(Left to right from back row: Jose Rios, Mack Middleton, Etric Betts, David Etheridge -- Director of City of Dallas Human Resources Department, Elaee Thompson, Joe Jimenez, Rene Alcantar, (next row) Maria Arroyo, Mireya Cossio, Steve Jackson, Leon Hobbs).

Members advocating to protect their jobs and get a 2% base pay increase pays off for Dallas SEIU members.

In the worst economy since the Great Depression, and one of the City's worst budget years ever, the City of Dallas announced that there would be sweeping layoffs of over 800 civilian employees and no civilian pay increases, even for performance. However, despite the economy, SEIU members advocated for eight months to raise the standards for four SEIU job classifications, with a 2% base pay increase and to protect their jobs.

The result: No layoffs of SEIU members! Employees within the following SEIU job classifications also received a 2% base pay increase on October 1st: Crew Leaders, Equipment Operators, Laborers, and Truck Drivers.

This victory can be traced back to March meeting with City Manager Mary Suhm, during which she met with SEIU members and leaders to discuss possible ways to raise the compensation standards for the four job classifications mentioned above. In the following months, the SEIU Team continued to advocate for the raise for several months--ultimately making the case for the base pay increase.

To date, SEIU members have been able to make positive improvements in two out of two past budgets. They're now preparing for the new budget, for which they'll begin advocating this coming January for compensating employees for their years of service.

Calling all Texans: SEIU members in Dallas are organizing for positive change every day. Now's the time for all Dallas city employees to join the winning team! Click here to download the membership card to become a member of SEIU Texas. Once you have completed the form, call 214.823.1409 to have somebody pick up your completed membership card.

To learn more about this year's 2% pay increase, plans for next year, and how to attend SEIU Texas's last general membership meeting of 2009, visit www.seiutx.org

The unions in the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC), District 1199 launched their latest TV ad this week taking aim at Governor Jodi Rell for protecting the wealthy in a time of crisis. The unions are delivering a hard-hitting response to Gov. Rell making good on her threat to veto the state budget Democrats pushed through the legislature late last week that would have asked those most able to pay to step up and help solve the economic crisis while preserving vital services.

In 2004, the citizens of California voted to pass the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), legislation that was intended to take a new pro-active approach to improve mental health services for the state's most historically marginalized and vulnerable population. Now Gov. Schwarzenegger and state legislators want to shift $460 million in mental health funding over the next two years into the state's general budget fund instead, to help balance the state's budget deficit.

Mental health workers and advocates throughout California oppose Prop. 1E because it will strip funding for vital community-based mental health services on which hundreds of thousands of Californians rely. Watch SEIU Local 721 mental health worker Joel Solis speak out about the impact of Prop 1E on his clients and urge California voters to vote NO on this ballot measure:

When it comes to saving money and cutting costs, mental health is an area on which compromise should not happen. Help build support to save mental health services in California by signing SEIU's online petition.

Get the facts: Learn more about the cost of mental health cuts and see the SEIU California State Council's May 19th Ballot Recommendations.

"I need your help. Here in California there is a ballot initiative called Prop. 1A that would put a cap on what we spend. Supposedly in the good years, extra money would be put in to a 'rainy day' fund. In lean years, I think, money would be pulled back out."

A few days ago, we received a link to a video on Colorado's experience with TABOR, a law that -- like Proposition 1A in the May 19 special election -- put caps on funding for public services, using low-funded crisis years as the baseline. The video, by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, shows how a so-called "Taxpayer Bill Of Rights" ended up costing taxpayers even more than before, while turning Colorado into one of the worst-funded states in the country for health care, education, senior services, and just about everything else.

Well, one of SEIU Local 1021's members in Sonoma County -- an Employment and Training Program Coordinator, Alix Shor -- felt compelled to dig deeper. She wanted to know if the video was true (will Prop. 1A guarantee budget disaster every year?) or just campaign propaganda from her union. So she wrote and asked a lifelong friend now living in Colorado.

"On the other hand, if Prop. 1A doesn't pass, the budget goes back to the Legislature whom I would like to fire every single last one of them for their doing nothing since Prop. 13 passed many years ago and completely ruined the state you and I grew up in. Excuse the rant."

