Members launch campaign focused on Medicaid, Medicare

The AFT Healthcare Leadership Council gathered in Washington, D.C., in February to begin work on its agenda for the next two years. The council started with a national campaign, called "Some Cuts Don’t Heal," to fight the Bush administration’s effort to cut funding for Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The climate we are facing is the most challenging of our careers, Candice Owley, chair of the division’s program and policy council and an AFT vice president, told the group of more than 50 AFT Healthcare leaders.

"The stress of cuts to Medicare and Medi-caid and the growing number of uninsured will put tremendous pressure on healthcare facilities," said Owley. "It could possibly bankrupt our facilities."

In addition, workers’ rights have been weakened by the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that oversees collective bargaining and labor laws. And two states have taken away collective bargaining from their public employees, she noted.

"There is no sense that we are moving in the right direction. We have to be part of the movement that changes this," Owley said. "We must develop strategies to fight back."

The national campaign will take shape over the next year and focus on how the loss of funds to Medicaid and Medicare would affect the healthcare facilities where AFT Healthcare members work.

A successful campaign makes the connection between people’s lives and the issues they care about, said Jeanne Otersen, the director of public policy for the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) in New Jersey. Otersen talked about HPAE’s One Voice campaign and shared strategies and tactics it has used to bring the issues from the hospital floor to craft better contracts and create a political agenda.

One Voice tackled members’ own issues, such as mandatory overtime, pensions, safe needles, staffing and, most recently, public disclosure of staffing levels.

"You have to find creative ways to engage members of the community and legislators and have a willingness to step out on a limb," said Otersen.