You may have seen attacks from usual suspects like Grover Norquist, "Field Marshall of the Bush Plan," who are trying to block health insurance reform. They claim Andy should be registered as a lobbyist and are taking to the right-wing echo chamber to amplify their claims and gin up a little credibility with their rabid base since getting throttled in recent elections.

The facts are pretty simple. Andy Stern spends less than 20% of his time lobbying. He does, however, spend 100% of his time trying to help workers have a better life.

I am here today because I love America.

I love the America where women like Maria, a janitor from Chicago, who worked hard her whole life--paid her taxes, saved her money--could not only purchase a home for herself, but also could lend her brother money and co-sign his loan so he too, could buy a home for his family.

But then Maria's brother was laid off and a few weeks ago, his unemployment benefits ran out. The bank refused to rework the loan, foreclosed on her brother, and now Maria is facing the same possibility.

Where were Goldman, and Blankfein, and the rest of the masters of the universe when Maria's family needed help? Out to lunch and out of touch; gorging themselves on 23 billion dollars of bonuses made possible by Maria and the rest of the hard working Americans who contributed our tax dollars to rescue Goldman and the economy.

Is that the America we want?

Is that the America we need?

But, sadly, for Maria and the 14,000--14,000--hard-working, taxpaying American's who will lose their home today; the American Dream has become an American nightmare.

Why? Because companies like Goldman Sachs, seem to love their company more than their country.

Goldman Sachs seems to salute no flag, but rather their own corporate logo.

And in the name of maximizing profits and their huge bonuses, they will foreclose on our homes and take jobs from our families--while short-selling America without a second thought.

Goldman Sachs has become so callous--and so greedy--that they just issued a report on health care reform recommending, and I quote, "as far as the bottom line for insurance companies is concerned, the best thing is to do nothing." Nothing!

Goldman: Do you understand what nothing meant to Charlie Lang from Connecticut whose mother was diagnosed with lung cancer?

The doctors told Charlie and his mother that they wanted to remove her tumor so that she would have a chance of surviving.

But after the insurance company did nothing--refused to pay for the operation--and the family could not raise the money, Charlie's mother died.

Failure to pass healthcare reform, Lloyd Blankfein, simply means more people will suffer and die!

Goldman Sachs--is the wealth of your company more important than Charlie's mom and the health of our country?

Shame!

And the final outrage is that CEO Blankfein has justified his unpatriotic actions by claiming that he is "...doing god's work."

Have you no decency? Goldman and Blankfein seem to worship no God but the almighty dollar, and have twisted Jesus' intentions in the Book of Luke's golden rule of "...doing onto others" with the Goldman rule--he who has the gold makes the rules!

Goldman Sachs: It is not God's work to kick families out into the street.

It is not God's work to leave people without health insurance.

It is not God's work to put greed over human need and use other people's money to pay yourself huge bonuses.

Lloyd Blankfein, you have forgotten the lesson of Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is the root of all evil."

Today we call upon Goldman Sachs to place those 23 billion dollars of bonuses into a fund to help Americans in their time of need. To put country over company. To truly be your brother's and sister's keeper.

Those 23 billion dollars could prevent every single foreclosure in America in 2010.

That would truly be God's work--and the American way.

That is the America we want!

After months of hearings, hundreds of town halls, and more than 60 years of debate, we're closer than ever before in our nation's history of making health care reform a reality. With a historic victory in the U.S. House at our backs, we head into the Senate--where we could face an uphill battle against insurance industry interests.

In a Washington Post op-ed today, SEIU President Andy Stern speaks on how far our Senate leaders should go to achieve their top health care priorities, and finding a balance between pragmatic compromise vs. selling out.

Just as when unions negotiate their contracts, there comes a time when members must make a choice and vote. It's game time, our Senators can no longer hide, threaten, or negotiate their own individual bill. No one gets a free pass for denying the American public a fair up-or-down vote on this bill. The American people have long memories, and come next November, no one will forget who attempted to derail reform. Our elected leaders will be held accountable for the choices that they make.

