Petition: Health Insurance for 69,500 Uninsured Mainers? Yes, please!

Jennifer Lunden, whom Ability Maine interviewed last year, is up to her healthcare activist ways again. She has written a petition on MoveOn.org to try to secure health insurance for the almost 70,000 uninsured Mainers. Her letter about this is below:

Here we are at a critical time, with a second chance to bring federal funds to Maine so that low-income Mainers can benefit from the Affordable Care Act just like every other Mainer. I've started a new petition to help bring our message to Governor LePage and our legislators. Will you take a moment to sign it now? Health Insurance for 69,500 Uninsured Mainers? Yes, please!
You can also make a big difference by contacting your legislators, particularly if they are Republican. You can easily look them up here: Voter Information Lookup. Let them know why you want to bring those federal funds to Maine.
Thank you for everything you're doing to bring healthcare to all Mainers.
Onward!
Lunden
P.S. Please help this petition grow by emailing it to friends and posting it on Facebook.

Ability Maine encourages you to support this petition! You can start by signing it here. 

Gov. LePage and House Republicans Tell 69,500 Low-Income Mainers: No Health Insurance Yet

Below is the text of an email from Jennifer Lunden, Maine healthcare activist, writer, and social worker, whom we recently profiled. She played a very active role in the "Cover Maine Now" campaign and is reporting on the most recent developments and what you can do to affect the future outcome of the situation.

From: Jennifer Lunden LCSW, LADC, CCS

Dear Everyone:

You may have already heard the terrible news. The Maine House was not able to get the two thirds majority needed to override Governor LePage's veto of LD 1066, the act to bring federally funded health insurance to 69,500 low-income Mainers. The vote went strictly down party lines. I believe we were just two votes short. It was a valiant effort by our state's Democrats; and by Cover Maine Now--a coalition that includes many organizations, including my agency, the Center for Creative Healing; and by people like you. 

On Wednesday, 45 Mainers dropped everything on a day's notice and lined the halls all the way from the House chambers to the Senate, holding signs saying "Cover Maine Now," and handing out placards quoting testimony from people all over the state. But in the end, all of our efforts weren't enough to convince Republicans to break rank from our embarrassment of a governor, who made national news for his latest blunder. (Here's Rachel Maddow's hilarious take on our not so hilarious situation here in the state of Maine.)

So. What now?

The good news is that the campaign to bring federal funds to Maine is not over. From Cover Maine Now: 

"Although approximately 25,000 low-income Mainers may lose their health care coverage and 45,000 will remain uninsured as of January 1, 2014, we can limit the harm by urging our elected representatives to enact legislation that would accept the funds next year. This is why we need to continue our fight and we need to reach out to our lawmakers to hold them accountable for their final votes following the Governor’s veto."  

It is important to raise awareness about the vote and to encourage people to share their views with legislators. Please use social networking to do this, and consider sending a letter to the editor.

And from Cover Maine Now, here's another idea:

Please thank your Representative if he/she voted to cover more Mainers through MaineCare, or tell your Representative you’re disappointed in his/her vote against LD 1066. 

First – Look up your Representative. Enter your town and residential address and click submit. Then, click on the Elected Officials tab and write down the e-mail addresses of your State Representative (under Maine House of Representatives).

Next - Check how he or she voted on the LD 1066 override.

Then – Copy and paste the e-mail below into a new e-mail message, fill in your legislator’s name and add in your name and contact information… then, send it along to your legislator!

Finally – Spread the word to keep our fight alive. Send this message along to a few friends and encourage them to take action as well.

Thank you!

Send the following message to those who voted YES on LD 1066:

Dear [Your Representative],

Thank you very much for supporting LD 1066, legislation to accept federal funds to provide health care to nearly 70,000 Mainers who need it.  I am disappointed that LD 1066 did not succeed, but I hope that you will continue to advocate for accepting federal funds to expand access to health care.  Every day that we forgo these funds is a day that uninsured Mainers face the possibility of a financially ruinous medical crisis. 

Not only is accepting federal funds the right thing to do for our friends and neighbors, it will help support the Maine economy and our hospitals.  By accepting the federal funds and providing health care coverage through our state Medicaid program, Maine can reduce overall health care costs and save millions of taxpayer dollars being spent treating uninsured people in emergency rooms.  

I hope you will keep working to bring these funds to Maine.  I want our state to have a healthier workforce and a more competitive economy.   

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Town/City]

Send the following message to those who voted NO on LD 1066:

Dear [Your Representative],

I was very disappointed to hear that you did not support the final vote on LD 1066, legislation to accept federal funds to provide health care to nearly 70,000 Mainers who need it.  Maine people have worked hard to provide for themselves and their families and deserve the opportunity to stay healthy. Every day that we forgo these funds is a day that uninsured Mainers face the possibility of a financially ruinous medical crisis. 

LD 1066 represented a compromise among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents that would have brought generous federal funding to Maine beginning January 1, 2014.  A large majority of Mainers support accepting federal funds to increase access to Medicaid coverage.  Accepting these funds would have saved lives, created more than $350 million in economic activity, created 3,100 jobs and prevented potential tax penalties for large employers.

I hope you will reconsider your position on this issue in the coming months.  Maine needs to focus on policies that will create a healthier workforce, boost our economy, reduce societal costs and keep our state economically competitive.  Accepting federal funds would do just that. 

Sincerely,
[Your Name] 
[Your Address]
[Town/City]

And finally, I want to say a special thank you to Republican Senators Roger Katz, Patrick Flood, and Tom Saviello, for breaking rank with their party and expressing their support for LD 1066. It is regretful the bill never made it back to the Senate, where they could have continued to stand up and represent the vast majority of Mainers who want healthcare justice in Maine.

We will continue to fight.

Onward!


Lunden

Jennifer Lunden on Writing, MCS, Maine Healthcare Activism, and Human Connection

Waking People up and Connecting with All Living Things

Interview with Jennifer Lunden, Maine Healthcare Activist and Award-Winning Writer and Social Worker

By Sharon Wachsler

Interviewing Jennifer Lunden (known to her friends as “Lunden”) has been on my list of things to do for a year. I first got the idea when her essay, which touched on her life with MCS, was published in the literary journal Creative Nonfiction. But before I managed to approach her, the piece had won the Pushcart Prize and Lunden had been named Maine Social Worker of the Year! 

There was always more to ask: during the weeks that we’ve corresponded, conducting this interview, Lunden has been leading the charge in crucial statewide health care activism. In fact, we both wanted to get this piece published this weekend because a year’s worth of her healthcare activism in Maine is coming down to the wire right now. And while Lunden certainly values words and writing, they seem to be most meaningful to her when they empower people to act!

~ ~ ~

Where are you from, and where do you live now?

I was born on the army base in San Antonio, Texas, during the Vietnam War. When I was six, we moved to Peterborough, Ontario, in Canada. In 1989, at the age of 20, I moved to Portland, Maine, and I have been living here ever since. In Canada, where they have universal healthcare, I was healthy. I fell ill within months of moving to the US, where I was uninsured.

