Letters

Decision 2000: A Pair of Skunks?

There seems to be an assumed need by AFSCME to support one Presidential candidate at election time. If both choices were poor, and they were, why support either?

The editorial referred to "issues important to working families" and Gore’s "strongest working-family agenda seen in the American political arena in many years." Let’s look at that. Whose proposed income tax plan would have increased taxes most for the working class? Who supports the WTO and NAFTA?

This nation of ours became great when it had a strong working class. The question candidates need to answer is, "What are you planning to do to stop the erosion of the working class?" Until we do this, we will continue to see our jobs paying less and more jobs being exported.

If I get beat up and robbed on two occasions, I don’t need to stop and decide which one was the good guy and which the bad: They were both skunks.

— Ed Wilson
Local 330 (Council 28)
Ellensburg, Wash.

Election Reflection

Two years ago, when AFSCME had a leadership conference in Orlando, I learned to my dismay that Florida was not one of the year-2000 states "tar-geted" by the International or the AFL-CIO. We in Florida were not considered major players. Well, guess what? In the end, we were the only major player!

Since the election, residents of other states view us as the State of Confusion. I see us as Florida, State of Frustration. As a native Floridian, it’s difficult to hear outsiders malign the state I love so dearly.

As I write this letter, they’re auctioning off the Ryder truck that took the ballots to Tallahassee, hopefully to raise money for the exodus back to Texas. Hopefully, too, after all that has transpired, apathy won’t return and be given the Good Housekeeping seal.

Meanwhile, bear in mind the historical importance of a single vote:

In 1776, one vote gave America the English language instead of German.

In 1845, one brought Texas into the union.

In 1876, one made Rutherford B. Hayes President of the United States.

In 1923, one gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi party.

And in 1865, the last battle of the Civil War was fought in Florida. The Seminole Indian tribe has yet to surrender.

In Unity & Hope,

— Fran Neilsen, President
Local 3030 (Council 79)
Plant City, Fla.

A Helping Hand

I just read the January/February issue and wish to express my thanks to the union for making a donation to our nation’s children and homeless people. This act will serve us better than sending holiday cards to all of our members. Keep up the good works.

— Timothy Beckwith
OCSEA Local 4910
London, Ohio

Lady on "The Walk"

Major Shirley Coody (article, November/ December 2000) has made great "steps" for all women who work in corrections by not being afraid of "The Walk" here at Angola penitentiary.

Let me tell your readers how I came to know and work with Major Coody. When I studied criminal justice at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, I was required to read an article about Angola’s first woman on The Walk, Shirley Coody. I was so moved by her determination and courage that I decided to explore opportunities in corrections rather than policing or law, as I had planned. When I graduated, I became a corrections officer, quickly advanced to a professional-level job and landed a position at Angola. To my surprise and delight, I eventually teamed with Major Coody to prepare for the penitentiary’s first national re-accreditation.

We have worked together for the past five years, and Major Coody is a constant inspiration to me. She is highly respected by her both male and female co-workers, as well by the inmates. She is known to be fair and can be depended on in any situation. A wonderful humanitarian, she spearheads the prison’s United Way fundraising campaign and the special project known as Christmas Angels, which has provided toys for over 500 local children who would not have gotten presents for Christmas. Besides all that, she has single-handedly raised two remarkable daughters.

— Cathy Jett
Public Information Officer
Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola

Drained by Drug Prices

Thanks for your article on a Medicare prescription drug plan (January/ February). We really need it.

I am an AFSCME retiree, a widow in a no-win situation. I worked for 25 years, but since retirement — with no prescription drug coverage and with rising insurance costs and drug prices — I find myself having to get by on a low income. I have already given up my home and moved into a smaller one.

My health insurance costs more every year, and it does not even offer a drug benefit. I do receive a pension from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. But in spite of all the efforts of our AFSCME retiree chapter, the state General Assembly has not passed legislation to give us subsidized health insurance.

All this leaves me with nothing but hope and prayers that the federal government will do something about the situation that I — and many other seniors — find ourselves in.

— Dixie Gensler
Retiree Chapter 31
Decatur, Ill.

Now that George W. Bush has been elected President, I fear that he will leave it to the insurance companies to offer prescription drug coverage to seniors, rather than propose a reliable new benefit under Medicare. With their high administrative costs and profit margins, the insurance companies can only charge seniors more or offer less.

Being a member of a strong union such as District Council 37 means that my remarkable retiree prescription plan relieves me of some of the stress of high drug costs. Yet I know the anguish of those who, without coverage, have to pay exorbitant prices for prescriptions (for example, $100 for a drug that costs $50 in Canada).

My mother was one of those unfortunate persons with no coverage. After working all her life, she needed prescriptions totaling $200 a month — an amount she could not afford. Trying to manage alone, she might have had to choose between medicines and food. Luckily, she had me to pay the medical bills, which I did for many years before her passing.

Lots of seniors are in that same circumstance. So we need to fight for a prescription drug plan that meets the needs of all seniors: low-income and average-income, plus those of us who have good coverage and want to keep it. Al Gore had the right idea, and Congress should pass his Medicare drug plan.

— Norman O. Davis
Retirees Association of DC 37
New York City

‘Stopping Painful Injuries’

I was pleased to read, in the January/February PE, that OSHA has finally issued an ergonomic standard requiring employers to correct conditions that cause carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and other musculoskeletal disorders. As many AFSCME health and safety activists know, fitting the job to the person — not the person to the job — reduces workplace injuries and illnesses.

At the Library of Congress, AFSCME Local 2910 (LC Professional Guild) and AFSCME Local 2477 (LC Employees Union) actively participate in the library’s Workplace Ergonomics Program. It features many of the elements that OSHA included in its standard: identifying and reporting ergonomic hazards; employee involvement; training; and medical referrals for injured workers.

It is disgraceful that the Chamber of Commerce and other big business groups oppose this OSHA standard. And it is shameful that some elected officials — specifically, right-wing Republicans in the last Congress — have threatened to block it in the coming year.

Now that the election is over, AFSCME and the entire labor movement will have to redouble our efforts to defend the OSHA ergonomic standard and stop the painful injuries caused by repetitive strain and stress.

— Saul Schniderman, President
AFSCME Council 26
Capital Area Council of Federal Employees
Washington, D.C.

Love Those Locks

The recent article about the New York State Erie Canal (November/December 2000) really captured the spirit of our workforce.

Readers should know that once the boating season ends on the canal, the restoration and rebuilding work begins. That’s when workers get a chance to check the inner workings of each empty lock to check for wear and tear on the equipment, which often dates back to the early 1900s.

Each winter, Canal Corporation employees take apart and rebuild the direct-current transformers that power the locks during the season.

My worksite builds and rebuilds the giant floodgates that control the water level to allow boat transportation in this section of the canal system.

I’m sure your readers would like to see this aspect of the Erie Canal operation in a future issue of Public Employee.

Thanks again for a great story.

— Michael Taylor, President
CSEA Eastern Barge Canal Local 501
Pattersonville, N.Y.

TO OUR READERS

Public Employee welcomes letters. Please include your council/local affiliations. Send your comments to:

Public Employee magazine
1625 L Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-5687
or e-mail: pubaffairs@afscme.org