We stand at this historic moment because of decades of hard work. Unfortunately for the millions in this country suffering under an insurance system that costs too much and covers too few, politics and grandstanding are at risk of taking over. The American people elected a team of 60 Senators to push for bold solutions. They will be judged for what they deliver. If at the end of the day Americans can't afford health care or if the standard of care declines, every single Democratic Senator will pay the price.

Read the entire op-ed at the Washington Post. And while you're here...we'd love to know your thoughts on the subject. If it comes down to the wire, how much compromise do you think our Senate leaders should be willing to make to change the status quo and get health reform passed?

In a wide-ranging interview, SEIU President Andy Stern sat down with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo this weekend on the Wall Street Journal Report. Topics included in their discussion include the current state of the economy, H1N1, healthcare reform, the White House visitors list, the state of the Employee Free Choice Act, and the role of unions in an increasingly globalized economy.

Watch now:

Just yesterday the White House released a list of visitors this year and SEIU President Andy Stern topped the list with more than twenty trips since January.

Coming off an eight-year period when the voice of workers fell on deaf ears, the list demonstrates the White House desire to hear from working people.

The Washington Post notes several visits came during the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act debate.

Talking Points Memo sums it up nicely:

It makes sense that Stern would be a popular guest -- beyond leading a group key to the Democratic base, Stern's SEIU has been a leading voice on behalf of health care reform.

Andy Stern has tweeted about some of his White House visits, and you can follow him here.

The health care debate has been long and hard fought. As we near the time when we expect the Senate to take up a bill and vote on reform, there are a lot of questions about what exactly will be happening from a procedural standpoint. After all, the Senate has a lot of complicated and misunderstood rules. Foremost among them are cloture and the filibuster.

First, filibusters really don't happen the way they did when Mr. Smith went to Washington. Instead, the word filibuster is commonly used to refer to any time a bloc of 41 or more senators vote against considering a piece of legislation or letting it come to a floor vote. This week Andy Stern wrote in an op-ed on Huffington Post that there is no such thing as a Republican filibuster, because the GOP caucus only has 40 votes. As a result, the only way health care reform can be blocked is if members of the Democratic caucus join the Republicans to oppose moving forward.

Second, the Senate is governed largely by consensus. Things don't get done without either everyone agreeing to them or there being a vote to see where the members of the Senate stand. One of the tools the Senate uses to keep the wheels turning is cloture. Cloture is simply a vote on whether or not to end consideration of an issue or piece of legislation for the time being. In our one hundred member Senate, there must be sixty votes in favor of cloture for a cloture motion to pass and the Senate to move forward. The Congressional Research Service has a great, detailed report on filibusters and cloture (PDF link), but I'm going to try to distill some of it here to explain what we expect to come during the health care debate.

To understand the procedure on cloture votes and filibusters on health care, it's important to look at the general process. After the Senate HELP Committee and Senate Finance Committee bills have been merged, the final bill will need to be brought to the Senate floor. Because the health care reform bill deals with funding, the Senate will need to use a bill from the House Ways and Means Committee in order to introduce the legislation - the Senate health care reform bill will be offered as a substitute amendment to that House bill. Offering a new bill as a substitute to a bill from the House is common Senate procedure and the House bill in question doesn't even have to relate to health care.

There are likely going to be three big points in the Senate debate of health care reform legislation that will almost certainly be subject to cloture votes. Each one of these votes will require sixty senators in favor of moving forward, yet none of them will be on the actual health care reform bill itself!

1.Cloture Motion on Motion to Proceed to Measure's Consideration: This will be the first step, where the Senate will ask itself: Do enough of us want to start debating specific health care reform legislation on the floor? Assuming that 60 senators do, the process will continue;

If Cloture on the Motion to Proceed is "invoked" (a fancy senate term for saying 60 Senators voted yes) then the Motion to Proceed will be adopted by a majority vote and the Senate will start debating the House bill that I mentioned above. Next the very first thing that will happen is that the "merged" Finance/HELP Committee bill will be offered as a complete substitute to the House bill. Then the fun really begins. Senators offer dozens of amendments, the Majority and Minority Leaders try to work out Unanimous Consent agreements, which I will explain below, to get lots of the amendments votes and sometimes Senators even filibuster each other's amendments. But sooner or later the Majority Leader says that is enough. That's when...