How did your being uninsured affect your experience of becoming ill—getting diagnosed, treated, or other aspects of your life?

That is such a great question, Sharon. First of all, as someone who was raised in Canada, the first time I went to the doctor’s here it just felt wrong that I had to hand over a check after the appointment. I’d never had to do that before. And here I was too sick to work, and somehow I needed to find a way to pay a doctor to help me get better. Talk about a Catch-22!

Eventually, I learned I could go to the hospital and apply for a “green card” and get free services at their clinic. Whenever I went to the clinic, it was a long wait and a different doctor every time.

Since those doctors proved incapable of helping me with my chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), I soon turned to alternative treatments. But I was limited in what I could do, because I was so poor.

Eventually, when I went back to school, I used student loans to help pay for my medical care.

How did you become chemically injured?

Everything started with a case of mononucleosis that turned into CFS. Over time, as the fatigue gradually abated, the chemical sensitivity and food allergies got worse and worse. I can’t with certainty pinpoint a specific incident of chemical injury. But I have for a long time suspected that the flea sprays that I used to treat my cats and my apartment—when my immune system was already severely compromised by CFS—triggered the chemical sensitivity. Pesticides are neurotoxins. It is not a great leap of logic to suspect that they damaged my brain.

Your essay, “The Butterfly Effect,” was published in the esteemed literary journal, Creative Nonfiction, in the winter of 2011. Most of the piece was about monarch butterflies—their transition from caterpillar to butterfly, their migration, and their dwindling numbers due to habitat destruction, climate change, and other environmental damage caused by humans. However, woven throughout the essay are tidbits about how your multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) affected your pilgrimage to study and experience the monarchs and their migration. 

When did you get the idea for this piece? How long did it take you to write it?

In early winter 2007, I was thinking about my predisposition toward seasonal affective disorder, and how much it helps to go someplace warm and sunny in the middle of winter, and I started to fantasize about a trip to California. I decided to take a storytelling workshop at the Esalen Institute. And then, as I began dreaming of California, it dawned on me that I could realize a lifelong dream and go and see the monarchs that migrate to various sites there. And then I decided to write about the monarchs. When you tell people you are a writer working on a story, sometimes they grant you special privileges. In this case, I wanted to tag monarchs, something I’d dreamed of doing since I was a little girl.

I began researching online, and that is where I learned about Pacific Grove, aka Butterfly Town, USA, and the Butterfly Lady, aka Ro Vaccaro. When I listened to “A Woman’s Metamorphosis into ‘the Butterfly Lady’” on All Things Considered, I had to meet her! I wasn’t able to find online contact information for her, but I did find a friend of hers, who gave me her mailing address. She told me the Butterfly Lady was in a convalescent home and in very poor health, but that she would probably love to meet me. So I mailed her a letter. Unfortunately, she died two days before I was supposed to meet her.

Lunden in California, just an instant after a butterfly took flight from her fingers.

I always say my illness made me an environmentalist. I thought I could find a way to tie together my experience of MCS with the story of the declining monarchs. I’ve always loved immersion journalism, since first reading David Foster Wallace’s essays in Harper’s. So I decided I would write about my experience flying to California to see the monarchs while coping with MCS.

A wonderful side benefit is that the storytelling workshop changed my life. In that five-day workshop, I transformed from someone with a core belief that nobody wanted to hear what she had to say into a storyteller. I suppose you could call it a metamorphosis.

As for how long it took. . . Oh, God. I am a slow writer. It probably took me three-plus months of committed writing on weekends, every chance I could get. And then when it got accepted, there were more weekends devoted to rewrites.

As I was reading your piece I was remembering the fields of milkweed at the community garden where my father gardened when I was a kid. I didn’t know that milkweed was so essential to monarch butterflies nor that it was being eradicated by herbicides, development, and industrial farming. I tried to remember if I had any milkweed around my yard, and if not, I thought, “How can I get some and plant it?” And then the answer was in your essay: monarchwatch.org

sells milkweed seeds so people can make their yards “monarch waystations.” Were you hoping, by writing this piece, to move more people to help the monarchs?

To me, we and the monarchs—and all the creatures on this earth—are inextricably intertwined. John Muir, the naturalist who founded the Sierra Club, said, “When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world.” So when I wrote “The Butterfly Effect” I was just hoping to wake people up. I thought people might not want to hear about my illness, but who wouldn’t want to hear about the beautiful butterflies? I believed the beauty and lyricism of the butterflies would make my message more palatable. I wanted a way to get people to read to the end and get the message. So, yes, I do hope that more people will help the monarchs. Monarch waystations are something fun that people can do. But we also need to fight GMO farming. We need to do that for the monarchs and for ourselves. And we need to take a serious look at our dependence on chemicals. There are other alternatives that are more sustainable.

Not only was your essay published in Creative Nonfiction, but it won the Pushcart Prize and was published in the 2013 edition of the Pushcart anthology. That’s a very big honor and gives your essay an even wider readership. I’m wondering how the MCS aspect of your essay has been received. Have you heard from people who didn’t know about MCS or were skeptics who were affected by your piece?

I love this question, because just a few weeks ago my Google Alert let me know that someone had blogged about “The Butterfly Effect.” Here is how she starts her essay:

I have a confession to make. This will surprise some of you who know me, but I’m afraid this story forces me to admit it, as shameful as it may be, and as hard as I’ve worked in the past to leave this particular part of my personality behind: I’m a bigot. No, not against race or gender or ethnicity or religion or any of the usual factors; I’m prejudiced against people who say things like, “I have multiple chemical sensitivity.”

The author is Karen Carlson, and I appreciate her bravery, and her transformation. Carlson confesses that she feels a little shamed by my essay, and a little resistant, but determines to explore her own resistance:

A selfish and quite bratty reaction to the lack of sympathy I receive for my own sensitivities, both those diagnosed and those merely evident? Guilt over the multiple cleaning products in my kitchen and my dissatisfaction with the baking-soda-and-orange-peel solution to everything?

She admits she is ashamed of her attitude, and says that the essay carries an important message about what we are doing to our habitat. “The canaries, the butterflies, Lunden, are all warning signs.”

I was so happy when I read this blog. Carlson is doing exactly what I hope the readers of this essay will do. She is recalibrating her preconceptions and recognizing something important about what we are doing to our environment, and therefore to ourselves.

I came across that blog post when I was preparing for this interview, but I had a very different reaction to it. I thought the blogger harped on about how she wanted to be able to distinguish the truly sick from the whiners and fakers. My impression was that she judged you to be a sympathetic person with MCS because she was so captivated by your writing, but that she still views other people with MCS with disdain.

It’s interesting that we had such different responses to that post. When I started reading it, I had expected to come out thinking like you. I had expected to go on a journey of discovery and change with the author, so I was disappointed by her self-professed “brattiness.” I’d love to see your way, though. Care to try to convince me?

