I always say that we must evolve, or we will dissolve. In reference to climate change, this saying resonates particularly strong. After careful consideration of ample research on climate change and its effect on our current and future environment and our members lives and jobs, and consultation with TWU leaders, We sent a letter to all United States affiliates of the International Transport Federation (ITF) on July 26, 2010 in support of the work of the ITF Climate Change Working Group. The letter states that the TWU is a proud member of more than 60 ITF affiliates from around the world that supports Resolution 1 submitted to the 42nd Congress of the ITF.

In our letter we wrote that to protect our members and the planet we share, we must have the courage and vision to lead. Organized labor must join with other social movements in seizing the opportunity to make the changes climate science demands of our species. In short, we must evolve or dissolve.

We emphasized several major points in order to explain the TWU's support of Resolution 1. Read the summary below, or click here to download the complete letter sent to the ITF. Click here for Appendix B and here for Appendix A of the letter.

Summary of TWU's position on climate change:

1. Organized labor's survival requires, among other things, that we change as the world and the nature and the very definition of work change.
2. We must consider how we can address jobs affected by climate and technological changes.
3. The just demand for and inevitability of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction must be approached as an opportunity to re-tool and re-engineer the economy and secure just futures for our members and organized labor.
4. We must begin to act now to save our planet and our movement. Because union members moving coal and oil are unlikely to be affected for many years to come, we have the opportunity to carry out our duty to protect jobs by engineering robust "just transition" policies that maintain income and benefits for the workers who will be transitioning to safer and more sustainable work.
5. Cutting emissions by reducing the level of unsustainable and low-wage transport will lead to more unionized jobs in freight and passenger rail, also in public mass transit, even assuming there is a reduction in the tonnage of coal transported by rail.
6. As organized labor confronts a near fatal decline in labor market density and in popularity among communities of working people, this dictates a need to preserve and build partnerships with other social movements. The movement to protect the environment is probably the greatest emerging popular front, well aligned with the interests of transport.
7. The massive public investments in public transport required to address both climate change and people's need for accessible and affordable transport will only occur if we push our countries and our movement to adopt an aggressive and science-based approach to emission reductions.
8. Climate change is a reality we must face and plan for. To do otherwise is to acquiesce in our future destruction to preserve our present comfort.

Read the full letter that was sent to the ITF here.

Dear Congressional Member:

On behalf of the Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, and our over 250,000 active and retired members I am writing to you to express our strong opposition to the excise tax provision in the Patient Protection and Affordability Act of 2009. This tax amounts to a betrayal of the campaign promise made by President Barack Obama that alluded to our hard earned, collectively bargained, healthcare benefits would not be taxed under his healthcare reform plan. We now express our intention to oppose this bill if the excise tax is not eliminated from it.

Supporters of this tax claim that it is a tax on "Cadillac" healthcare plans held by wealthy bankers and business executives, but it's not. The reality is that the vast majority of plans considered "Cadillac" are comprehensive health plans held by middle class working Americans which includes union members who have foregone increases in their pay to have access to fuller healthcare benefits. A tax on these plans amounts directly to a tax on our members and sends the signal that this Congress and this President think it is acceptable to pay for healthcare reform on the backs of working Americans.

As it is currently written, an excise tax of 40% would be levied on insurance companies for health plans with annual premiums above $8,500 for individuals and $23,000 for families. This description is misleading because we all know that the costs of these taxes will be passed down to workers one way or another. Employers will probably cut the benefits that they offer to get their plans under the threshold. In any scenario, such a tax hurts workers, especially those with collectively bargained benefits or in high risk professions where more comprehensive benefits can mean the difference between a lifetime of health or a lifetime or suffering due to ailments caused by high risk jobs. Furthermore, we strongly believe that the threshold cannot be raised high enough to protect all workers from having their benefits taxed.

There is only one option: eliminate the excise tax from the bill. If the tax is not eliminated, we will be forced to oppose this bill.

The Transport Workers Union welcomes President Obama’s commitment to a 17% emission reduction on 2005 levels by 2020 announced on the eve of his trip to Copenhagen, Denmark for the United Nations Climate Change Conference.  The United States, with a population that is just 5 percent of the global total, is responsible for 30 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere.  The President’s commitment reflects his willingness for the U.S. to play its part in addressing the climate emergency.

We recognize that the President is concerned to connect the U.S. emissions reduction commitment based on domestic legislation passed by the House to what is now being considered in the Senate.  We urge the Senate to solidify the U.S. commitment and adopt the legislation introduced by Senators Kerry and Boxer.