2.Cloture Motion on Manager's Amendment (Substitute Amendment): After considerable debate and amendment to the substitute, the Majority Leader will file Cloture on the Substitute. If there are 60 votes here, the Merged reform bill/Substitute as amended will get an up or down vote after 30 hours of post cloture consideration. Then...

3. Cloture Motion Filed on Measure (Final Passage): After the Substitute Amendment is adopted, the Senate still needs to bring debate on the entire bill to a close, so in oder to get to final passage of the health reform bill in the Senate, there will be one more cloture vote -- on the final bill (or to get super technical, on that old house bill as amended by the Substitute). Assuming 60 senators support getting to a final vote on the bill they've just spent days and weeks amending and debating (not to mention months doing the same in Committee), then there will be an opportunity for the health care reform bill to receive a straight up-or-down vote.

What should you expect when you see a cloture motion? Lots of debate and delay. After cloture is filed, it takes one day and an hour to ripen. So if a cloture motion is filed on Monday, it cannot be voted on until Wednesday. After the motion for cloture is voted on, there is then 30 hours of debate for post-cloture consideration. This time period includes debate, roll call votes, and quorum calls. Basically each of these three big procedural steps prior to a cloture motion and vote on cloture will add a number of days before the next soonest step can be reached. This is why we expect the entire Senate floor debate of health care reform to be a process that could last, at minimum, a couple of weeks.

Now I haven't talked at all about amendments...and we should expect to see dozens or hundreds filed. The reality is that anything that is debatable is subject to cloture, so that includes amendments to the bill that is brought to the floor. While it's possible that the entire floor debate and amendment process is filled with cloture votes (making it a very long and drawn-out process), it's more likely that the Senate will agree to a Unanimous Consent Agreement to govern debate and amendments. The UC Agreement sets out exactly how much time every amendment will be given for debate, how much time Republicans and Democrats will get to speak, and how many votes it will take to pass that amendment. Expect more controversial amendments to require 60 votes to pass, while less controversial ones will take a simple majority.

How does all of this process relate to the goal of passing meaningful health care reform legislation? The opponents of health care reform in the Senate will be given at least three major opportunities to stop this bill from getting a simple up-or-down vote. In each case, they will use procedure to try to stop legislation that the American public overwhelmingly supports. Health care reform is so important that it must receive an up-or-down vote to determine its outcome. Anything less is unacceptable.

Between now and the first Motion to Proceed to health care reform, there will be many twists and turns in the fight. The substance of the bill will change. The number of people that it helps will hopefully grow larger. But at the end of the day, this is vital legislation that deserves a straight up-or-down vote from the Senate. Even those members who are opposed to the underlying bill itself should not hide behind procedural hurdles to prevent it from receiving an up-or-down vote. If they oppose reform, that can best be expressed through debate of the bill, through the amendment process, and on final passage. The issue of health care reform is simply too important to be defeated by a minority of the Senate, hiding behind procedure.

We'll have more updates on Senate and House procedure as the legislative fight progresses. Stay tuned for updates!

Congratulations to SEIU President Andy Stern, who was named one of GQ's "50 Most Powerful People in D.C." yesterday.

The architect of an organizing boom that doubled his group's membership while other unions foundered, Stern has established himself as the labor movement's next big boss.

"He's a creative, outside-the-box thinker, and that ruffles feathers," said former Speaker Dick Gephardt, who was interviewed for the list. Read the full piece on Stern here.

See who else made the GQ list at GQ.com.

This week, Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson stepped onto the U.S. House floor and distilled the Republican strategy on health care reform into three simple parts:

1. Don't get sick
2. If you do get sick...
3. Die quickly.

Watch Rep. Grayson's statement on the house floor:

And watch him discuss his statements during CNN's Situation Room:

While Rep. Grayson's method of exposing the result of Republican foot-dragging remains controversial, his point is clear - Republicans have come to the table in good faith, and while they work to block reform at all costs, people are dying.

