Thursday, May 22 is Health Care ...( Reform organizations and unions s...),Health

Reform organizations and unions set for action in support of health care for all!

Telecom workers oppose corporate agenda to shift burden of health care costs to employees

BOSTON, May 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Telephone employees will spearhead a day of action across Massachusetts on Thursday, May 22 to protest efforts by Verizon and many other employers to force workers to pay more for their health insurance premiums or increase co-pays and deductibles.

The workers -- with support from the Jobs with Justice Health Care Action Committee -- will rally for reforms so that working families have secure, affordable health care coverage, even if they get laid-off, change jobs or work part time. Verizon workers in Massachusetts are united in the IBEW and CWA.

Events will be held in the following 17 cities and towns in Massachusetts: Boston, Woburn, Braintree, Weymouth, Dedham, Dorchester, Watertown, Andover, Methuen, Lawrence, Lynn, Danvers, Lowell, Brockton, Marlboro, Boylston and Springfield.

Details about specific event times and locations can be found on the Jobs with Justice website: http://www.massjwj.net/node/2328

Each event will feature a short presentation about how best to solve the problem of rising health care costs. Workers will hold signs and pass out an educational leaflet to the public. Throughout the day union members will wear stickers on the job calling for "No Cuts in Our Benefits. Let's Fight for Health Care for All!"

"Shifting premium costs and raising co-pays and deductibles for employees is not a solution," said Russ Davis, director of Jobs with Justice. "It won't hold down skyrocketing health care costs or improve the quality of care. It only lets employers avoid their responsibility to work for real solutions."

"We need a 'Medicare for All' reform that would improve and expand our national Medicare program to cover everyo
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