However, we note that President Obama’s commitment of a 17% reduction on 2005 levels is 4% below 1990 levels.  While acknowledging the difficult challenges ahead, TWU considers it vital that we find ways to meet emission targets as dictated by science.  To that end, TWU joins the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in urging the U.S. to pursue, as aggressively as possible, a science-based emissions reduction scenario as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  That is a 25-40% reduction on 1990 levels by 2020 for developed countries.

TWU believes a science-based approach to emissions reductions is not only necessary to address environmental concerns, but it will be good for our economy and for working families.  A science-based target will generate a massive increase of green jobs in public mass transit, renewable energy, green manufacturing, energy-efficient construction and building retrofits, and will positively affect other sectors as well. The more ambitious the target, the stronger the political signal to private investors and innovators who wish to serve the green economy. With the U.S. suffering from the more than 10 % unemployment rate and declining living standards, we need to fulfill the promise of green jobs sooner, not later.

Additionally, TWU insists on full protections for workers negatively impacted by climate policies in accordance with the principle of just transition. Workers in energy intensive industries should not be asked to shoulder a disproportionate burden. The Administration has the power to make sure the transition to a low carbon economy is pursued in a way that is fair to workers and supportive of impacted communities.

Our nation stands at the threshold of a dramatic transformation toward a clean, green and sustainable economy. Ambitious reduction targets for 2020 and beyond can help drive this transformation, and we offer our support to the President in his efforts to bring about a fair and ambitious global agreement in Copenhagen and beyond.

  History is being made.  For forty years, the American Labor Movement has been losing the battle for meaningful and comprehensive healthcare reform.  But, today we are on the cusp of achieving our goal.  Within days, the House of Representatives will vote on The Affordable Health Care for America Act H.R. 3962, which merges and improves the three previous bills passed by the House Education & Labor, Energy & Commerce, and Ways & Means Committees.  H.R. 3962 meets President Obama’s criteria of expanding access to coverage, providing competition in the market, reigning in skyrocketing costs, and demanding accountability from the insurance industry. The unveiling of a bill that includes a national public plan option, an employer mandate to either “pay or play”, without placing a burden to carry the cost of comprehensive healthcare reform on middle class Americans is progressive and true reform.

  Specifically, the inclusion of a Public Plan Option is a key facet of the bill. And, the Public Plan Option component will finally introduce real competition into the insurance market.  Such competition will reign in skyrocketing costs, increase choice, steer quality improvements, and keep insurance companies honest. The employer responsibility provision serves to strengthen the new market dynamic by requiring employers to pay their fair share, or pay a penalty for their irresponsible behavior. These two key provisions, when enacted in conjunction with other market and delivery reforms, will strengthen our country even further by reducing the federal deficit by $30 billion over the next 10 years.

  Additionally, HR 3962’s progressive financing of healthcare reform is both sensible and responsible because only the wealthiest Americans are taxed, instead of financing reform of the backs of the middle class.

  TWU applauds Speaker Pelosi for releasing a healthcare reform bill that provides real relief for working families and builds a solid foundation for the future.  As the Senate and the House work towards moving the bills to a vote, we will continue to work with Members of Congress to retain the critical provisions included in “The Affordable Health Care for America Act” (H.R. 3962) and to bring long-overdue reform to our nation’s healthcare system.

For the past half century, organized labor has championed health insurance reform.  Today we are closer than ever before to enacting comprehensive reform to fix our nation’s failing healthcare system.  At this pivotal moment in the debate, as we move closer and closer to completion, we cannot sit back and rest.  We must keep the pressure on Congress to protect working families and put our country back on the road to prosperity.   They must hear from us – loudly and unequivocally – that we want reform and we want it now!

There are three key elements that we have to remind Congress aboutq regarding any healthcare reform for working American families:  We need #1.) a government-run Public Plan Option that provides competition with private insurance companies to keep them honest, #2.) an employer-mandate (“Pay or Play”) that requires employers to provide workers with health insurance or pay a penalty to fund the Public Plan.  And finally, #3.) absolutely no taxation of our union negotiated benefits.  These three key components ensure that healthcare reform is done in a responsible way that protects workers.
 
On Thursday November 5th, 2009 the TWU in Conjunction with all of the AFL-CIO affiliates is holding a National Sticker-Up and Call to Congress Day.  We want all TWU MEMBERS to mobilize and join in this effort across the country by wearing “healthcare reform band-aid stickers” and making calls to Congress demanding urgent action on healthcare reform. We must join the millions of our Brothers and Sisters across the country to show our solidarity with one another.  The stakes are too high and the cost of inaction is too great not to act now with unified voices. 

“Click to Call Congress” and tell your Senators and Representative that we need Healthcare Reform NOW! 

To participate in this national day of action and to order stickers in rolls of 100, please call the AFL-CIO at (202) 637-5042 or visit http://www.aflcio.org/shop.  Stickers are free of charge.