It’s interesting to me, Sharon, that we had such different experiences of this piece. I can’t deny the likelihood that because Carlson is directly praising my work it softens me toward her perspective. I can see the sentence that you perhaps find most objectionable. It is when she wonders if part of her defensive initial response to “The Butterfly Effect” is due to “overexposure to the special snowflakes of the world, which makes it difficult to distinguish between those with serious issues and those who use sensitivity as an excuse for everything from irresponsibility to rudeness.”

You see…. I likely just floated on by that statement because she was not including me among those “snowflakes.” As I look at this more closely, I am curious about her experiences with sensitive people, and particularly her experience of rudeness, and what does irresponsibility mean, exactly, in this context?

Yes, a lot of judgment there. But I know if I didn’t have this illness, I would be judgmental, too. I would think MCS is a psychological problem, not a physiological condition. All a writer could want from such a reader is a beginning of a transformation.

I suspect that Carlson will be more open-minded toward the next chemically sensitive person she meets—even if she is still triggered by “the special snowflakes of the world.” I find it intriguing that she alludes to her own sensitivities and the lack of sympathy she receives for them. It makes me think of the Jungian idea of the shadow self—the part that we have learned to hide because it’s not socially acceptable in our families or our culture. Of course, it’s not socially acceptable to be sick. We challenge people to face something about life that makes them uncomfortable. Our illnesses challenge us in the same way.

What effect have these honors had on you or your writing process?

I don’t know that it has changed my writing or my writing process, but it has bolstered my trust in my approach and in my competence as a writer. Also, now when I tell people I am a writer, I feel legit. That is pretty awesome. Getting this essay published, and to such accolades, was like my coming out ball as a writer. It has begun to open some doors, as well, which is nice.

  

This past year, 2012, was a very big year for you—not only did you receive one of the highest honors for a North American essayist, but in October of 2012 you were also named Maine’s 2012 Social Worker of the Year by the Maine Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. Can you tell me what you did to earn that award? 

When Governor Paul LePage and his Republican-dominated legislature wanted to strip MaineCare coverage from 65,000 low-income Mainers, I worried for my clients, and for all the people across the state whose lives would be impacted by these cuts. I emailed my legislators and told them my concerns, but that just didn’t feel like enough. I felt helpless.

One day, it dawned on me there was something more I could do. I decided to write a petition. I called it “Save Healthcare for Low-Income and Disabled Mainers,” and it grew slowly, and then it grew quickly. It was a little like playing the slots every time I hit the refresh button on my computer. People passed it around through email and Facebook, and three weeks later my petition had almost 10,000 signatures.

I hand delivered the petition—which was about four inches thick—to Representative Patrick Flood, who was the Chair of the Appropriations Committee. I had never before been to Augusta. Rep. Flood sat down with me for a few minutes and listened to my concerns.

There was a loud outcry against these cuts, in addition to my petition, and in the end, far fewer cuts were made. Another legislator, Rep. Jon Hinck, told me he had no doubt my petition made a difference.

I think we, the people, have let go of the reins of our democracy. We think we don’t have any power. But when we band together, we have great power. The way to take our country back is for each and every one of us to get involved in some way.

Since we started this interview you’ve taken on another activism project related to healthcare in Maine. This is an issue that you’re trying to get people to mobilize on now to contact their senators and representatives. What’s going on? What can people do to support the effort? And how did you get involved?

Well, Sharon, it’s all still part of the same project. Over 8,000 of those people who signed my petition to save MaineCare are still signed up to receive email updates from me. It’s a writer-activist’s dream! An audience of 8,000-plus! So because I have that audience, I feel a responsibility to keep people informed and to inspire them to act.

Even with Democratic majorities in Maine’s House and Senate, with our tight budget and our veto-happy governor, healthcare access in Maine continues to be at risk. Right now, LD 1066—which would accept federal money to provide health insurance to 69,500 low-income Mainers—just passed the House and the Senate. A similar bill was already vetoed by Governor LePage, and we may not have enough Republican support to get the two-thirds majority we would need to override the governor’s veto. So I am asking people to contact their legislators—especially if their legislators are Republicans—and tell them why it is so important to accept these federal funds.

People can find their legislators by clicking here. And they can find a sample email here at the Cover Maine Now website.

                                                                                 

Readers who would like to be kept apprised of developments related to healthcare access can still sign my petition—it’s not too late—which will get them on my mailing list. They can find it here. 

In your acceptance speech for the social work award, you encouraged others to contact legislators, write letters to the editor, run for office, and conduct other forms of advocacy. How does activism fit in with being a social worker?

It’s in the social worker Code of Ethics that we challenge social injustice. If all of us did that, I believe the world would be a better place. We have to hold legislators accountable. That means all of us. Not just social workers. Everyone. This is not a time to be complacent. Complacency is what has gotten us into this mess, and strong political action will get us out of it.

What gives you hope?

The Butterfly Lady—even now that she is deceased—gives me hope. When a monarch habitat was threatened, she rallied a town to vote for an increase in taxes so they could buy the property and turn it into a sanctuary.

Monarch waystations give me hope, and so do all the people who are fighting to make the world a better place.

And taking action gives me hope. I don’t want to stand helplessly by.

Where do you find meaning in your life?

At the height of my illness, I struggled terribly with depression. For years and years, I used to wake up in the morning and wonder what the point of it all was. What was the meaning of life? What was the point of getting up in the morning? I was looking for a big answer. But what I’ve found, since the depression has (long) abated, is that the meaning is in the small things.

The other morning in the car on my way to the park with my dog, Mabel, the song “White Lightning,” came on the radio. I used to be in a band that covered that song, and it felt familiar in an especially nostalgic way. So I sang along, and the way George Jones sings, “Whew! White lightning!” is just so silly, and it was so fun to sing along, suddenly I noticed that I was happy. Moments like that—small moments—give life its meaning.

When you get overwhelmed by the big things, by all the things that are going wrong, you have to reconnect to the small things, the things that make us human. Like many people, I was devastated by the shooting at Sandy Hook. One afternoon, as I was driving to a meeting feeling very dark about the world, I listened to a podcast of This American Life. In it, a young Somali woman was practicing her English so that she could go by herself into a coffee shop and order a cup of tea. An American woman was helping her. We hear her practicing nervously, we hear her go in and have to repeat her order, twice, and then we hear her celebrating her success with her American friend.

When I heard that story, something in me filled up again. Such a small story. But such a human story. That’s what it’s all about. It’s all about connection. Nothing else. Connection with ourselves, connection with others, connection with all living things, connection with All That Is.

