After months and months of publicly insisting furloughs would save the state millions, Schwarzenegger admits that thinking was....wrong.

Gov. Schwarzenegger's private lawyers admitted yesterday in court papers that more than 1,000 workers at five state agencies were furloughed, despite achieving no economic gains for the state - a clear abuse of power. More at www.seiu1000.org.

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

Last week, we learned that the swift action by the President and Congress to pass an economic recovery package earlier this year helped stave off a global economic recession, put our economy back on the path of growth, and helped save hundreds of thousands of jobs.

SEIU was a major proponent of the economic recovery package and we believe we need to continue to make progress on a number of other economic initiatives to build long-term sustainable economic growth--these include passing meaningful financial reform, investing in green jobs, using public pension funds to build a 21st century infrastructure, and creating a new retirement system to protect our future.

Passing Meaningful Financial Reform
Anna Burger writes on New Deal 2.0 about the need to fundamentally change the way we value wealth and work in our country and act now on meaningful reforms to protect our families from future economic crises.

To build long-term economic progress we must:

• Create a strong Consumer Financial Protection Agency to serve as a watchdog against predatory and reckless banking products;
• Crackdown on out of control executive pay that rewards short term risks over long term results;
• End too big to fail once and for all by separating commercial banking from investment banking and raising capital requirements back to levels that promote safe and sound banks;
• Empower shareholders to act on executive pay and break the excessive power of executive-controlled boards;
• Force banks to expand lending to small businesses and state and local governments to create jobs and save critical services;
• Demand banks stop foreclosures and help families keep their homes;
• Reregulate the shadow financial markets--including derivatives, hedge funds and private equity; and
• Investigate, and if necessary prosecute, the big banks and Wall Street for crashing our economy.

In case you missed it--more than 5,000 Americans from 20 states--converged on the American Bankers Association convention in Chicago to demand banks stop fighting reforms that would help protect our families from future crises. It was the beginning of a national movement to hold banks and Wall Street accountable for their reckless behavior.

Investing in Green Jobs
During the first meeting of the President's Economic Recovery Board, Anna Burger shared her perspective on how business, labor and government can work together towards creating a low-carbon, green economy and a movement into sustainable good, green jobs--citing the work SEIU and other Change to Win unions are already doing on the community and national level to lead the way on green initiatives.

The working people taking to the streets this week in the Showdown of Chicago think the amount of money the ABA is spending to lobby against the Consumer Financial Protection Agency is downright scary. To drive their point home, some protesters donned their "Scary Movie"-like costumes a week before Halloween:

At the grand finale of Day 3 of the Showdown in Chicago, a group of protesters dressed like the Grim Reaper held plastic knives that read "making a killing" and "death bonds" at today's protest in front of the American Banking Association's meeting place the Sheraton Hotel, following the protests in front of Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.

As the lobbying arm of the American banking industry, the ABA's members include the big banks that helped cause the crisis that has resulted in widespread economic devastation and led to $17.8 trillion in taxpayer funded bailouts and backstops for the banks. These banks include Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citibank, which together account for 60% of all bank industry assets and mortgages in the U.S---and all received TARP money.

Now the ABA is spending millions of dollars to obstruct meaningful financial reform. Taking on the banksters has never been so imperative---and tomorrow's Showdown in Chicago will be the biggest event so far this week, where roughly 5,000 union members, farmers, small business owners and activists will descend upon the ABA's annual meeting to demand an end to bank's greed.

The march begins at the corner of Stetson and Wacker Drive at 10:30, followed by a march to the Sheraton, and will also feature speeches by Andy Stern, Anna Burger and Tom Balanoff. Will you join us in making our voices heard?

Next week, the members of the American Bankers Association (ABA) are congregating at the Sheraton in downtown Chicago for their annual conference, with appearances by conservative Republican commentators Newt Gingrich and George Will. During the three-day conference, SEIU, Action Now, National People's Action, and dozens of other activist organizations will hold a series of events highlighting the growing discontent with big banks and their over-reliance on greed and profits at taxpayers' expense.