I look forward to participating with you on November 5th, 2009 and demanding urgent action from Congress on this historic opportunity. 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A time for change has come to Washington, DC.  ALL TWU MEMBERS MUST ACT NOW TO HELP CHANGE OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM!  On June 25th 2009, TWU joined with over 10,000 union, healthcare, and community activists on Capitol Hill to tell Congress that comprehensive healthcare reform can’t wait, and we demand reform now!  The time when insurance companies and pharmaceutical giants collecting billions of dollars every year capitalizing on inefficiencies and inequities in the healthcare system is coming to an end, but there is still much work to be done. Let me be clear, under no circumstance will we agree to taxing ANY healthcare benefit that we now receive.

Escalating healthcare costs are crushing families, business, and government budgets. Millions of Americans do not have health coverage, or have inadequate coverage. As Congress inches closer to producing final healthcare reform legislation before the August Congressional Recess, TWU must remain steadfast in our support for President Obama’s healthcare plan: (1) a “Pay or Play” mandate that requires employers to pay for healthcare or pay into a government fund, (2) a Public Plan Option that ensures universal healthcare, (3) a national Healthcare Exchange that fosters competition between public and private insurance plans, (4) expansion of Medicaid, and (5) insurance delivery system reforms that keep insurance companies honest. This plan reduces long-term growth of healthcare costs, protects families from bankruptcies, closes the health disparity among demographic groups, improves patient quality of care, and assures affordable quality health coverage for all Americans and it should be funded without taxing our present healthcare benefits.

As we continue to strongly support reforms to our nations’ broken healthcare system, we remain equally as vigilant in our opposition to leading this country in the wrong direction to achieve such a goal.  As you are all too aware, we have earned our health benefits after making countless concessions at the bargaining table.  TWU, in concert with other labor organizations, cannot stand by silently as members of Congress loudly champion the idea of taxing our employer-based health benefits as a means to finance reform off the backs of workers. Eliminating or capping the tax exclusion for employer-provided health insurance would lead employers to eliminate health coverage all together, drive up cost for employers who do provide coverage, and punish workers who bargained for their health benefits in good faith.  This type of proposal jeopardizes healthcare reform as a whole.

President Obama campaigned against eliminating the tax exclusion of health benefits, and as a result of our support, the Democratic Party won the White House and made substantial gains in Congress in the 2008 elections.  Democrats are in the majority because we - organized labor, the voters - help put them there.  I strongly encourage you to write letters to your elected officials in the House of Representatives and Senate to clearly state your opposition to this tax and to hold them accountable to their voters and their campaign pledge. I urge you to do so immediately.  The stakes are too high and the cost of inaction is too great not to act now with unified voices.

I strongly believe that organizations that want to survive and grow must be willing
and able to respond to change. We as a Union must be ready to adapt to new circumstances, and to make necessary changes to strengthen our organization and be wise enough to recognize what already works. This is why I implemented the Strategic Planning committee as part of my three-year plan in 2007. This March marked our combined fourth and fifth strategic planning retreat at the National Labor College in Silver Springs, Maryland.

The term may sound vague, but strategic planning covers a wide range of issues that affect all of us, and it has provided me with a succinct description of what our organization should look like once all plans are actualized. Twenty-seven local Presidents from across all divisions, international staff members and our dedicated and exceptional facilitator, attorney Mark Richard, participated in this March's retreat.

We collaborated on issues like how to monitor federal economic stimulus funding and transit authority recipients, member organizing techniques, providing information on green jobs and working towards the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, among others.

One Plan for the future is to work towards the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration bill, which just passed by the House in late May. I hope that our work on the FAA bill will help lead to its complete passage with our needs and ideas incorporated.

Over the last few years I've been pleased to see an increase in activism within our various sub-groups responsible for different areas of strategic planning. This teamwork has helped to identify areas that have required some major shifts within the union and to recommend successful ways to make necessary changes. As a result, we have accomplished over 82 percent of the recommended changes that came out of our previous sessions. I feel confident that our plans formed during the March session will have an equal or even better success rate.

Thank you to all participants who took the time to assess our organization in our internal planning sessions.

Based on the success of the last three years my plan is to continue our internal planning sessions twice a year and to add external strategic goals to our agenda in the next few months. External planning is necessary to deal with the rapidly changing global economy and its current impact on public and private sectors.

On the issue of change, you are currently viewing one of the most tangible forms of recent change. You may have noticed twu.org’s updated look (and hopefully you like it too). You will find this more usable and aesthetically pleasing site provides more current information, intriguing multimedia, and increased interactivity.

I am excited about the changes that will come from our most recent strategic planning session and look forward to continuing to work with members and officers from all locals to ensure a bright future for TWU.