URGENT: Call Legislators Today for Health Care for Low-Income Mainers

This urgent call to action is from Jennifer Lunden, healthcare activist, and Maine's 2012 Social Worker of the Year. Please make these calls TODAY, yes Sunday, to ensure that the 70,000 low income Mainers get health insurance this year. Information below from Lunden and Maine's chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

----

There is a NEW bill to bring those federal funds to 70,000 low-income Mainers, and it's going to vote on Monday. We are hoping this one will be less objectionable to Republicans, and we need you to call your legislators at home this weekend. Legislators expect to be called at home, and this is urgent. Please read the below, from Susan Lamb, the executive director of the Maine chapter of the National Association of Social Workers for more information.
And thanks for your help.
Lunden

 ---- 

THIS Monday the Maine House of Representatives will be voting on an important bill LD 1066, An Act To Increase Access to Health Coverage and Qualify Maine for Federal Funding. 

This bill will provide health care coverage to nearly 70,000 low income (at or near the Federal Poverty Level) Mainers who need it and all of the money for it is coming from the Federal government for the next three years. In years 4 through 10, 90% of the money is coming from the Federal government. 

If Maine FAILS to pass this bill, or the Governor vetoes it and the veto is not over-ridden by 2/3rd of the House and Senate, it means that OUR federal tax dollars will go towards paying for this expansion in the 47 states who have embraced it, and not our own. NASW Maine thinks that this is not so good for Maine Federal taxpayers, at any income level. 

The legislation would reduce overall health care costs, save millions of taxpayer dollars being spent treating uninsured people in emergency rooms and get hard working, low-income Maine families access to the life saving screenings and treatment that they need. 

Your Representative needs to hear from you about the importance of accepting the federal dollars that have already been set aside for our state to cover more Mainers through MaineCare. Please click here to contact your legislator about this important piece of legislation!

Here are further options: 

FIRST, call your legislators at home this weekend. Everyone is at home except possibly the House and Senate Leaders and the members of Appropriations, who are working on the budget. It will rain tomorrow in much of Maine, so that is a great time to “reach out”. 

Maine Legislators EXPECT to be called at home by their constituents, and unless a legislator is a personal friend of yours, stick to those who are YOUR Representatives, please. It is burn out season for them. 

Please also take a quick moment to call your Representative. First look up your Representative at http://www.maine.gov/portal/government/edemocracy/lookup_voter_info then call them at home this weekend to leave a message with your representative urging them to accept federal funds to provide health care to nearly 70,000 Mainers! 

Or, alternatively, on Monday morning, call them at their respective Party offices or at: 

(Deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired callers can reach the Maine Relay by dialing 711 or use online relay at i711.com.) 

1-800-423-2900 for the general mailbox. 

House Democratic Majority Office: 207 287-1430 

House Republican Minority Office: 207 287-144 

Be sure to state who you are, what town you are from and why you believe it's important to provide health care coverage to almost 70,000 Mainers. As always, remember that these folks run for an office that pays less than $22,000 over a two year period, so whatever you say, say it nicely (as I’m sure all social workers do).   

Thank you for taking this important step towards bringing health care coverage to the many hard-working Maine families that really need health insurance. Your call this weekend, or on Monday morning can save both lives and money. What a great idea! This must be why 47 states said “yes” to the offer. 

Best, 

Susan Lamb, 

Executive Director 

Maine Chapter, NASW

P.S.  Please click here to get the name and contact info for your legislator if you haven't already gotten in touch with them.

Tell Legislators to Support Health Insurance for Low-Income Mainers

As we reported a month ago, Gov. LePage and other Maine legislators are considering turning down federal funds that would allow more Mainers to have health insurance, as well as jobs in the healthcare industry.

Jennifer Lunden, a Maine activist, writer, and social worker whom we will be profiling soon here on Ability Maine, has sent out the following urgent plea to Mainers to pick up the phone and contact their legislators to demand this federal support to which we are entitled.

— Sharon Wachsler

I just got this message from Maine Equal Justice Partners. Believe it or not, Governor LePage and some legislators are still hedging on whether they will accept federal funds so that more low-income Mainers can be insured. This is really a no-brainer, and we need your help to boost our odds of winning this very important fight for healthcare justice. Please call your legislators ASAP, as this is going to vote tomorrow. The information below makes it easy.

If you don't remember your legislators' names, never fear, you can look them up right here: http://www.maine.gov/portal/government/edemocracy/lookup_voter_info

Now pick up the phone and call: Representatives: 1-800-423-2900

Senators:  1-800-423-6900

You can leave a message 24 hours-a-day.

When you call, state:
•    Your name
•    Town that you live in
•    The name of your legislator, and
•    A brief message. For example: "Please support LD 1546. It's good for the health of Maine people, for our hospitals and for our economy."

If you would like to talk with your legislator, be sure to leave your number and the best time for her/him to call you back.  Let's inundate them with messages!

Here's the alert in full, below. And thank you for all you do.

Lunden

We are asking you to please take ONLY 5 minutes of your time today and tomorrow and PLEASE CALL YOUR STATE SENATORS AND HOUSE MEMBERS SO THAT MANY MAINE PEOPLE CAN HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE. MAINECARE IS ALSO BETTER FOR OUR HOSPITALS AND OUR PHYSICIANS (AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO PRACTICE AND ACCEPT MAINECARE CLIENTS) AS IT IS BETTER THAN CHARITY CARE.
THANK YOU,
SUSAN LAMB, Executive Director
MAINE CHAPTER NASW

Call TODAY!
Tell legislators to
Accept Federal Funds for Health Care

Please act now!  It's fast and easy!      
This afternoon, the Maine Senate voted 20-15 in favor of LD 1546. This bill would allow Maine to accept federal funds to provide health insurance to adults with low income who otherwise can't afford it AND would pay off the State's debt to Maine hospitals.  A second vote will take place tomorrow in the Senate, and then the bill will be sent to the House for a vote.
The time to act is NOW!

Your legislators need to know that you want them to support LD 1546.

   The Legislature and the governor have a great opportunity right now:
•    to change lives,
•    to help families be more secure,
•    to stimulate our economy,
•    to reduce insurance costs for business owners,
•    to create jobs, and most importantly,
•    to save lives.
Your call is VERY important.  

Call your legislators and leave them a message TODAY, or TOMORROW!
Legislators need to know that, like the majority of Mainers (nearly 70%), you think accepting these funds is the smart thing to do. Just a few calls from constituents can make a difference on the outcome of this vote.

Please call the toll-free legislative answering service and leave a message for your legislators today!

Representatives: 1-800-423-2900

Senators:  1-800-423-6900

You can leave a message 24 hours-a-day.

When you call, state:
•    Your name
•    Town that you live in
•    The name of your legislator, and
•    A brief message. For example: "Please support LD 1546. It's good for the health of Maine people, for our hospitals and for our economy."
If you would like to talk with your legislator, be sure to leave your number and the best time for her/him to call you back.

Not sure who your State Legislators are?  Look them up at:http://www.maine.gov/portal/government/edemocracy/lookup_voter_info.

Thank you for calling.  Please ask at least one more person to do the same.