On the Huffington Post, SEIU's Anna Burger discusses why progressives won't be letting the banksters party in peace this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in Chicago:

The financial section of the newspaper is starting to read like the script for a far-fetched crime movie. A group of villains hatch a plot to steal trillions of dollars from unsuspecting Americans. They drive the country into economic chaos, funnel money from families and small businesses into their own pockets, then leave all of us to clean up their mess. And not only do they get away with it, they pay themselves billion dollar bonuses and throw lavish parties to celebrate their conquest.

But this isn't a movie, it's really happening. Wall Street bankers have taken $17.8 trillion of our tax dollars through bailouts and turned them into massive pay and bonuses for themselves. Goldman Sachs alone is expected to pay more than $23 billion just in bonuses this year; that's more than $43,000 a minute, every minute.

So, my question to you is: if you could get all the architects of this scam together in one place, what would you say to them?

Hurry up and decide, because they're all getting together in Chicago this weekend -- and we're headed there to meet them.

The big bank execs are gathering in the Windy City for the American Bankers Association conference. It's a four day celebration of wealth and opulence; some of the items on the agenda include a roaring 1920s swing dancing party, a luxurious riverboat cruise, and celebrity appearances from Newt Gingrich and George Will. And it's all funded with our tax dollars.

Read the rest of Anna's piece on Huffington Post here.

Full report on ABA's actions to lobby against financial reform here. Check out the schedule of the three days of actions in Chicago here, as well as after the break.

It was a sad day for corporations in the financial, insurance, and real estate sector--like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce & the Financial Services Roundtable--who spent a combined total of $321 million lobbying against federal reforms such as limits on bonuses and the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). These groups were concerned that oversight legislation to help rein in greed on Wall Street might actually....rein in greed on Wall Street. "We remain concerned that this legislation will have significant and harmful unintended consequences for consumers, businesses, and the overall economy," the groups wrote in a letter to House members last week.

Thankfully, the House Financial Services Committee didn't feel nearly as sympathetic towards the creators of unfair financial products that scam consumers and taxpayers as they feel for themselves. A recent poll found that nearly 75 percent of Americans believe that the greed and risky decisions of banks and financial companies led to our financial crisis--and our lawmakers agree. Yesterday, the House voted 39 to 29 to move forward with the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, to help put a stop to the dangerous and deceptive products and practices that got us into this mess. The House Financial Services Committee also approved legislation that would impose new rules for credit cards by Dec. 1, moving up the date from mid-February. Democratic supporters said moving up the date was necessary because lenders were using the grace period to hike interest rates.

The American Bankers Association joined the Chamber of Commerce in expressing their disapproval for the legislation, saying it would continue to try to make its case against the agency as the legislation moves to the House floor in coming weeks and, eventually, to the Senate. "We still have major concerns with some principal areas" including "the very broad, ill-defined authority that is granted to this new agency that could be used to justify essentially any regulatory action," said Floyd Stoner, ABA vice president for congressional relations.

Creating the CFPA as part of Obama's broader plan to clamp down on Wall Street is an important step towards preventing much of the reckless lending that contributed to last year's near-collapse of the market. "It's been a year since the financial world collapsed and it is now clear that the greed and excess of big banks, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and their allies could have and should have been prevented," said SEIU's Anna Burger. "Chairman Frank and the Financial Services Committee stood up on behalf of American families by passing legislation to create a strong Consumer Financial Protection Agency--and to prevent business as usual to continue."

According to a recent poll, nearly 75 percent of Americans believe that the greed and risky decisions of banks and financial companies led to our financial crisis.And there's much more to be done. We believe that to be successful, the CFPA must be strengthened to include:

• oversight of auto dealers who receive lucrative compensation in financing auto loans;
• the authority to examine the books of all financial institutions, no matter what size, without cumbersome barriers;
• fixes to the current compensation system which pressures and incentivizes workers to push and sell bad and unneeded products to consumers as a condition of employment; and
• the full authority to stop the sale of credit-related insurance policies that are virtually worthless.

