Note: Mike is a Grassroots Lobbyist through SEIU's Change That Works campaign. You can read more about the program here. Video included below.
I've always been impressed with our nation's capitol. The huge buildings, sweeping landscapes, and grand stone staircases - it's all so big, it makes me a little disoriented and, gulp, small.
But all those buildings are filled with people. And if there's anything I've learned as a nurse--people are people. We all eat and sleep and want to make the world a better place.
Still, it was good to show up at the SEIU building the first morning and feel like we belonged there - like we had a home base in DC. When you look at us, you know we are all workers: the real people who get the jobs done that make this country what it is. We are "regular" people.
That's why we're here - to be the kind of lobbyists and representatives who can cut through the BS and remind our elected senators and representatives that the decisions they make have consequences for hundreds of millions of "regular" people.
The first congressperson I visited was Betsy Markey, a newly elected representative from my home state of Colorado. About 14 workers from SEIU and the AFL-CIO went to talk with her about the Employee Free Choice Act. She was real happy to have us.
The part I loved, though, was when I talked about trying to organize and some of the struggles we had at our hospital. I shared stories I had heard from a couple other health care workers that'd tried to organize. Here was this very important person in this huge fancy office in WASHINGTON DC - and she was obviously swayed but what I said. When I finished, she was even trying to figure how she could co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act.
This week, I passed Betsy Markey in the hallway when I was back on Capitol Hill. She immediately recognized me and ran over to tell me some exciting news - she signed on as a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act.
From the nation's capitol,
Mike Kingsbury, RN
