"We are extremely concerned to hear eyewitness reports that civil society organizations, including trade unions, have been tear-gassed and beaten by the armed forces," said SEIU Executive VP Eliseo Medina in a statement yesterday. "Many have been injured and dozens have been arrested. We have received information from Honduras that there are lists of trade union leaders threatened with detention and whose personal safety is at risk."

SEIU is standing in solidarity with sister organizations in Honduras--the Unitary Central of Honduran Workers (CUTH), the Confederation of Honduran Workers (CTH), the General Workers Central (CGT), and the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), which represents over 45 million workers in the hemisphere--in condemning the military coup that resulted in the illegal ouster of democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya. President Zelaya was working to free his country from decades of poverty until he was injudiciously halted in these efforts by the Honduran military.

"SEIU calls on the United States government and the international community--particularly the Organization of American States and the United Nations--to take all measures within its diplomatic powers to protect democracy in Honduras," stated Medina. "We also ask that they intervene to ensure that all Honduran civilians, particularly trade unionists and social activists denouncing the coup, are safe and secure and will not be victimized by violence and repression. Read SEIU's entire statement on the coup in Honduras.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user venstresida

The votes were counted last week in an important union election among 10,000 home care workers in Fresno County, California. Now that the dust is settled, here is more detail about what the Fresno home care election victory signifies--and what it means going forward.

SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger was interviewed by the Brennan Center for Justice while attending "The Next Democracy" conference at the White Oak Conservancy Center in Florida. "When workers had a voice on the job, when unionization was high and one in three workers had a union, not only was it good for those workers, it lifted up everybody," said Burger in the interview. "It raised the standards across America in terms of wages, healthcare, retirement security and the ability to give our kids a better life."

Watch Anna as she discusses organized labor's role in democracy, as well as the Bush legacy.