When I speak to my union sisters and brothers about this election and what's at stake, they know that I'm not just talking about this because it's my job - they can take one look at me and know this is my life.
I've been taking care of my mother since I was 15 years old. She's disabled, totally blind. For a while, my brothers and sisters, they were helping out and taking care of her and I moved down to Florida and started my life there. But about three years ago my mother called and asked me to come home. At that time, her house was in foreclosure, she wasn't taking her meds, you know. She was going back and forth to different doctors. But we got all that straightened out. I've been fixing up her home so she can stay in it where she feels most comfortable. I'm just trying to keep her happy and smiling. Now I'm able to take care of her as a homecare worker and an SEIU member.
When I first got involved in the union, I was like 'What is a union, what do they do?' I started to hear more about what's going on and I wanted to get more involved. I heard about the propositions on the Michigan ballot this election, especially Prop. 2 and Prop. 4 and I wanted to get out there and tell my story. This is what I'm going through now, not past-tense but right now.
I'm asking people to vote 'yes' on propositions 2 and 4 because these laws will protect people's rights. Prop. 4 is about keeping seniors and people with disabilities safe and protecting their right to chose to stay in their own home with trained caregivers. Prop. 2 is about protecting collective bargaining which is protecting Michigan families from corporate special interests. It's our right as workers to be able to negotiate over our wages, benefits and our working conditions and we need to stand up and protect our rights.
I'm all about re-electing President Obama, you better believe it. Obama saved the auto industry and when he did that he saved more than 1.4 million middle class jobs. That means a lot to us here in Michigan. Plus, if Romney were elected, then seniors would immediately lose their prescription drug benefits and lose free preventative care visits to their doctor. Romney would increase Medicare premiums for seniors by thousands of dollars every year - how is that going to make anyone happier and healthier?
I'm out here going door to door and talking to people and getting people to know about these proposals and about SEIU. I've been doing phone banking, passing fliers, talking to people everywhere. I've been volunteering my time to this because we just can't give up! We just have to stick in there and when we hang together, oh yeah, we're gonna make it happen.