That's why when the American Bankers Association meets in Chicago next week, more than 5,000 taxpayers from 20 states will be there to demand an end to Wall Street's appetite for greed.

Paul Krugman gives a sobering report on the state of banks in today's New York Times. We already know that while giant financial institutions are paying out record bonuses and salaries, they aren't lending to small businesses or helping families that are struggling with their mortgages. But, now, it seems the risky deals Wall Street has been making with our tax dollars are catching up to them - and they're starting to generate losses instead of profits. All of this combined, says Krugman, is having serious negative effects on the economy:

...[L]ast week both Citi and BofA announced losses in the third quarter. What happened?

Part of the answer is that those earlier profits were in part a figment of the accountants' imaginations. More broadly, however, we're looking at payback from the real economy. In the first phase of the crisis, Main Street was punished for Wall Street's misdeeds; now broad economic distress, especially persistent high unemployment, is leading to big losses on mortgage loans and credit cards.

And here's the thing: The continuing weakness of many banks is helping to perpetuate that economic distress. Banks remain reluctant to lend, and tight credit, especially for small businesses, stands in the way of the strong recovery we need.

It's become apparent that nobody knows exactly what banks are doing with the tax dollars we gave them, but the picture is becoming clearer: Wall Street CEOs are collecting huge bonuses for making risky trades, banks are funneling millions of dollars through the ABA to lobby against financial reform, but small businesses and working families are still being denied loans.

This is the opposite of how banks were supposed to use our tax dollars and they know it. It's become clear that they can't control themselves; Krugman suggests we do it for them:

...[W]e desperately need to pass effective financial reform. For if we don't, bankers will soon be taking even bigger risks than they did in the run-up to this crisis. After all, the lesson from the last few months has been very clear: When bankers gamble with other people's money, it's heads they win, tails the rest of us lose.

This weekend, the banks will be in Chicago, partying it up at the annual ABA convention. Thousands of taxpayers are going to meet them there, demanding that they stop using our money to lobby against reform and start cleaning up the economic mess they've created.

Will you demand that the banks meet with us? We're going to deliver your demands to the banks before we arrive and ask them to sit down and listen to Americans tell about how banks have damaged their communities.

With your help, we can put an end to business as usual on Wall Street.

On the eve of the first G-20 summit since the global financial collapse, SEIU has a new report measuring the severe impact the economic crisis has had on working families. The report breaks down not just the cost of the bailouts, but also the (much, much bigger) associated costs that came along with them.

Here are some of the astounding highlights:

• Taxpayers have committed $4.7 trillion to the financial sector over the last year--only $700 billion of that $4.7 trillion was through TARP.
• The bank-induced economic crisis has cost American families $11 trillion in wealth in 2008, nearly 18% of their net worth.
• Americans have lost $6.1 trillion in homeowner wealth since June 2006.

Even banks like Goldman Sachs that returned their TARP funds earlier this year continue to benefit from other bailout programs, such as the $12.9 billion that Goldman received as an AIG counterparty that it will never have to pay back.

Meanwhile, banks continue to...

• Pay themselves millions in bonuses: the nation's top six banks paid out $31.2 billion in bonuses this past winter.
  
• Set aside $$ for future bonuses. In the first half of 2009 alone, banks set aside another $74.4 billion for bonuses and compensation--an amount alone that would solve the budget shortfalls in 15 states, including California.
  
• Make excessive profits on the backs of consumers: banks continue behaviors such as refusing to modify mortgages to prevent foreclosures and reducing their small business lending--they actually now give out less money than they did before their TARP infusion.
  
• Gouge us on overdraft fees. Americans will pay more than $38 billion in overdraft fees alone in 2009, more than $125 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.