Later, she e-mailed her friends and co-workers her friend's report:

"The video plus Ruth's take on what has happened...leads me to believe that as bad as it is to send the Legislature back to work on the budget, the long term effects of Prop. 1A will be so much worse."

Read Ruth's report after the jump, as well a quick rundown of how Prop. 1A would affect California's budget and fiscal situation if written into the state Constitution.

Update: Yesterday evening, the House voted to approve the budget and, just after 12:00am this morning, the Senate followed suit. Details coming soon.

The AP is reporting that Congress is expected to take a final vote on a budget resolution as early as today. Both the House and Senate Budget Committees released their own proposals last week that protect the key investments President Obama had requested for fixing health care and restoring the economy.

Included in both proposals is the creation of a health reform reserve fund that would establish funding for health care without increasing the federal deficit. The plans recognize that the only way to stabilize our economic future is to reign in out-of-control health care costs for patients, businesses, and state governments.

This budget is critical for the future of health care. The Senate is voting on amendments to it as we speak. Use these final hours to call your members of Congress and tell them to vote YES on a budget that makes a serious commitment to health care reform.

Click here to be connected to your members of Congress right now.

Click on one of the live feeds from C-SPAN 2 to watch the floor of the U.S. Senate where the vote on the budget is expected to happen at any time:

The White House issued a report on health care this morning that serves as a sobering reminder of the urgent need for reform.

Released online at HealthReform.gov, the report documents the widespread effects of the health care crisis across the United States. It addresses three main areas of concern:

1. The rising cost of care.
The data show that, without significant changes to the health care system, Americans won't stand a chance at keeping up with rising costs. In the last 9 years alone, insurance premiums have doubled, while wages have only increased at a fraction of that rate.

High costs aren't just hitting patients, though. American businesses - large and small - are losing their competitive edge as they try to maintain decent health benefits for their employees. GM, for example, now spends more money on health care costs than they do on steel to make cars.

Health care spending is straining the balance sheets for federal and state governments as well. If we keep doing things the way we are now, health care costs are projected to be 25% of the GDP by 2025. Already, the United States spends approximately $2.2 trillion on health care - about 16.2% of the GDP.

You can see individual drill downs on key states in the Cost of Doing Nothing reports we released on SEIU.org last month.

2. Lack of access to care.
These numbers are particularly scary. It's clear that no matter who you are, where you live, or what your job is, you're at risk of being hit by the health care crisis. In the last two years alone, more than 86 million Americans went uninsured at some point; and even those with insurance couldn't always get the care they needed.

Just having a job isn't a guarantee that you have health care anymore - not by a long shot. In fact, more than 80% of uninsured Americans are members of working families. The cost that's had on workplace productivity alone is estimated to be as high as $135 billion every year.

And, in the eyes of the health care system, not all people are created equal. Lack of access to care is especially problematic for women and communities of color. That's why SEIU was proud to join in the launch of the Health Equality Project last week.

3. Lack of quality care.
Despite the fact that we pay so much for it, the quality of health care in America is among the worst in the developed world. Based on 37 performance indicators, the U.S. earned a final grade of "D" for the quality of our health care.

That's having a very real effect on patients. Nearly 98,000 Americans die from medical errors every year. That's more than double the number of Americans who die from car accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS.

We have the best nurses, doctors, and health care professionals in the world, but they're stuck in a broken system that leaves them with too many patients and too few resources. The result is thousands of patients falling through the cracks every year.

Right now, America's health care system is defined by high costs, poor access, and low quality. We're better than this. But if we don't act quickly, we'll be here again one year from now with new charts and new numbers - all showing the problem has gotten even worse. Tell Congress we can't afford to wait any longer; tell them to take the first steps toward fixing our broken health care system.

There are lots of lessons to be learned from previous attempts to fix health care - and a few critical mistakes that we cannot repeat. One of those mistakes is assuming that, just because a piece of legislation doesn't say "health care reform" in the title, it isn't critical to solving the crisis.

