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>As you may or may not know, June is LGBT Pride Month (not to be confused with LGBT History Month, which is in October). As the President has “proclaimed” it so, there has been an upswing of activism, remembrance of the Stonewall Riots and heroes like Harvey Milk, and increased media coverage of the debate about marriage for same-sex couples.

But what does LGBT right have to do workers? Why does labor celebrate Pride Month?

Labor’s mission is to give workers a voice in their place of business, a collective voice that is stronger than the sum of its individual parts in order to level the playing field between workers and management. We can negotiate pay and benefits, increase safety in the work place, ensure job security, and protect one another from unfair treatment. Protecting one another from unfair treatment is the particular tie that binds Labor to the LGBT movement.

Labor has always been involved in making sure that those who are discriminated against in our society are protected in their workplace. Protected from harassment, protected from unfair firings because of who they are, and guaranteed the same rights and benefits as those around them.

This was true in the Jim Crow South, where minorities were often the first to sign on to unions. This has always been true of women in the workplace.

And it is true of LGBT individuals. Unions push for partner benefits, for anti-discrimination language in contracts, for equal opportunity in the workplace. We lobby for legislation such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Action, which would ban discrimination in the workplace places upon sexual orientation or gender identity/gender expression. Because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s about: protecting one another. We raise our collective voice when our work schedules are too overbearing, when we have to decide between wages and health care benefits, when our job security is threatened–and when our co-workers are treated unfairly, for any reason.

This need for justice extends beyond the walls of the grocery store or the meat packing plant. This is why unions representing over 10 million workers have voiced their support for marriage equality. This is why unions donated more than $2 million in the fight against prop. 8 in California.

This is why we share this fight, and this is why LGBT Pride Month is important to us.

>It’s time to draw attention to the vast majority of women who get overlooked in the discussion about working women. Women who work as caregivers, night- shift workers, housecleaners, etc need to be recognized just as much as their high-powered, professional peers.

The American Prospect is doing a five-article series on working women, specifically bringing to people’s attention the women who don’t have the option to “opt out” of work.

Most families can no longer afford the cost of living without the woman of the household bringing in a steady income. Families are relying now, more then ever, on women bringing home a paycheck. As author Ann Friedman says, “The recession is an opportune moment to refocus that narrative about women and work on the majority of women who work- those who don’t have multiple degrees or high- power careers.”

All working people should read this article and the others in the series, which helps shine light on the truth about working women.

>Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) wrote an op-ed in the Boston Globe which was published in yesterday’s paper, and today the talking heads have been doing their thing: speculating and making it sound like they have information no one else does.

Instead of looking at the spin, let’s look the words from the lion’s mouth and then look at what we here at the UFCW have said.

Kennedy outlines five major elements that are included in his health care plan:

* A choice in health insurance for every American, including a public health insurance option.
* Cost reduction.
* Emphasis on preventative care.
* Home-care of the elderly and those with disabilities.
* Investment in training doctors and nurses.

The choice of a new public health insurance plan is a guaranteed backup that will always be there to ensure quality, affordable health care coverage no matter what. We applaud Senator Kennedy on making this a priority in the legislation he is putting before the Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions, which the Senator chairs.

On cost prevention, the Senator stated:

“We’ll go after fraud and abuse, cut red tape, and make sure that doctors and patients know of the latest, most effective therapies for their conditions.”

Remember a few weeks ago when the health care establishment said it could cut $2 trillion off the cost of health care in 10 years? Well a few days later they took it back. Senator Kennedy’s proposal might actually hold these groups accountable.

“The best way to treat a disease is to prevent it from ever striking. We’ll promote early screening for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and depression.”

My grandmother, a font of New England wisdom much like the Senator, would give me the old “ounce of prevention” line when I didn’t want to brush my teeth as a kid. There is a lot of truth to that.

One program focusing on prevention is the CDC’s VERB campaign. VERB focused on getting “tweens” (what used to be call pre-teens) to be active to prevent childhood obesity and reduce risk to type-II diabetes, and by all measures has been successful.

These types of programs can reduce direct and indirect health care costs across the board.

Kennedy’s proposal is also great for some of the things that is does not include.

There is no mention of a “trigger” option, which had been floated in some circles. The trigger idea was that there would only be a public option if certain specific criteria were met, completely ignoring the fact that our health care system is already in crisis.

Also, Senator Kennedy didn’t mention anything about eliminitating the tax ememption of employer paid health care benefits, an idea that would do nothing to control the costs of health care while adding a huge burden to working Americans.