2004

House speaker Byrd: Opening exploratory committee for Senate run
(07/15/2003 © Daytona Beach News-Journal)
TALLAHASSEE -- Republican House Speaker Johnnie Byrd said Monday he's opening an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Bob Graham. Byrd, who is from Plant City , has one more year as speaker. He has said in the past that he wanted to stay focused on that job, but said ...

Democratic No-Shows Draw NAACP's Wrath – LA TIMES 7/15/03

NAACP leader blasts the Bushes

Bond's convention speech stresses affirmative action

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/6297701.htm

Miami Herald: Kerry, Edwards agree to join rivals in forum

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/6297716.htm

Graham: President to blame for report

Senator speaks on Iraq data

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/6297704.htm

Dem. Gephardt Gets Machinists' Support

Associated Press 7/11/03

Machinists' Union Endorses Gephardt

The New York Times 7/12/03

Overtime – DON’T FORGET TO CALL YOUR SENATORS!

STILL FIGHTING TO PROTECT OVERTIME PAY--By a 213-210 margin, the House narrowly defeated an amendment that would have derailed the Bush administration's attack on the 40-hour workweek. President George W. Bush on July 9 threatened to veto the fiscal year 2004 Labor and Health and Human Services appropriations bill (H.R. 2660) if it included the amendment. The amendment, proposed by Reps. David Obey (D-Wis.) and George Miller (D-Calif.), would have prohibited the Department of Labor from using funds to implement regulations cutting overtime pay. The Bush administration is pushing for changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act that could eliminate overtime pay for as many as 8 million workers, including police officers, nurses and store supervisors, according to an Economic Policy Institute study. Many workers would face unpredictable work schedules and reduced pay because of an increased demand for extra hours for which employers would not have to compensate workers, the institute said. Any worker making more than $22,100 a year could be denied overtime pay under the proposed changes if they are classified as professional, administrative or executive employees exempt from federal overtime rules. A vote on the appropriations bill is coming up soon in the Senate, and the effort in the House continues with a bill introduced by Miller and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). To send an e-mail to President Bush telling him to stop attacking overtime pay, visit www.unionvoice.org/campaign/otpayj1 . To spread the word on this campaign to friends, family members and co-workers, click on www.unionvoice.org/campaign/otpayj1/forward

Overtime Pay Would Deny Millions - by John Sweeney

Newsday 7/15/03

Dems Blast GOP As House Backs Overtime

Associated Press 7/11/03

Some workers will get overtime; many won't

The Miami Herald 7/14/03

More Bush doublespeak on Africa

KEEP PROMISES ON AIDS--President Bush should follow up on his pledge to fully fund the administration's anti-AIDS initiative, union and AIDS activists said. While Bush was traveling in Africa, promising to be a strong partner in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Republicans on the House Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee approved $1.43 billion for the AIDS initiative for the 2004 budget year starting Oct. 1--$600 million less than the White House had requested and less than half originally called for in the legislation. Another spending bill on the House floor would add $644 million, bringing the total to just over $2 billion.

Mainstream media acknowledges union benefits

 Membership has its mortgage privileges

The LA Times 7/13/03