In 1993, one of the first mistakes they made in Washington was failing to put a significant down payment on health care in their annual budget. Here's our chance to right the first wrong of 1993.

President Obama's budget proposal is before Congress right now. Not only does it address health care reform, it commits more than $630 billion over the next ten years.

Clearly, the crisis we face in our health care system is unprecedented; and fixing it will take an equally unprecedented commitment to finding an immediate solution. That's what makes the president's budget so historic. For the first time, a president is upfront with a commitment for resources necessary to winning health care for everyone.

But the Congress needs to follow suit. Last week, we asked you to write letters to your members of Congress. You responded in a big way - with more than 4,000 letters to 459 different members of Congress.

The letters have gotten their attention. But, if we want to really win their hearts and minds on the importance of this issue, they need to hear from us, too.

That's why, this week, we're picking up the phone and calling Capitol Hill - urging Congress to pass the president' budget right away. Will you help us make 2,000 calls by the end of next week?

We've learned our lessons from 1993 - we simply won't get anywhere on fixing health care if we don't pass this budget. Tell Congress to get it done so we can get started right away on drafting a plan for real reform.

President Obama recently unveiled his budget for getting America back on track - and it includes a significant downpayment toward fixing health care. As usual, opponents of reform are on the attack, attempting to turn our national discussion on health care into an uninformed, schoolyard brawl. Just check out Rep. Zach Wamp's recent appearance on MSNBC:

And yes, he really just did say "Obama wants to give health care to everybody" - as if providing affordable, quality care to everyone is a gross perversion of American values.

We cannot let Rep. Wamp and others drive this debate. That's why we're mobilizing to write Congress in support of the president's $634 billion investment in health care - it's time Congress step up with the same commitment toward reform. Let's bring our voices to the table, and silence opponents like Rep. Wamp. After all, when it comes to the budget, the facts are clear.

The president's budget:

1. Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care - the first step in guaranteeing everyone equality, affordable health care.
2. Invests an additional $330 million in training nurses, doctors, and

dentists.
3. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And, if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won't go up one dime.
4. Stops unnecessary government subsidies to health insurance companies.
5. Negotiates for better prescription drug prices using Medicaid's tremendous bargaining power - saving taxpayers $19 billion dollars.
6. Introduces a new nurse home visitation program focused on helping at-risk young families.
7. Commits to double the funding for Cancer research.
8. Stops waste by reducing Medicare overpayments to private insurers through a competitive system based on the market.
9. Asks hospitals to make sure patients are ready for discharge to avoid unnecessary re-admissions.
10. Hospitals and doctors will be rewarded for delivering high quality care.

Last night, President Obama told Congress that America cannot afford to wait in fixing its health care system. He also reminded us that while fixing our system will not come cheaply, the cost of doing nothing is far greater:

"None of this will come without cost, nor will it be easy, but this is America. We don't do what's easy. We do what's necessary to move this country forward, and for that same reason, we must also address the crushing costs of health care. This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes. In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages, and in each of these years, 1 million more Americans have lost their health insurance. It is one of the main reasons why small businesses close their doors and corporations ship jobs overseas, and it is one of the largest and fastest-growing parts of our budget. Given these facts, we can no longer afford to put health care reform on hold. We can't afford to do it. It's time."

Today, news reports suggest that the president intends to make a serious investment in fixing, once and for all, our broken health care system. According to the Associated Press, the White House budget includes $634 billion for health care over the course of 10 years. The report continues:

"A senior administration official says Obama's budget calls for financing the overhaul by trimming Medicare spending and limiting tax deductions for upper-income earners. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the budget won't be released until Thursday."

So far, it's been a great week for the movement to fix health care. But we've got to keep building our movement if we want to make real reform happen this year. If you haven't already, get involved by adding your name to "keep health care on the map" as Obama brings his budget to Congress.

Listen to some key comments on the need for immediate fiscal relief to state and local governments --- from leading experts on states budget and tax policy who met with SEIU local leaders recently.

Nick Johnson, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Michael Ettlinger, Center for American Progress
Kevin McCarty, U.S. Conference of Mayors