For more information, go to: www.mejp.org.yo

Cover Maine Now! Supporting Health Care, Economic Vitality, and Jobs in Maine

A coalition of dozens of health, civil rights, labor, and other organizations have come together to support the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in Maine. Proponents say this step will stimulate $350 million in economic activity and create 3,100 jobs in Maine, as well as providing health care coverage to up to 69,500 Mainers who are currently uninsured.

In an email to a disability group in Maine, Jennifer Lunden explained what's at stake and how Mainers can get involved:

A new coalition of concerned businesses called Cover Maine Now! has been working to bring new federal funds to Maine to provide healthcare coverage to tens of thousands of uninsured Mainers. My agency, the Center for Creative Healing, is a member of this important coalition fighting for health justice.

You can help us out by signing this new petition which will go to your state legislators. Accepting these federal funds will save lives and save money. It's a win/win! 

I am so appreciative of your help last year fighting devastating cuts to MaineCare. This is an opportunity to not only restore funding, but to increase it. Thank you for taking action!

The petition, which can be signed and sent from the Cover Maine Now! website, is short and simple. It says

Maine Legislature: Save lives and save money by covering more Mainers!  

Accepting the federal dollars that have already been set aside to cover Maine’s uninsured will benefit all Maine people and boost Maine’s economy.

• More Mainers will have health insurance. 
• Health care costs will go down. 
• More lives will be saved and people will be healthier. 
• Maine’s economy will grow.

I call on you to accept the federal funds set aside for Maine to provide health coverage to more than 69,500 Mainers and save taxpayer dollars by fully expanding MaineCare.

To learn more about this bill intended to bring more money into the state for health care and healthcare-related jobs, visit Cover Maine Now! You'll find fact sheets, media releases, and the petition mentioned above, and other information.

Disabled Mainer Speaks about Working at Walmart, Upcoming Strikes

Low wages, lack of health insurance, concern for elderly and injured coworkers paramount

By Sharon Wachsler

Static Nonsense* is a disabled blogger I’ve known for a year or two. We follow each other’s blogs and tweets. SN periodically tweets about problems at work, including disability-related issues, but it was not until I saw recent tweets like this one that I knew who SN’s employer was:

#letusorganize #ourwalmart RT @AfterGadget: RT@OccupyWallSt: Support the WalMart Black Friday Strike eepurl.com/rL9oP

With Walmart the biggest employer in the US (a staggering one percent of the US population works for Walmart) and with Black Friday the biggest shopping day of the year, the upcoming Black Friday strike by Walmart employees around the country is a very big deal. [Update: Walmart has retaliated against strikers and is opening the store even earlier than usual – 8 PM Thanksgiving day.]

The issues at the heart of the strike – a living wage, safe working conditions, fair and respectful treatment, lack of affordable healthcare, consistent scheduling – are relevant to all. However, as I learned during this interview, disabled and elderly workers are particularly vulnerable to ill-treatment by the retail giant.

While the media focus on strikes and protests has not included Maine, there are 22 Walmarts in Maine, employing approximately 7500 Maine citizens. According to data collected by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in 2005, Walmart has more employees on public assistance than any other Maine employer – even though it’s the state’s second-largest employer (the first is Hannaford). The study found that more than ten percent of the state’s Walmart employees rely on state assistance such as Medicaid, Food Stamps, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, making the workers’ issues directly relevant to the Pine Tree State.

Thus, I was very excited to have a long chat online last night with SN about what it’s like to be a disabled employee of Walmart in Maine, and what SN hopes the strikes might accomplish.

Question: You’ve indicated that it’s important to you to maintain anonymity in part because of personal matters. Do you also have concerns about being identified as speaking about what it's like to work at Walmart?

There is that, too. Unlike a lot of other states, Maine has a fairly small population and it's not the most diverse of places. As such, situations as specific as mine – my specific set of disabilities – are a lot easier to identify. With such a low population, when you're a part of a minority of any sort it becomes really obvious. I don't fear specific retaliation such as being fired or anything, but I err on the side of caution anyway because given the company, it does still technically pose a risk.

My current job is on a shaky foundation, so I have to be careful not to rock that too much.

No Response to [FMLA] Medical Leave Request

Q: Why does it feel shaky?

I'm sort of hanging between professional warnings. Because of how much my conditions vary, there are days that I miss from work. I don't remember the specific number of sick days that we're allowed; I think it's either three or six through a rolling period of six months. [During] winter or if one of my ribs gets shifted out of place, I can use up a lot more than that.

I applied for an intermittent medical leave [under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)] over a year ago specifically to cover that issue. But I never heard word back from either our store's human resources department or from the head office. According to my boss, he doesn't see anything of the sort on my file.

I had a coaching about my attendance on my last yearly evaluation, because I would call in [sick] on days where I felt I wasn't in a good enough shape to do a decent job at work, or it was unsafe for me to do so. I was under the impression that my FMLA would have covered it; I only just found out that so far, it hasn't, because we don't even know if it's gone through or not.

SW: “Coaching” is a Walmart euphemism for? . . .

A formal warning.

Q: You referred to having conditions that vary. . . .

My current diagnoses are fibromyalgia, body-wide juvenile onset polyarthritis, scoliosis, and schizotypal personality disorder. There are others that I deal with as well, but they're not officially on record as a diagnosed condition, such as my joint hypermobility and my chemical sensitivities. The hypermobility is what causes my ribs to shift in and out of place periodically, which can leave me in quite a bit of pain for several days, especially since my job is manual labor.

The arthritis and fibromyalgia can flare with various environmental factors like the weather and rainy or snowy seasons. So yeah, they fluctuate a lot. Some things can be predicted, like if I pay attention to the weather, but other contributing factors, such as stress, can't really be predicted as easily. Unless it's the Christmas season and you work retail. That you can pretty much guarantee is stressful!

Q: You applied for intermittent leave under the FMLA to allow more sick days during a flare? And your employer never responded. Is that right?

Yes. This happened around the same time that I submitted my accommodation requests to the head office [for reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act]. I heard back about the accommodations, but never about the intermittent leave.

The specific accommodations I requested, during March 2011, was a lifting restriction of 10 pounds – to avoid making my ribs shift and causing injury, being exempt from register duty in order to avoid joint injuries, and not being scheduled for shifts longer than six hours.

Missing Stools, Removing Benches; the Stress of Phone Calls

Q: Were the accommodations granted?

I was transferred to a different job position, and I now have access to a stool during shifts where I can sit down and rest for up to 20 minutes per hour. The job requirements of the position I'm in now states I'm only expected to lift up to 10 pounds on a regular basis, and since I now work in what's called a service area, I can no longer be requested to run register when the store is busy.

Service area means I work in a location where I am expected to be present at all times in order to assist customers that need the service of that area. So places like the jewelry counter, the deli and bakery, and Tire Lube Express. I work in the fitting room and answer the phone for the entire store.