Earlier this year, Republican Senator Jim Demint revealed the Republican strategy on a secret conference call, when he concluded of their health care strategy, "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him." What the Republican Party continues to ignore - and what Rep. Grayson is trying to highlight - is that their refusal to work toward reform amounts in people getting sicker, and people dying. Period.

44,000 Americans die each year because they lack health insurance. That's 122 people each day. So yes, when Republicans resort to the cynical politicking of death panels, Medicare myths and "socialized medicine" fear-mongering, people are getting sick, and people are dying.

SEIU President Andy Stern spoke on this subject at The Atlantic's First Draft of History conference: "[Republicans] have no health care plan and they are letting people continue to suffer," he said. "That is an issue and they should be held accountable. And the insurance companies are even worse because people have been paying for their health care can't get it when they need it and then they suffer and die." (Read Huffington Post for full story)

This past week, while much of D.C. has been focused on the healthcare mark-up (us included), we've also been tracking a few other stories that we wanted to bring to your attention. First--the encouraging news that Massachusetts will return to full representation and the Democrats in Congress to a cloture-proof majority. Also, don't miss two stories on SEIU's calls for financial reform and a questionable award choice from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Keep reading for all of this week's stories...

60 Senators. SEIU and our allies welcome the newly appointed Senator Paul Kirk to represent Massachusetts in the interim before the January special election. In a statement released today, Andy Stern applauded the choice of Senator Kirk and the leadership of Governor Patrick: "The Governor and the Legislature showed real leadership to move swiftly and ensure that one of Senator Kennedy's last requests is fulfilled and the Bay State has a full say in helping move America forward. Paul Kirk will be a strong voice for the hard working families and communities of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts needed more than a placeholder in the U.S. Senate and the Governor has given his citizens a leader who will get to work fighting for the change working families need on healthcare reform, rebuilding our economy, and providing new financial protections for consumers." More here.

Banks Leave Taxpayers on the Hook for $17.8 Trillion. On Wednesday during a call with reporters, SEIU Secretary Treasurer Anna Burger and Assistant to the President Stephen Lerner released a new report that details the impact that the economic crisis has had on working families. According to the report, once all crisis-related programs are factored in, taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $17.8 trillion to rescue the big banks. You can view the report here. The rest of the rest of the blog post on the report here.

New Round of Protests Target Banks. SEIU and a growing chorus of voices once again spoke out against banks for trying to block financial reforms after receiving billions of taxpayer dollars. As Secretary Treasurer Anna Burger put it, "They're back to their old tricks and the same practices that caused this crisis in the first place...They're getting bailed out and normal people are losing."

Dozens of SEIU members and activists rallied outside a secret meeting of the Financial Services Roundtable, a group of 90 companies in the finance and insurance industry who received hundreds of billions in taxpayer bailouts and then used that money to lobby against needed corporate reforms. "We need to demand that banks use their resources and power to fix the economy and not make it worse," said Stephen Lerner, Special Assistant to SEIU President Andy Stern.

A series of protests around the county will lead up to the largest demonstration in Chicago between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27 at a meeting of the American Bankers Association. Read the full story from The Hill here. Click here to learn about upcoming actions to hold corporate barons and banks accountable.

The U.S. Chamber's Puzzling Definition of "Corporate Citizenship." Each fall, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce honors member organizations with its "Corporate Citizenship Award" as a way of recognizing contributions to communities. Unfortunately for the U.S. Chamber, the award is blind to a multitude of misdeeds committed by honorees. Indeed, for two years running, the U.S. Chamber has selected companies rife with problems. This year, the US Chamber chose to give this award to Aramark, a firm notorious for refusing to recognize its employees' voices. Read more about Aramark's bad record on employee relations and more on their relationship with the US Chamber here.

UPDATE, September 13, 1:30 p.m.: Watch Andy Stern on Fox below, where he was named "Power Player of the Week."