The worst part? Big banks and other financial institutions aren't merely back to their old tricks and the same practices that caused the crisis in the first place--they're actually standing in the way of real reform that would protect consumers and prevent a future crisis.

Companies in the financial, insurance, and real estate sector spent $321 million lobbying against federal reforms such as:

• The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency
  
• Limits on bonuses
  
• Loan modification proposals that could help keep millions of Americans in their homes,
  
• And the Employee Free Choice Act--which would provide a much-needed check on corporate power by giving workers a real voice in the workplace.

Read and download the report here:

Trillion Dollar Bank Job -

"We now understand that the actions of a small group of greedy CEOs and Wall Street investors can wreak havoc on the global economy, yet we still haven't taken the necessary steps to prevent a future crisis," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger at a briefing to release the report. At noon tomorrow, outside a secret meeting of the Financial Services Roundtable at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C., workers and community groups will kick off a month of actions in more than two dozen cities across the country.

Download the report here: The Trillion Dollar Bank Job: How Wall Street and the Big Banks Are Holding Up America's Economic Recovery.

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.

Big banks and CEOs didn't mind quick action from Congress when they were begging for billion dollar bailouts--but now that they've got them, they're back to thinking about their next bonus or the latest and greatest way to delay action on President Obama's proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA).

USA Today dishes out a scathing critique of Wall Street's continued practice of paying out big figure bonuses to the architects of our economic collapse. "Wall Street's economic well-being is totally based on taxpayers' money saving them from disaster, and they've already forgotten that," said SEIU's Stephen Lerner. "Americans lost trillions of dollars in wealth from the economic collapse, and while Wall Street got bailed out, it will take years for workers on Main Street to get jobs and work their way out of this economic catastrophe."

The consumer protection reform bill was passed on July 31 and will be brought to a vote in the Senate after the August recess. We need action sooner, not later--click here to fax your Representatives and tell them the U.S. Chamber and big banks shouldn't set the agenda on financial reform.

Congress took a step towards cracking down on corporate and big bank CEO pay today, as the House passed the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009 by a 237-to-185 vote. Today's vote to restrict risky compensation and bonuses would apply to any company with more than $1 billion in assets. It follows mind-boggling report on Thursday that nine of the country's biggest banks--all receiving billions of dollars in bailout funds--had 'awarded' roughly 4,800 million-dollar-plus bonuses.

Today, the average CEO today makes in one day what the average worker is paid in one year. Employment compensation for workers in this country has grown over the past 12 months by the lowest amount on record--a stark reality that stands in direct contrast to the skyrocketing CEO pay and bonuses that have not slowed since our economic crisis hit. Here's a visual to help illustrate our point:

The Penthouse View vs. The Main Street Reality

Bonuses at big banks have even outpaced earnings. CBS News reports that while Goldman Sachs earned $2.3 billion last year and received $10 billion in TARP funds they paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses--more than double their income. "America is not living up to its promise when one of the architects of the economic crisis gets paid billions in bonuses for his failures while his employees take home wages barely above the poverty level," said SEIU President Andy Stern.

The House passage of the bill is an important step to correct the enormous disparity between those at the top and regular working Americans, but much more needs to be done to help Main Street recover. SEIU is calling on lawmakers to pass the Employee Free Choice Act as an essential way to rein in reckless CEOs and corporate greed and speed up economic recovery.

There are two storylines that Bank of America has been pushing about its decision to go through with the Merrill Lynch acquisition, even after it became clear that Merrill was facing billions in losses. The first paints Bank of America as a martyr that decided to bite the bullet and go through with the deal in order to save the broader economy from collapse. The second is that BofA was forced into a shotgun wedding by federal regulators. But recently released emails from Federal Reserve officials raise questions about both of these stories.