Q: I’m interested that you are allowed a stool because I read a post about problems disabled Walmart employees face. It says, “All chairs and stools have been removed from all Wal-Mart sales floors to keep employees from sitting while in view of customers,” including in cases where injured or elderly employees have said they need to sit sometimes to be able to work their whole shift.

That standing on the sales floor policy is real. People can get in big trouble for sitting down if they don't have ADA accommodations. It's also why I’m only “allowed” [to sit] 20 minutes per hour.

Q: I’d guess that a lot of people don’t know that they can request a reasonable accommodation, such as a stool. Has that been your experience?

Yep, took me this long even though I’ve been a cane user since 2007. We do have some [associates] that use [accommodations] but not many. Though I have noticed that we don't have enough stools to go around. Sometimes mine goes MIA. My store is pretty lenient on the [sitting issue], though that may change. Our new store manager wants to take the fitting room's bench away because our elderly associates sit down on it. And three of us have stools! His line of thinking is so ridiculous.

Q: In other ways, does this new position you were transferred to work for you?

It's easier on me physically at times, since I don't have to lift boxes or heavier merchandise like strollers. Dealing with smaller items like bras and their straps can be hard for my hands though. And because I also sort items that have been returned, I'm also frequently exposed to clothing washed with fragranced laundry products.

The stress of the phone calls can be really terrible, though. Since I transferred to this position, there have been days where I didn't go to work because I knew I couldn't mentally handle it. We get some rather nasty calls, especially in high traffic seasons like Christmas. People get upset because they all want to reach the same department, on multiple lines, and [the people in each department] can only answer one [call] at a time.

I'm frequently the buffer zone for callers’ mistreatment since I'm the first person they speak to – or the only person, if the call isn't being answered by a particular department and it loops back to me. And then there are instances where even management doesn't want to answer a phone call – even when it's part of their job – and I'm left trying to defuse the situation, with little training to do so.

Retail is rough. A lot of customers treat us like cattle. Much like management frequently does. It's usually one or the other.

Older and Injured Workers Required to Unload Trucks

Q: How do you feel treated like cattle?

There are times where associates get pulled to do different jobs that they're not even trained for. For example, when trucks of merchandise come in. On several occasions, management has pulled associates from my department to help unload the merchandise from the trucks. I'm exempt from it since I'm in a service area, but I've done it before when I was a cashier, and I've worked in warehouses before. It is not an easy thing to do, and it can be very intense on the body. Several of our associates are elderly, in their 50s or even 60s and higher. I remember one instance where a 60-something woman injured her shoulder pulling a truck. She developed bursitis from it. When a manager asked her to do it again, she pointed out that she couldn’t; she was dealing with a shoulder injury. They claimed that since it wasn't officially on record as a limitation, it didn't matter.

Warehouse workers have specific safety regulations, such as encouraging the use of back braces and proper lifting, much of which we do not have to do in our current positions, so we don't have access to those braces and the like. I have a back brace, but it's a personal, so I'm an exception.

Q: Would you like your fellow associates' health and safety needs to be taken into consideration by your employer?

Oh gods yes. We have another associate with a knee injury. I heard at one point that they made her pull a truck too, even though she's on accommodations like I am. I think the only reason why they haven't been able to make me do it is because I'm in a service area. That is my one protection

Another example [of workplace safety problems] is when [I was working as] a cashier. After I got my ribs adjusted I had numbness and poor movement in the entire right half of my body and could barely use my arm or hand. They made me run register anyway, with one arm, because I didn't have a note.

It frequently feels like our health is supposed to be our responsibility alone, and that their concerns about it are simply lip service. Our training includes how precious [our health] supposed to be – about proper handling of chemicals or spills that include things like bodily fluids – but anything past that training doesn't seem to matter.

Desire for Communication and Follow-Through

Q: If there was support for you and your fellow associates, what would it look like? How would you like things to be?

Encouragement for intercommunication would be nice. We have an open door policy, but that only goes so far. I remember one time I tried to report an incident of associates making abuse jokes in the break room, and I asked for sensitivity training. I got in the door fine, but nothing happened after that point.

Managers should be more willing to work with individuals or groups to address their concerns and needs. It doesn't help that some of our managers appear to have a high turnover rate, like my department. Since I started there, we have had three different assistant managers, two zone managers and at least two department managers. People aren't really there long enough to establish a trusting relationship, which is what you really need when you're dealing with a management system. And some that have been there for a while feel like they've become callous over the years, or just aloof.

I don't know if the turnover rate is the same in other departments or not. I suspect that ours is because our department covers so many different sections under one heading – Mens, Boys, Girls, Infants, Ladies, Ladies Accessories, Shoes, and Jewelry. The others are much smaller. Ours appears to be very stressful and chaotic to maintain, and there's a lot of drama between associates.

Q: So your experience is that the door is open, but then after you've gone through the door, what? Alice disappears down the rabbit hole?

Exactly. It varies so much between managers, though. My current boss isn't too bad, though sometimes it's hard to tell if what he says is company policy or not. With others, it's like they're sitting there, nodding and listening, but it's just going in one ear and out the other. And frequently they contradict each other. One manager will say they're allowed to do something, while another will say they're not.

Like the manager that pulls our associates for trucks – our boss insists that [the other manager] is not allowed to take our associates like that, but she does it anyway. No one stops her. I tell the associates to hide when she goes calling for them, praying that she doesn't come hunting us down. . . .

Encouraged to Quit Due to Disabilities

Q: How long have you worked at Walmart?

Several years, off and on. This is my third time working at this particular store. I started shortly after high school, before I went to college for the first time, so that was two or three months there. A second time before I moved to New York, after my warehouse job, I think that was another year. And this time I started in July 2010.

The first two times I worked [at Walmart], it wasn't that bad. But that was before I [brought up] my disabilities with them because at the time, [my disabilities] weren't causing me many issues, so I didn't want to expose myself to trouble when I didn't have to. Though that is when that one arm thing happened.

It was the third time, this current time around, that things started getting messy because of how much my illnesses have been affecting my life overall. That's when I started speaking out more about it. That's when mistreatment started to become more clear; I could see how it was happening to people around me just as it was happening to me.

Q: Let’s talk about some examples. You tweeted this on November 1:

...the lowest number of hours i can work per week is 16. my boss suggested that i "leave until [i] feel better." #walmart #disability"

What’s the story here? What did he mean? I'm particularly curious because you requested leave under FMLA and got no response.

He knows that the winter season makes my conditions flare more in comparison to other seasons. That's one of the reasons why I was trying to get my hours reduced, especially since I'm attending school at the same time, which just makes things even harder and more stressful. So he said that I could leave to take a break until I felt healthy enough to work again. He also said that I'd be leaving on a good note, suggesting I'd be able to return without issue, but with the attendance issue that could change.

I'm just flabbergasted that his first response was telling me to quit. What kind of boss says that to someone that's been dedicated about working?!

He also said that they would try to get me a copy of the writing that said that requirement, because I explicitly asked for it because no one else had ever mentioned it as a possibility before. Haven't seen any such papers.

