March 5, 2009

Food and Commercial Workers President Joe Hansen to Promote Affordable, Quality Health Care at White House Forum on Heal

WASHINGTON, DC – At the invitation of President Barack Obama, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) President Joe Hansen will appear this afternoon at the White House Forum on Health Reform. Hansen has been a consistent voice for quality, affordable health care. Hansen is eager to join the President’s nominees for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, and Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, Nancy-Ann DeParle, at the forum and to support President Obama’s efforts to bring affordable, quality health care for all.

For nearly three decades, Hansen has played a key role in the negotiation of contracts covering hundreds of thousands of workers in the retail and food manufacturing industries. An original member of the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group, Hansen served as the sole worker representative in that congressionally chartered body. The group facilitated a groundbreaking national dialogue that resulted in a bipartisan consensus on the need for affordable, quality care for all Americans.

At the forum, Hansen will focus on how workers and unions can play an important role in reforming a health care system paralyzed by insurance companies and entrenched special interests, a critical step in the effort to rebuild the American middle class.  Hansen recognizes that America needs a national solution to the health care crisis and this year is the time to act.

The full proceedings of the summit, which begins at 1:00 p.m. EST, can be observed live at www.WhiteHouse.gov.