One on One with...
Region 9 Director Geri Ochocinska
Some companies are trying to get out of health care obligations to retirees, millions of working Americans don’t have health care, and prescription costs are soaring. What can we do?
Although the momentum for health care reform has lost some steam, I believe the only way we can solve these problems, in the long run, is to enact a national single-payer health care insurance plan that covers everybody. In the short term, we need to make sure contracts we negotiate protect retirees by clearly defining that health care is a lifetime benefit, that there are ongoing state and federal social programs that provide benefits to the non-insured, and that we are vocal at every opportunity over the outrageous rise in prescription drug costs.
Some people believe prospects for organizing new union members are not good, given globalization and the anti-union Bush administration. Does labor need to look at new strategies?
We always need to be open to trying new strategies. It is pretty hard to organize workers when the company is whispering in their ears that if they vote for the union, the plant will close or move. The law that was supposed to protect the right to organize has been so perverted that it is now a tool for unethical businesses to prolong the process and demoralize workers. As the manufacturing sector shrinks, we also need to look at other segments of the economy that have not been traditional organizing targets in the past.
Given the results of the last presidential election, what do unions and our friends and allies need to do these next four years?
We need to be able to communicate with our members and allies very quickly and be able to take action immediately to thwart the administration’s efforts to cut needed social programs — Social Security is at the top of that list — and enact legislation and regulations that make it difficult for organized labor to represent workers.
You have said that not all tax cuts are good for working families or the country. Can you explain?
When tax cuts reduce or eliminate operating budgets for needed social programs and job retraining that assist the disadvantaged, it’s bad for our citizens and our country.
Could you comment on the state of collective bargaining in Region 9 for new locals as well as old?
We have been successful, but the cost of health care remains the biggest obstacle we face. Job security is also a major problem. Our role has changed to the extent that the union now must spend a lot of time working with companies to find ways to keep them competitive, thereby providing job security while continuing to maintain the best possible benefits and wages for the membership.
