• Don't Forget AFT Members Still Struggling after the Hurricanes
• Lagging Drug Plan Enrollment Cause for Concern
• Did You Know?
• AFT To Press for Minimum Wage Increase
• AFL-CIO Extends Labor Affiliation to NEA Locals
• Health Savings Accounts Offer Too Many Options, Too Little Information, Says NYT
• Employers Expect 8 Percent Hike in Health Costs in 2006
• As Income Inequality Grows, Union Advantage Increases
• Know Your Enemies: Center for Union Facts
• Save with AFT Subscription Services
• Quote of Note
• Web site of the Week: http://www.unionplus.org/credit-counseling.cfm

DON'T FORGET AFT MEMBERS STILL STRUGGLING
AFTER THE HURRICANES
"On behalf of my husband, sons, mother and myself, I would like to thank you and all the AFT members for your most generous gift of $500. As you are aware, help has been slow in coming. Our house and my mother's are still the same as they were five months ago. We, like thousands of others, are still playing the waiting game with insurance adjusters and contractors. Your most unexpected gift brought tears to our eyes. We pretty much have been feeling like we were forgotten, and it touched our hearts that you all have reached out to so many of us."

"Thanks for your kind donation of $500. We will use it to pay the taxes on our home that is no longer there. We will never forget Dec. 28 as the day my union stood behind us."

When the hoopla of Mardi Gras is over, New Orleanians and others along the storm- and flood-ravaged Gulf Coast will still face huge problems. These are just two of the thousands of experiences AFT members there have had to endure in the aftermath of last summer's hurricanes. Although total contributions to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund are nearing $1.1 million, more than 10,000 union sisters and brothers have applied for assistance. The total obligation to the members who have applied for a disaster relief grant is $5 million, and the fund has already processed 7,700 checks. You, personally, can make the difference in people's lives. To make your tax-deductible donation online, go to http://www.aft.org/katrina.

LAGGING DRUG PLAN ENROLLMENT CAUSE FOR CONCERN
In recent weeks, President Bush has been trumpeting new numbers that show 5.4 million people have signed up for the new Medicare drug benefit over the past three months. The number of enrollees, however, represents only a quarter of the 22 million people eligible for voluntary enrollment, and is far short of the administration's projected enrollment numbers. Currently, 250,000 to 400,000 people are joining a Part D plan each week. To reach the administration's goal of 28 million to 30 million enrollees by May 15, 1 million new participants are required weekly. That may be a difficult goal to reach with 45 percent of seniors saying they have an unfavorable view of the drug plan, compared to 23 percent who say they view it favorably, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll. When told that most beneficiaries have a choice of at least 40 drug plans, two-thirds of seniors said the number of choices make the drug benefit "confusing and difficult to pick the best plan," the poll finds. About 14 percent of seniors said they have used the Medicare Web site to compare drug plans, either by themselves or with help from a family member or friend. Fewer than three in 10 seniors say they have ever gone online for any purpose. About 14 percent of seniors said they have called the government's toll-free phone line for assistance with the drug benefit, and an additional 6 percent have had a friend or relative call on their behalf, according to the poll. Nearly two-thirds of seniors said they trust a physician or pharmacist a lot to help them understand the drug benefit.

DID YOU KNOW?
According to a recent report by the Institute for America's Future and the Center for Economic and Policy Research, if Medicare were allowed to negotiate drug prices directly with the pharmaceutical industry, and if Medicare offered the drug benefit directly rather than through private insurers, the combined savings would be more than $600 billion from 2006 to 2013. Instead, the current structure of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act will add more than $800 billion to the cost of prescription drugs over the next 10 years.

AFT TO PRESS FOR MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE
The AFT will join other labor organizations to press for an increase in the minimum wage this year, and will raise the issue with elected officials in the next phase of the union's Activists for Congressional Education (ACE) program. An AFL-CIO poll shows that 84 percent of Americans believe Congress and the Bush administration should make raising the minimum wage a priority. Yet, both have fallen short. In the Senate, S. 1062, which would raise the minimum wage to $7.25/hour, was rejected twice last year. The companion measure in the House of Representatives, H.R. 2429, has never had a hearing or a vote. At a Feb. 16 budget hearing before the House Appropriations Committee, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao said, "it's not my role" to encourage Congress to act on the minimum wage. Meanwhile, the Economic Policy Institute reports that the real value of the minimum wage has fallen significantly, as minimum-wage workers earned only 32 percent of the average hourly wage in 2005. The AFT's ACE program, which connects members with their representatives and senators through personal visits and contacts, will turn up the heat on the minimum wage during meetings through March and April.