SEIU President Andy Stern will be featured on Fox News Sunday, where host Chris Wallace will sit down and talk with Andy Stern. Chris Wallace interviewed Stern at SEIU International Headquarters. Check out these pictures we took before and after the interview:

FOX News Sunday airs Sunday mornings on your local FOX station. Check your local listings. It repeats Sundays on the FOX News Channel at 6 p.m. ET.

Update, 4:00 p.m.: The healthcare forum is no longer happening live, but you can still watch video of the entire discussion here. More about the panel here.

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Hours before President Obama gives a special address on healthcare to Congress, SEIU President Andy Stern will join Senators Bob Dole and Tom Daschle and Wal-Mart VP Leslie Datch in a bipartisan health care forum hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) and Better Health Care Together.

Other participants in the panel highlight areas of agreement among political, business and labor leaders in the health reform debate include Annie Hill, Executive VP of Communications Workers of America (CWA); Charles Kolb, CEO of Committee for Economic Development and Judy Feder, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress (CAP). PBS's Judy Woodruff will moderate. The panel, "Common Sense Collaboration: Health Reform Perspectives from Employers and Employees," will take place today from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at The Newseum in Washington, D.C.

Watch Live: The event is being webcast in real time beginning at 11:30 a.m. today at http://bipartisanpolicy.org/news/multimedia/2009/09/08/newseum-press-conference

In honor of Labor Day, a new website from the Ash Institute at Harvard's Kennedy School that highlights the best innovations from across the public sector published a column by SEIU President Andy Stern. In his piece, Stern shares his view on how those working in the public sector can make a positive difference in promoting transparency and cost-effectiveness:

Making Government Cool Again

In the final stretch of his campaign, President Obama, speaking at a forum on national service at Columbia University, said he wanted to "make government cool again."

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) appreciates that sentiment. Obama's words made a lot of us take notice because we've come to expect people, especially politicians, to rail against government.

That wasn't always the case.

Many in my parents' generation went to college on the GI Bill, purchased homes with FHA loans, viewed public service work with respect, and recognized the government's role in lifting a broad swath of society into the middle class.

But by the time I began working as a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania caseworker and then union staffer in the 1970s, an onslaught of anti-government rhetoric was already beginning to erode public confidence in and funding for public services. When I was president of the Pennsylvania Social Services Union, an affiliate of SEIU, I saw Pennsylvania's governor run radio ads against his own state workers to try to push through steep cutbacks in health care and other job-security protections.

In the decades since then, government has been continually scapegoated, ridiculed, and starved of resources, while public services in our country are in crisis.

We are facing massive budget deficits at all levels of government, while states like California are teetering on the brink of a federal bailout.

Collapsing bridges and child welfare horror stories make headlines, but people who work in government know there is disinvestment and neglect everywhere.

Public service employees at all levels of government are an essential, but often overlooked, part of the solution. The people who do the work are often the best people to ask for ideas about how to do it better, faster, or cheaper...

Read Andy's entire column at "Better, Cheaper, Faster" here.

Today we lost, to borrow the words of President Obama, "one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy."

Senator Ted Kennedy devoted his career to improving the lives of workers and winning affordable healthcare for every American. His leadership and passion will be missed. But his legacy in this fight has only just begun.

The weeks ahead will still require our hard work and determination to see through his vision for health insurance reform.

Today, though, I hope you'll take a moment to reflect on Senator Kennedy's legacy and share your thoughts on his remarkable career. Click here to sign an online card to Senator Kennedy's family: http://action.seiu.org/tedkennedy

Senator Kennedy's impact on this country cannot be overstated, and his leadership in the Senate should never be forgotten. That's why we're collecting your comments and sharing them with the Senator's family.

Click here to sign the card and leave a comment: http://action.seiu.org/tedkennedy

Today we mourn the loss of a great leader in American history. Tomorrow we pick ourselves up and carry out the work that Senator Kennedy has called on us to do.

For five decades, Senator Kennedy stood with working families to fight for our shared vision of America where every family has access to affordable healthcare, every worker has a paycheck that supports a family, and every child is guaranteed a brighter future. He spent his entire adult life, through tragedy and triumph, in pursuit of this America. From his first major speech in support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to his last vote on President Obama's economic recovery plan, his vision of a more perfect nation never wavered.

