NH lawmakers focus on health care reform at Labor Day breakfast

(NECN: Lauren Collins, Manchester, NH) – Labor Day 2009, and the workers of New Hampshire find themselves in unprecedented distress. Governor John Lynch (D, NH) says it’s “arguably the worst economic downturn since the 1940s, with 50 thousand people unemployed.” The Granite State’s Commissioner of Employment Security, four months on the job, never imagined her office would process as many as 28-thousand claims each week. “Nor did I think in addition to the 13 local offices that have existed for a lot of years that we would open three new itinerant offices this year,” says Tara Reardon. But at the annual AFL-CIO Labor Day breakfast in Manchester, the topic of the day is health care reform. In this economic crisis, health care is the labor movement’s number one concern because, organizers say, the issue is inextricably linked to the economic stability that will get and keep people employed. “At every negotiations that we’ve had in years in the labor movement, has been about health care. At every business in the state, it’s about health care,” says ALF-CIO New Hampshire President Mark MacKenzie. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D, NH) agrees that “businesses can’t afford it. We can’t be competitive with the rest of the world with the health care system that we’ve got.” State senator Maggie Hassan dispels the naysayers, like the small group that gathered quietly outside the breakfast. She says critics are quick to exploit the fears of those in the midst of financial and medical crises. CLICK HERE to watch Sen. Hassan’s full speech “They are trying to convince people the pie isn’t big enough for all of us,” she says. “And what the labor movement knows better than anybody else, when we all demand equality and dignity for every person, the pie gets bigger.” Hassan predicts health care reform will reinvigorate the economy, renew global competitiveness, and further the core ideals of democracy, “because democracy is about human dignity.” Sen. Shaheen, joined at the breakfast by her democratic Washington colleagues, believes congress will pass health care reform this fall. Editors Note: NECN will have live coverage of the President’s health care address on Wednesday night, September 9, on NECN and NECN.com , and all day Wednesday, we’ll be taking a closer look at the health care debate. Alison King will be live on Capitol Hill, and we’ll be out throughout New England to get your thoughts and reaction to the speech. If you’d like to be part of our health care roundtable here at NECN Wednesday night, send an email to healthcare@www.necn.com with your name, town, age, phone number and a a sentence or two on where you stand in the health care reform issue. We’ll select a representative group from among those who apply.