AFL-CIO EXTENDS LABOR AFFILIATION TO
NEA LOCALS
The AFL-CIO has granted NEA locals the ability to affiliate with the labor federation through its central labor councils and state federations. The AFL-CIO/NEA Labor Solidarity Partnership, crafted in consultation with the AFT, establishes a procedure enabling NEA locals to apply, through the NEA, for affiliation with the AFL-CIO at the local, state and national levels. "This new partnership has the potential to strengthen the local labor movement and to help union members work together in addressing their concerns," said AFT president Edward J. McElroy in a message to AFT vice presidents and state federation leaders last week. This partnership, however, is for NEA locals, he noted, and does not mean that the national NEA is affiliating with the national AFL-CIO. Both will remain independent organizations. The AFT has been working with the AFL-CIO throughout this process and has discussed the proposed partnership at meetings with AFT state federation leaders and executive council members over the past several months. The AFL-CIO executive council approved the partnership Feb. 27 at its winter meeting. The NEA board of directors okayed the agreement earlier this month.

HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS OFFER TOO MANY OPTIONS, TOO LITTLE INFORMATION, SAYS NYT
The New York Times on Feb. 18 examined how U.S. consumers might be pushed to take more control of their healthcare spending through the expansion of health savings accounts and consumer-driven healthcare and how they might face problems in managing the money. President Bush touted just such an approach in his recent State of the Union message. According to the Times, the idea of a consumer-driven health plan is daunting because most Americans have found it so difficult to navigate the present system. In addition, the basic problem with consumer-driven healthcare is a lack of consumer information. Consumers currently only have access to healthcare price information provided by their health insurers and doctors. Several health insurers, such as Aetna, have launched Web sites to explain some healthcare costs to consumers, but those sites exclude necessary information on prescription drug prices.

EMPLOYERS EXPECT 8 PERCENT HIKE IN HEALTH COSTS IN 2006
Employers expect healthcare benefit costs to increase by a median 8 percent in 2006, the same increase as in 2005, according to survey results by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the National Business Group on Health. Although healthcare cost increases have declined steadily since 2002, U.S. per capita spending on healthcare remains twice that of many other industrialized countries. In addition, the increase in health benefits costs continues to outpace the rate of growth in wages and other business costs. According to the survey, nearly one-third of employers (32 percent) said that in the next one to two years they will start encouraging workers to use healthcare services wisely, while slightly less (30 percent) said they plan to increase accountability of employees to manage their own health. About 25 percent of employers plan to focus on ways to improve their workers' health. Nearly half of employers (47 percent) are currently auditing or reviewing who is eligible and who enrolls in their healthcare plans, or plan to begin doing so this year. Forty-two percent said they would absorb cost increases rather than pass additional costs on to workers.

AS INCOME INEQUALITY GROWS, UNION ADVANTAGE INCREASES
A report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute reveals that income inequality has increased since the 1980s. According to the report, the biggest cause of this growing income inequality has been the decline in wages for the 70 percent of workers who do not have a college degree. One of the main reasons for declining wages is the weakening of unions and the lack of effective labor laws to protect workers seeking to form unions. In fact, of the 10 states with the greatest income inequality, seven were states in the bottom half of union density, and six were right-to-work states. In 2005, according to the BLS, union members had median weekly earnings of $801, compared to $622 for nonunion workers, a 29 percent difference. A separate report released by the Center for American Progress shows the union advantage is even greater for Hispanic workers. The median weekly wage for Hispanic union members was $679 versus $428 for nonunion workers, a 59 percent advantage. Mexican-American women union members earn 70 percent more than their nonunion counterparts. BLS figures also showed that union membership rose by 213,000 in 2005, to 15.7 million members.

KNOW YOUR ENEMIES: CENTER FOR UNION FACTS
A new business-backed group is mounting a highly visible attack against organized labor, just as unions are trying to pick themselves up after suffering a schism. The group, the Center for Union Facts, ran full-page advertisements in national newspapers in February and started a Web site, asserting that many unions are corrupt and have hurt airlines, steelmakers and automakers. Richard Berman, a longtime lobbyist for the restaurant and beverage industry, is executive director of the Center for Union Facts. Berman said various companies and a foundation had contributed to his nonprofit group, but he refused to identify them. He said he hoped to spend more than $5 million a year on the campaign. Berman has faced criticism in recent years for arguing that drinking a lot of soda does not contribute to diabetes, that obesity is not a problem, for fighting Mothers Against Drunk Driving and for arguing against the minimum wage. AFL-CIO officials said the organization of state Chambers of Commerce had pledged several million dollars to back Berman's effort. Berman said his center hoped to help enact a Republican-backed bill that would prohibit unions from organizing workers through card check.

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QUOTE OF NOTE 
"Seniors are already angry about the drug benefit, and now they're saying we should increase premiums for [seniors with] higher incomes? I can't quite figure out why they are going to make us jump off this cliff."

Senior Senate Republican Aide
Feb. 8, 2006

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: http://www.unionplus.org/credit-counseling.cfm
The new bankruptcy law makes it tougher to dig out of a financial hole. Before you or anyone in your family needs help, check this helpful Web site sponsored by the AFL-CIO's Union Plus Credit Counseling program in conjunction with Money Management International (MMI).