From SEIU President Andy Stern:

Senator Kennedy stood with SEIU members on countless picket lines and contract negotiations. He stood with millions of hardworking immigrants and SEIU members to call for comprehensive immigration reform in 2005. He stood with workers fighting for a voice on the job by championing the Employee Free Choice Act. And until his final days he stood with SEIU healthcare workers and other workers to win access to affordable healthcare for all Americans.

Thirty-nine years ago, Senator Kennedy introduced his first bill to overhaul our nation's broken healthcare system and provide affordable coverage to all Americans. "Sen. Kennedy dreamed of a nation of progress where justice, fairness and opportunity for all laid at the heart," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. "The most fitting tribute to honoring the life and legacy of this great statesman is for Congress to pass quality affordable health care for all this year."

"We stand closer now than ever before to achieving what Senator Kennedy called the cause of his life," said Stern. "Let us continue his cause...And let us continue to make Kennedy's vision for America a reality."

In the wake of Senator Kennedy's passing last night after a long battle with brain cancer, our deepest condolences and prayers go out to Senator's Kennedy's wife Vicki, his children and the rest of the Kennedy family. He will be missed.

Visit our tribute page honoring Ted Kennedy here. Sign an online card for Senator Kennedy's family here.

SEIU President Andy Stern has been named in the top ten of Modern Healthcare's ranking of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare, announced today in the publication's August 24 edition.

It's an honor to make Modern Healthcare's listing of the 'Top 100' most influential "movers and shakers in healthcare"--and this year marks the fifth year in a row Stern has been named in the annual rankings. Stern is referred to as one of "the chief architects of healthcare reform," alongside other top contenders President Barack Obama, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Baucus (D-Mont.) and OMB director of the White House Office Peter Orszag.

This year, a total of just under Modern Healthcare readers re: who they believed should make the final list of the 100 Most Powerful. Who's #1 on the list? President Barack Obama, of course--a person who's strong leadership and vision for reform in the national debate about healthcare reform make him more than deserving of the top seat. Check out a gallery of the entire 'Top 100' list here.

For an informative look at the most important elements of healthcare reform, check out Families USA's brief outlining the top ten. (WaPo's Ezra Klein also recommends the brief). Included in the list of reasons to support healthcare reform: a strong public plan option, a regulated marketplace, an expansion of Medicaid coverage for low-income families and better access to coverage for uninsured children.

SEIU members marched on the Massachusetts Republican Party this week, calling on the GOP to stop its campaign to kill healthcare reform. Their message was simple: stop putting insurance companies over working families.

As SEIU President Andy Stern said to AP this week, "It is clear that Republicans have decided 'no healthcare' is a victory for them. There is a point at which bipartisanship reaches a limit, and I would say it's reaching that limit."

AZ Healthcare Supporters Turnout to Greet Obama
Despite thermometer readings in the triple digits, SEIU along with the NEA, the Teamsters and the UFCW helped turn out thousands of supporters of healthcare reform to a welcome rally and march in advance of President Obama's speech to veterans yesterday in Phoenix. AZCentral.com has some great photos of the event - view them here.

The U.S. lost 5.6 million jobs to outsourcing in 2007 alone. Last week, SEIU President Andy Stern called on U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue to explain why his organization supports outsourcing of American jobs.

"It's unconscionable that, at a time when most Americans are consumed with fear of losing their jobs, their healthcare and their homes, the nation's top advocate for corporate lobbyists is actively working to make those fears become reality," said Stern. "It sounds like a nightmare, but it's true: Tom Donohue and his lobbyist buddies are working overtime to kill legislation to help workers, like the Employee Free Choice Act, while trying to hide his support for sending their jobs overseas."

