Teamsters Applaud Fair Share Health Care Act as Victory for Working Families

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Teamsters Applaud Fair Share Health Care Act as Victory for Working Families

            Maryland General Assembly Overrides Gov. Ehrlich Veto

    WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Maryland General Assembly scored a
significant victory for working families by voting to override Governor Robert
Ehrlich's veto of the Fair Share Health Care Act.  By a margin of 30 to 17 in
the Senate and 88 to 50 in the House, this important measure now becomes law
without the Governor's signature.
    The Fair Share Health Care Act, passed last year by large majorities,
requires businesses in the state with more than 10,000 employees to dedicate
eight percent of their payroll costs to health care for their workers or
contribute an equal amount to a public health care fund.  The measure is
strongly opposed by Wal-Mart because it will force the company to cease its
practice of refusing to provide meaningful health insurance for its workers,
who often have to turn to public assistance for health care.
    "The Old Line State has drawn a new line in the sand for corporate
scofflaws like Wal-Mart," said Teamsters General President James Hoffa.  "This
victory will reverberate far beyond the State of Maryland, as it marks the
first step in the Teamsters' nationwide effort to enact Fair Share Health Care
legislation in every state."
    Dennis Taylor, Principal Officer of Joint Council 62 in Baltimore, echoed
the sentiment of more than 30,000 Maryland Teamsters. "Those legislators who
voted for the override today took a bold step for working families and against
corporate malfeasance," Taylor said. "It is only because Teamsters answered
the call to contact their Delegates and Senators that we were able to defeat
Wal-Mart's multi-million dollar lobbying machine."
    Enacting Fair Share Health Care legislation in state houses across the
nation tops the Teamsters' legislative agenda. "While we celebrate today's
victory, the Teamsters recognize that this is only the beginning of a
nationwide effort," Hoffa said. "We're going to bring our message to state
capitols from coast to coast -- Stop Wal-Mart welfare, enact Fair Share Health
Care!"

    Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million
hardworking men and women in the United States and Canada.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters

http://www.teamster.org
CONTACT:
Galen Munroe of the International Brotherhood
of Teamsters, +1-202-439-7427