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Health Crisis Exposed - Worsened by Rick Talbert's Scheme
A packed auditorium of local government leaders, health professionals, and community members gathered to learn about how economic justice impacts our health. JwJ questioned how all of us as residents and the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Dept (TPCHD) could begin to tackle these issues when TPCHD's Board Chair Rick Talbert is opposed to economic justice and healthcare as a right.
As a Tacoma City Councilmember, Mr. Talbert has opposed linking on-the-job healthcare to the millions of tax-dollars he spends to subsidize upscale developers while also generating poverty-wage and unhealthy jobs. Send a message to Rick Talbert to fend for our future health.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Support TPCHD's Mission - No More Tax Breaks for Poverty-Wage Paying Developers
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I applaud the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Dept (TPCHD's "Health Equity Summit" on March 28 that addressed how economic justice impacts our health and exposed the growing health crisis in Pierce County and the US. At the Summit, participants viewed a powerful PBS Segment titled "Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?: In Sickness and In Wealth" and participated in a "Community Discussion: Impacting Root Causes of Health Inequities." The documentary directly linked a growing health crisis to poverty-wage stressful jobs and the widening gulf between rich and poor.
As Board Chair of TPCHD, will you support future events like this as well as transforming education into policies that address local economic injustice?
I am specifically concerned about the contradiction between TPCHD's mission and your actions as a City councilmember. Numerous times and in numerous ways. Summit participants and I have learned in detail from Jobs with Justice about your role in our local community's growing health crisis.
Over 100,000 Pierce County Residents do not have healthcare coverage. Contributing to Pierce County's growing health inequity and crisis are thousands more who work poverty-wage jobs in residential construction and at upscale developments. Even more of us face deteriorating health because we lack affordable quality housing and face long polluting commutes.
Why then as a Tacoma City Councilmember do you oppose linking on-the-job healthcare to the millions of our tax-dollars you spend to subsidize upscale developers while also generating poverty-wage and unhealthy jobs? Why do you oppose linking these subsidies with workforce housing or the right to organize on the job? Why do you oppose linking these subsidies with living wages, pensions, hiring local residents, or job training?
We call on you to embrace policies that benefit all of us when you spend our money to subsidize upscale economic development. Please remove your opposition to our healthy future.
Sincerely,
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