U.S. CHAMBER PRESIDENT TOM DONOHUE'S SHAMEFUL RECORD ON OUTSOURCING

U.S. Chamber President Defended Outsourcing of U.S. Jobs, Arguing That Americans Are "Short of Skills." Defending outsourcing in 2004, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said, "The big fundamental issue that we need to understand is we are short of skills in this country. Five years from now we'll have 10 million skilled jobs and we haven't got the people to fill." [CNNFN, 5/3/04]

U.S. Chamber President: "There Are Legitimate Values in Outsourcing." In 2004, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said, "there are legitimate values in outsourcing -- not only jobs, but work -- to gain technical experience and benefit we don't have here, to lower the price of products, which means more and more of them are brought into the United States, used, for example, I.T., much broader use than it was 10 years ago, create more and more jobs. But the bottom line is that we outsource very few jobs in relation to the size of our economy. We employ -- American companies employ 140 million Americans. They provide health care for 160 million Americans. They provide training in terms of 40 billion a year. The outsourcing deal over three or four or five years and the two or three sets of numbers are only going to be, you know, maybe two, maybe three million jobs, maybe four." [CNNFN, 2/10/04]

U.S. Chamber President Suggested More Jobs Were Brought In to the U.S. Than Outsourced to Other Countries. In 2004, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said, "nobody knows where Lou got 2.2 outsourced jobs. Maybe we've got 300,000 in the last couple of years. The most interesting thing is that if you take an annual basis, we insource in the very same categories of work $16 billion more than we outsourced, which is 2 million jobs." [CNNFN, 9/2/04]

In 2007 Alone, the U.S. Lost 5.6 Million jobs to Outsourcing. According to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, the U.S. lost 5.6 million jobs as a result of the U.S. non-oil trade deficit in 2007 alone. 70% of these jobs were in the manufacturing sector. [EPI, 10/2/08]

The U.S. Chamber has led the fight against the Employee Free Choice Act, launching a deep-pocketed misinformation campaign. In 2008, the Chamber and other corporate lobbying groups spent $50 million opposing Employee Free Choice, while the anti-union front group, Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, has committed $200 million overall to defeat the bill. Chamber Vice President Randel Johnson called the bill's passage "Armageddon."

In fact, according to a study by the Center for American Progress, the legislation that could pump as much as $49 billion annually into state and local economies at a time when they need it most. Forty of the nation's leading economists, including 4 Nobel laureates, have come out in favor of the legislation, arguing that it would help the economy.

In union news this week...

• Disability service workers at the Ulster-Greene ARC in New York State voted overwhelmingly to join SEIU Local 200United over the weekend. These 600 workers provide services to more than 1,000 people with developmental disabilities-- epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, to name just a few.

• On Friday, SEIU hosted a myth-busting conference call with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and thousands of SEIU members across the country. "This is our moment in history and we don't want to look back and say 'if only we had...'" said Sebelius, urging SEIU members to attend local health care town hall meetings and spread the word that those supporting reform need to write letters to their Congressperson or Senator "so our representatives know we need healthcare reform this year."

• Just eight months after U.S. creditors pulled its credit lines and forced the 100 year-old company whose employees make suits for President Obama to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Hartmarx purchase is (finally!) finalized...thanks largely to the efforts of Workers United members, who saved the company--and their jobs.

• SEIU 32BJ's Training Fund has developed the first-ever Green Buildings Initiative to train building superintendents in the latest, state-of-the-art, best practices in energy efficiency to foster the greening of NYC's buildings.

• Andy Stern discusses healthcare reform with Roland Martin on the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

• "Fixing our country's health care system is a pressing issue for every American, but it's of critical importance to communities of color," writes CIR/SEIU Healthcare President Dr. L Toni Lewis and SEIU Healthcare Chair Dennis Rivera in a guest op-ed on BlackAmericaWeb.com entitled "Why We Need Healthcare Reform Now."

• The NY Times publishes an op-ed by Dr. L Toni Lewis honoring journalist Sidney Zion's work to uncover the connection between hospital staff hours and medical errors.

• The 1021 NewsWire and other SEIU Local 1021 publications win a total of six awards for excellence in writing, design and production from the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA). Congrats!

Private equity firms are some of the most secretive, unregulated financial firms - and they want to buy up failed banks with taxpayers' money while keeping most of the profits for themselves.