Q: The requirement/papers you're referring to is the supposed requirement that you have to work 16 or more hours, even though you have a reasonable accommodation granted that you work 12 hours a week max?

Correct. Though the accommodations don't include the 12 hour restriction. That came from an hourly availability request that doesn't link to the ADA. I didn't ask for the 12 hour a week restriction until much later, July of this year, due to a really bad Fibro flare. The request did come from my doctor.

And when I spoke to my immediate supervisor, our department manager, about my schedule not having any hours for the next two weeks and mentioned the 16 hours thing . . . he looked surprised as hell, as if he had never heard of such a limit.

Q: Oh yes. I saw your three tweets about the scheduling weirdness on November 12:

...ok. something's wrong. two weeks in a row and i don't have any hours scheduled for work. what the fuck is going on?
i expected the one week to be a fluke. but two? back to back?
if this is 'punishment' for asking for limited hours for the sake of my health and education, i'm going to be pissed right the hell off.

That was also the same day that I watched the system bring up that I had a weekly restriction of 12 hours – the same restriction I had been trying to get for months. It didn't bring any protest about being under 16. Just that we were trying to schedule me for more than 12.

After speaking with my supervisor about the lack of hours, I don't think it was [retaliation], no.

Q: So, your boss – the guy who suggested you quit – is that a different person than your immediate supervisor/department manager?

Correct. For some reason, we have an oddly high number of management positions. That's also something that's bothered me. There are so many different kinds of “managers” that one can go to, and sometimes it's hard to tell who you're supposed to be speaking to, or even what their position is. Some of the ones I can think of off the top of my head are Customer Service Managers, Department Managers, Assistant Managers, Zone Managers, Shift Managers, Co-Managers, and the Store Manager It's even more frustrating when one manager says that another manager can take care of something, but they can't, or they say they can't.

It's especially confusing when a customer says they want to speak to management, and they don't understand why you ask what they're inquiring about so you can get the right manager. Honestly, I agree with them, I don't know why we have so many either! When people are like, "I just want a manager," we can't explain that we don't have just managers.

Stymied in Efforts to Provide Quality Customer Care

Q: You’ve mentioned being “dedicated” to your job and wanting to do right by the customers. I get a feeling that you take pride in providing good customer service. Do you feel frustrated when you're not able to do that?

Very much so. I enjoy being able to help people, even if it's just helping them find something. If I can do something to make a person's life easier for them, even just something small, that's enough for me. It's what drives me about a lot of things, including activism and even just being friends with people.

But when I have to constantly jump flaming hoops, or when it seems like those hoops are constantly moving when I'm trying to reach a goal, it frustrates both me and the person I'm trying to help. I can't get them access to the things that they need on the other side, and it makes me feel sad inside, quite deeply.

I feel like I would enjoy my job a lot more if the system I was working in didn't feel so stilted and broken.

Q: Is that one of the reasons you have returned to work for Walmart – to provide good customer services?

That's part of why I've returned there, yeah. The other part is that around here, it seems like they're the only place that will hire me. Be it due to the economy or disability [discrimination]. A lot of customers don't seem to realize that there are some of us who legitimately want to help them. It's hard to know what they think in terms of my specific situation, since my job is pretty much the pillar point of giving them access to one department or another, or management. I don't know if they consider it to be a failing on my part (though sometimes that becomes pretty clear) or if they think the failure is on the side I'm trying to reach.

It's easier for them to tell the struggles when they're physically there with me, because they can see me trying to get a hold of the managers. When you're on hold on the phone though, you can't see that.

The fact that I work nights makes it even harder. There's a lot less people working, then. So you can't reach [managers] as easily.

As someone who works the phones, I will admit right off that I don't even like calling our store. It's terrible. Even when we really try, sometimes we have to redirect calls five times to get through, or customers will be waiting half an hour.

And part of it is because departments seem to be poorly managed and disconnected – even with the number of managers we have.

Q: You want to help people and make their experience pleasant and productive, and yet you know that they likely will not experience that.

Exactly. It's terrible. There have been a few instances where it felt like I was really able to make a difference, but they're few and far between.

There was this one customer I had, who was completely colorblind. He asked me which shirt out of two looked best on him and seemed to match his clothes, since he couldn't differentiate between the two of them since they were the same style. After that, I helped him find a matching tie of a close enough shade. That was pretty hard; we didn't have many anywhere close to that color, but we managed to pull it off. That made him really happy.

I've had other customers that have difficulties with wearing particular bras. One lady, I helped her find a bra that didn't contain any metal and opened from the front instead of the back, because she was having an MRI and a chest operation done. She needed something that wouldn't be very tight but still provide a decent level of support. Not something I could have easily done, seeing as I can't even wear them! But we managed to find something in the sports bras that she was satisfied with. I've also helped customers come up with innovative costume ideas, when they can't find something they want in the Halloween section or it's out of season by putting things together from other departments.

Q: It sounds like some of your most satisfying work experiences have been connecting with customers with disabilities or health issues -- people who don't "fit the mold" -- and with getting creative, in general.

Pretty much. I'm one of those customers myself, and very few people “get” that sort of situation. So it makes me feel better to let them know that hey, there are some of us that do get it . . . and we can help out in any way we can.

But yeah, disabilities are a major focal point of my life. Even the tiniest of things winds up revolving around them. They're always a factor in daily life, so it just comes naturally. And it helps to show people that they're not alone, especially in an area that is this rural.

Low Pay, Lack of Insurance, Rationing Medication

Q: A big issue for both people with disabilities and for Walmart workers is health care, which is also related to pay. These are central issues in the strikes. A couple of weeks ago, you tweeted this:

i found out that i am indeed eligible for medical care through my employer #walmart, with one problem...
 it would take 3/4s of my annual salary just to pay the deductible. not kidding, that's how little i earn. it's a $3,000 deductible. #walmart
 otherwise, my immediate supervisor and i cracked up constantly about the application, bc it fails to consider how sick ppl like me are.
 the options for opting out ranged from being completely healthy & mentally secure, putting money elsewhere [vainly] and already having care but not once for 'i can't afford this shit, i work for you! how would i be able to afford it?!'
 one of those instances where even the health reform law doesn't help me by forcing employers to provide healthcare. too sick, too poor.
 maybe if the companies that people like me worked for weren't such corporate leeches... 

Care to elaborate?

Yeah, the health care set up is atrocious. I've been “eligible” for it for the past two years – though the associate working in HR [continues to] insist otherwise, quite rudely. I applied for Mainecare under the premise of disability and was denied earlier this month. They claimed that I can still do “light work.” As if being able to work somehow means I don't need health care, or that my health doesn't directly impact my ability to work. On our way back to the HR room to deal with the open enrollment, my supervisor and I were commenting on how pointless it is, because most of us are already on Mainecare and that does a better job of covering things and you don't have to pay for it. Even the healthy people prefer Mainecare over the Walmart insurance.

