Health Care Vigil and Fast. Alyson Huber, Ami Bera Lend Their Support

By Robert Longer
Vice-President, CWA Local 9421

On October 19-20, 2009, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 9421 partnered with the Sacramento Central Labor Council (a coalition of 160,000 Union members in the greater Sacramento area), Health Care for America Now (HCAN), and Organizing For America (OFA) in a big event for health care reform: an overnight vigil, fast and phone bank in front of the Federal building in downtown Sacramento. The purpose of the event was to urge the Senate to pass a real—not watered-down—health care reform bill. Our message: any final health care reform bill must have a public option, must require every employer to participate and must not tax our benefits!

A rally and kickoff event was held at 5 p.m. on October 19th with guest speakers; about 70 people showed up. Elected officials Alberto Torrico, Assembly Majority Leader and Alyson Huber, Assemblymember (10th AD) both spoke, along with Sacramento City Councilmember Kevin McCarty. Also speaking was Sandy Adams with OFA and Bill Camp, executive secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council. The media was there to cover this too.

OFA had a huge 'health care stories' quilt on display and CWA Local 9421 had a giant insurance company puppet; both caught the attention of the media and commute traffic, as passers-by honked in support.

At 9pm, faith/religious leaders and about 40 people formed a circle; each and every person in the circle held a candle and shared their personal health care story, many of which were very moving. The media was again present to cover this.

After the vigil, a dozen committed to fasting stayed and camped out in front of the Federal building, sleeping on the sidewalk in chairs and sleeping bags throughout the cold and windy night. The media covered this too, along with conducting several interviews; Robert Longer, CWA Local 9421 Vice President was interviewed and also stayed the night and fasted too.

On the morning of Tuesday, October the 20th, the fasters/campers woke up to TV cameras at 4:30am; there were live broadcasts by several TV news stations. Then, at 6:00am, the 24-hour fast was broken and the dozen fasters were joined by a group of a dozen or so others, including Mariko Yamada, Assemblymember and Dr. Ami Bera, candidate for Congress in the 3rd congressional district; both spoke. Then Bill Camp, Executive Secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council passed bread around the circle; everyone broke bread to end the fast, as Reverend Dexter McNamara of the Interfaith Services Bureau eloquently spoke.

After the fast was broken, the two-dozen or so took out their cell phones and called Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to thank her for supporting the public option, but also urged her to ensure that every employer participates (pays or plays) and ensure that benefits must not be taxed.

All in all, this event was a huge success, and showed that a coalition of concerned individuals can make a difference.