SEIU President Andy Stern wrote about these firms' plans on the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal this morning:

Last month, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released draft guidelines limiting the ability of private-equity firms to invest in failed banks. These new guidelines will ensure that the banks are well capitalized, that the details of their investments and loans, like those of any commercial banks, are made available to the FDIC, and that the FDIC and other agencies can prevent a rerun of the Savings & Loan crisis of the 1980s and '90s.

Meanwhile, private-equity stalwarts have been arguing against those guidelines. If we are to believe these guys, any attempt to rein in private equity's ability to invest in bank deals would stifle investment and hinder economic recovery.

They promise they'll play by the rules this time, that we can trust them, that they're looking out for taxpayers. But we've played that game before. And we learned ordinary Americans pay the price when financial markets are unregulated and overleveraged deals--which initially thrived--eventually go bust. [...]

The FDIC's new guidelines are a good first step, but full economic recovery will take more. We must continue to act more boldly and more broadly if we are truly serious about building a new financial model that rewards long-term sustainability over quick profits and fad investments.

These financial wolves want to bring their brand of risk-taking to the same banking industry whose own wild risk-taking helped collapse the economy in the first place.

You can make sure this doesn't happen. The FDIC will soon vote on tougher regulations on these private equity firms - they need to hear from you by Monday.

Click here to write to the FDIC in support of tough regulations for private equity firms.

Read our message to SEIU activists about this campaign below the fold.

According to the Washington Post, the top six U.S. banks set aside $74 billion in 2009 for bonuses and other compensation--up $14 billion from last year alone.

In response, SEIU released its own "Top 5 Ways We'd Spend The $74 Billion." Included in the list were: covering the budget shortfalls of 16 states, including California; paying one year's worth of mortgage for over 6 million families, and giving over $5,000 to every single American that's currently unemployed.

Andy Stern, SEIU International President, has this to say about the report:

"As millions of families struggle just to hang onto their homes and get through the next month's bills, the architects of the economic crisis are using our tax dollar bailouts on the kind of bonus money that finances glitzy Upper East Side Penthouses and glamorous Riviera getaways. We can think of better ways to spend $74 billion--and we bet most working Americans can, too.

"We support legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act to create an economy that works for those of us who aren't caviar connoisseurs, but who work hard every day just to put food on the table."

TOP FIVE WAYS WE'D SPEND THAT $74 BILLION

1. We'd Cover the Budget Shortfall in California - and 15 Other States - COMBINED. Everyone has been focused on state budget shortfalls in recent months, with a major focus on California's $26 billion shortfall. Not only could the six banks' bonuses and compensation fill the California gap, but it could also fills shortfalls in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia (with a few dollars to spare) combined. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 7/24/09; Wall Street Journal, 7/21/09]
2. We'd Give $5,034 to Every Unemployed American. In June 2009, 14.7 million Americans were unemployed. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7/2/09]
3. We'd Cover a Full Year of Health Care for 5.8 Million Families. The average cost of an employer-based family insurance policy in 2008 was $12,680. [Healthreform.gov, accessed 7/27/09].
4. We'd Pay the Mortgage and Maintenance Costs of 6.3 Million Homeowners for a Full Year. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median monthly housing cost for homeowners, including mortgages and maintenance, was $972. [American Housing Survey for the United States: 2007, issued September 2008]
5. We'd Pay a Year's College Tuition for 11.2 Million Students. For the 2008-09 school year, the average tuition cost at a public four-year college was $6,585. [CollegeBoard.com, accessed 7/27/09]

Big banks set aside $74 billion for bonuses and compensation in 2009. "So far this year, the top six U.S. banks have set aside $74 billion to pay their employees, up from $60 billion in the corresponding period last year." [Washington Post, 7/23/09]

Investment banks paid 60% of all compensation in year-end bonuses in 2008. For investment banks, "the bonus figures are based on estimates that about 60 percent of the compensation and benefits expenses reported by the companies will be paid in year-end bonuses, as occurred in past years." [Bloomberg, 10/27/08]