Permit Secured for Statewide Rally of Injured and Disabled Workers On Thursday April 28, 2005 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM West Steps California State Capitol Statewide Mobilization Now Going Forward
PERMITS HAVE NOW BEEN secured for the west steps of the State Capital for the most important demonstration held of injured and disabled workers in the history of California. The rally will be held on the international day to commemorate workers injured and killed on the job and will include representatives from many injured workers organizations, unions and healthcare organizations from throughout California.
The rally will begin at 11:00 AM with music and statements from injured and disabled workers about the collapse of the Workers' Comp system. The new film by Christine Pietz "Almost Broken" www.almostbroken.com about the 12 year struggle of injured worker Larry Nign and the cover-up by the California State Fund is also being screened throughout the state with testimonies of injured workers at the screenings. Please contact us to find where the next screening will take place.
Under SB 899 passed last year, workers were limited to two years of temporary disability, forced to go to company doctors and have faced the elimination of rehabilitation and retraining.
The deregulation bill has also led to an explosive rise of rejections by the insurance industry of the health and compensation benefits to injured workers and their families. This has already to led to a number of workers committing suicide and the loss of homes, families and sanity.
It also comes as the government has now reported that the largest cause of bankruptcy in the United States is due to healthcare costs. The rally will also focus on the need to implement a single payer system in the California that will eliminate the insurance companies in the use of healthcare in California. The coalition believes that the present employment based healthcare system is no longer a tolerable means of delivering healthcare to the people of California.
The coalition was also recently successful in bringing the resignation of the Dianne Oki, the president of the State Fund of California. Ms. Oki had been charged with covering up the case of Larry Nign and other injured workers whose medical claims have been rejected despite inconvertible evidence that they were entitled to healthcare and compensation.
The deregulation of the industry is now leading to the elimination of any checks and balances and the failure of the insurance industry to regulate itself is now being exposed as a scandal as more and more cases come to the fore.
For Further Information On The Rally: Contact In San Francisco California Coalition For Workers' Memorial Day 415-867-0628 www.workersmemorialday.com California Injured Workers Coalition 415-928-9343 samg at injuredworkerscoalition.com. In Los Angeles Christine Pietz 818-846-1632 cpietz at sbcglobal.net Southbay The Chelsie Group 408-347-0331 billmeyer at chelsiegroup.org Northbay Area Contact 707-332-9675 fightN4yourlife at aol.com Sacramento Area Contact Dina Padilla 916-725-2673 blndi26 at cs.com Chico Area 530-345-4354 wallyballin at bcglobal.net Santa Cruz/Monterey Area unmaid at pacific.net
Funds are also urgently needed please send checks to California Coalition For Workers' Memorial Day P.O. Box 720027 San Francisco 94172
Endorsers As Of 2/25/2005 This rally is endorsed by: San Francisco Labor Council, North Bay Labor Council, South Bay Labor Council, California Injured Workers Coalition, Inc., UTLA-AFT1021, IUOE Local 39 Stationary Engineers, UAPD/AFSCME, NALC 214, CWA local 9423,CWA 9410, KPFA Labor Collective, The Chelsie Group, Labor Action Coalition (LAC), Million Worker March Committee, Labor Video Project, FACE Intel, Dr. June Fisher, Dr. Larry Rose, Victims of UPS/Red Thursday Committee, Pushing Limits (KPFA's radio show on disabled), Jerome Otis; Pres. N. Cal Chapter Teamsters National Black Caucus, Mary Ann Ring; V. P. N. Cal. CUE, Ray Quan; V.P. SEIU790 BART Chapt.ATU1555, Healthcare For All, SEIU535 Workers With Disabilities Caucus, Butte County Health Care Coalition, UA Plumber Local 393, Santa Cruz WILPF, Sign & Display Local Union 510, Independent Living Resouce Center San Francisco, Bricklayers and Allied Trades Local 3, SEIU 790. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>