I don't know what the system structure is like, though I've heard that the places that actually accept the insurance are slim and far between. I wager that most of my current doctors, who I wouldn't give up – period – wouldn't accept it even though they accept Mainecare.

But honestly, offering us health care with a deductible that costs nearly as much as our annual wages is ridiculous. If they're going to offer us health care with that high of a deductible, they need to pay us more to accommodate for it. We barely make enough to eat and keep roofs over our heads, let alone be able to see a doctor.
I make $8.50 an hour. With my number of hours, I make maybe $600-700 a month. That's enough to pay rent and maybe food, depending on the kind you buy, and never taking dietary needs for IBS [irritable bowel syndrome] or other conditions into consideration. There's nothing left for medical care.

Q: So you are uninsured right now because you were denied Mainecare?
Correct. Right now I have to pay everything out of pocket. Only reason I'm managing currently is because I have pain meds stashed from a previous remaining refill, before I ran out. Otherwise I have to see my doctor to get a new one. The last time I refilled it, I had to use one of those federal savings programs. The only reason I knew of them is because my fiancé works in pharmacy and told me. It dropped my med price of over $200 to around $47 for that month.

Since then, I'm rationing them.

Q: Do you worry about what will happen if you get a really bad flare and run out? That always terrified me when I was getting too few and too ineffective pain meds. It felt like walking a tightrope.

Absolutely. It's why I have money stashed in case of emergencies, because I know that it can always happen. I spent a large portion of my life while sick without adequate care or insurance, so I learned the hard way. I'm very lucky that I can live with my parents right now, so I don't have to pay rent or utility bills, though lately I do have to worry about food.

The refill that I have was for a rather large number of pain meds, 120 of them, and I don't always need to take them on a daily basis. They're from my really bad flare in July. So that helps, it's better than when I had to ration 15 throughout an entire year.

But right now my ribs are out again, and I will likely have to pay out of pocket for [treatment]. It's affecting my work and means I have to take more meds. I'm not looking forward to winter. And without access to my doctors unless I pay out of pocket, I cannot apply for medical leave until I recover. So like my boss said, if it gets bad and I'm uninsured, I really would have to quit.

Isolation, Rural Location Make Organizing Difficult

Q: Are you involved in the strikes or protests?

I haven't been able to participate much in things like the strikes or protests, but I've still been trying to boost the signals of the cries of others. As far as I am aware, there is nothing organizing in my area. When I searched on the organization websites for any strikes or protests in the area near me, nothing came up. No one seems to talk about it at work at all, either. At least, not that I've heard.

Our area is fairly rural in comparison to the larger cities. Not only that, but our largest city is over an hour's drive away. I commute to work about half an hour as it is.

Q: You mentioned in an email to me feeling isolated by being rural.

Very much so. There's very little up here in terms of support for just about anything. Just finding out about the fibromyalgia support group that was in the neighboring towns was a big deal. I expected to have to drive hours [to find] one, or be [unable to find one] in general.

So that's the sort of thing that makes organization really hard for something like the Walmart strikes, especially if you deal with other boundaries due to being disabled. There's a lot of folks that can't go much of anywhere because the transportation they have access to will only take them out twice a week [which just covers] grocery shopping. I'm lucky in that I have a car. A lot of people don't, and if I didn't, I'd be in poor shape too because the city bus system doesn't reach out this far.

Q: Let’s talk about the planned strikes and walkouts going on now and later this week. A lot of the issues you've brought up are part of the demands made by associates at the OUR Walmart page – wanting respectful treatment from manager, affordable health insurance, living wages, and supporting associates in providing the customer service that Walmart is supposed to be founded upon. What you think of the Declaration for Respect created and circulated by Walmart workers? Did you sign it?

I definitely signed, and I encourage other people to sign. I've pushed it on Twitter and among those close to me that know of my struggles with the company, like my fiancé. I would participate in a strike if there were one around here and if it wasn't such a small area [where] people are more easily identifiable. If someone had started something to talk about it when I was looking for such groups, I probably would have contributed. But I didn't find anything for Maine. Around here, when it comes to news issues, it frequently feels like things that happen "out there" instead of here. Like such things don't happen in this state.

But I also support people that can't strike because they worry about the stability of their jobs, which would be just as much of a concern for me, or stability with their coworkers that may not agree. The latter is especially true around here, when it seems like no one talks about it or when you do bring up the strikes at work, people don't seem to care. I had to sign [the declaration] anonymously because of how specific my [disability] situation is.

As a passing comment, [I’ve asked] people what they think of it – usually the coworkers in my department that I have a good relationship with, not [relationships] that [are] easily shaken. [I asked] one person, and she seemed rather indifferent to the whole thing. Bringing such things up at work can be really risky. With so many managers, and ones that are continuously walking through the store to keep tabs on things, you have to be careful of what you are talking about, with whom and why. But it also sort of reflects the lack of push-back against our management in general. People will have individual issues with [management], but they won't organize to talk about it. At least, not here.

Q: It sounds like you think your fellow associates don't see their individual problems with management as being part of a larger?

Pretty much. Like, a few years ago even I wouldn't have realized that my issues were part of the overall problem.

Q: How did that change?

Social push-back throughout the country. Hearing about the strikes tipped me off, just as hearing about how frequently such organizations seem to take advantage of or somehow wrong folks with disabilities did. Making myself more aware of social issues.

“Listen to Us, Provide Moral Support”

Q: Final question: What three things would you like everyone who reads this article to do to support Walmart workers like you?

Signing the petition is a big step, since it'll show that we're not just people whining about things, that others support us and understand that our needs are legit and a part of basic human rights.

If someone you know works for Walmart and they talk or complain about something that happened that reflects on such issues, or mistreatment toward them, listen to them. Let them know that you're listening, and provide them moral support.

If you can, spread the word – don't let this fall into isolation, because if it does, change will never happen. Companies like this are stubborn and need to be really shaken for them to get the picture. They need to be held accountable, and the only way we can do that is by making the most noise we possibly can.

Q: Those are three very clear, very easy, doable requests**. I noticed you didn’t mention the strike and boycott? Do you think there's any chance of that happening in your area?

I'd love it if they boycotted, and I would [boycott, too] if it weren't for the fact that it's one of the cheapest stores around here and they only pay me enough to buy their products! The chances of [a boycott] happening though are pretty slim. I certainly get enough calls about when Black Friday or the deals start to suggest that [people are not going to boycott].

Q: Well, here's to hoping!

Definitely!

Q: Thank you so much for your time! This was fun, and I learned a lot.

You too. Thank you very much for giving me the chance to speak out about this.

*Static Nonsense is an avatar – the name that the person I interviewed uses online.

**Additional ways to support Walmart workers are to boycott the store during the strikes and protests, making donations to feed the workers who are striking this week, or any of these very simple actions: sign a solidarity statement with Walmart workers, sign a petition asking Walmart to allow workers to spend Thanksgiving with their families, and sign a pledge to boycott on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.