As for the notion that BofA returned to the taxpayer trough for a second serving of bailout funds in order to save Merrill and prevent a larger financial catastrophe... According to the Washington Post, the Fed's internal emails show that "the government did not just move to rescue the Merrill Lynch acquisition -- officials also needed to rescue Bank of America," whose "own health still was in a downward spiral. Regulators calculated more than half the decline in Bank of America's capital reserves was the result of internal problems..."

Far from being Merrill's heroic savior, these events raise the question: Did BofA use Merrill as a crutch to garner public sympathy for another taxpayer handout? Or perhaps something even more cynical. The Washington Post reports that when BofA CEO Ken Lewis testified before a Congressional committee on June 11th, "Democrats pressed Lewis to acknowledge he had threatened to leave a major investment bank to a grim fate as a gambit to get public money" (more on that below).

Which brings us back to that second storyline -- the shotgun wedding.

Tomorrow, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis will face tough questioning in his testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at 10:00 a.m.

He'll be asked about his role in the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, the excessive bonuses paid to Merrill executives and the billions that taxpayers have provided to bail out the country from the deep losses and economic damage Bank of America's decisions caused. This will be Lewis' first trip to Capitol Hill since Bank of America failed the federal government's stress tests and a coalition led by SEIU delivered nearly 100,000 "Taxpayer Proxies" demanding that the Bank fire Ken Lewis.

Tomorrow, will Ken Lewis....

a) Apologize for his bank's role in bringing down the economy?
b) Commit to transparency and real financial reform?
c) Commit to ending consumer abuses like exorbitant overdraft fees, predatory financial practices, and the bank's irresponsible lending and acquisitions?
d) Commit to providing affordable healthcare for all employees?
e) Stop lobbying against solutions--such as banking reform and pro-worker legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act--that would give bank workers a voice on the job, protect consumers, end corporate excess, and finally build an economy that works for everyone?

We'll hopefully find out the answers to these questions after tomorrow's testimony. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts---do you think Ken Lewis will do the right thing in in his testimony and commit himself/Bank of America to being a partner (instead of a toxic asset) in rebuilding our economy?

Today, the Change to Win federation and AFL-CIO unions unveiled a unified framework for comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Change to Win leader and UFCW President Joseph Hansen presented the outlines of the immigration system this afternoon in Washington, joined by SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Media and leaders from the United Farm Workers (UFW).

The proposal endorses legalizing the status of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S., and opposes the adoption of employers' incentive to hire undocumented workers rather than U.S. workers. The accord recognizes that if these immigrants are not given adequate incentive to "come out of the shadows" to adjust their status, our country will continue to have a large pool of unauthorized workers--allowing employers to continue to live above the law and exploit workers in order to drive down wages and working conditions, to the detriment of all workers.

The joint announcement and proposal is a critical sign of support for the Administration and Congress to address immigration reform and to ensure that it remains a priority on the legislative calendar. It is also an important sign that immigration reform is a comprehensive part of economic recovery. In a statement, Eliseo Medina spoke on the need to overhaul our broken immigration system:

As we face the most serious recession since the Great Depression--as healthcare costs skyrocket, income disparity grows, and the middle class continues to shrink--the American public wants fundamental reform of economic and social policies that have benefited the few at the expense of the working majority. Immigration reform is no exception. Today's unified agreement is a major step forward that will, combined with the continued leadership of President Obama, Vice President Biden and bipartisan leadership in Congress, profoundly improve the future of all workers and build a stronger American economy for our children and grandchildren.

The framework for comprehensive reform and a national commission to regulate future immigration was developed with the guidance of former Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Key components of the proposal call for:

• An independent commission to assess and manage the flow of future immigration workers, based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need
  
• A secure and effective worker authorization mechanism
  
• Rational operational control of the border
  
• Adjustment of status for the current undocumented population; and
  
• Improvement, not expansion, of temporary worker programs, limited to temporary or seasonal, not permanent, jobs.

"This framework is a roadmap toward real reform--reform that addresses the needs of our nation's workers, families and communities," said Change to Win's Hansen. "We are a nation that respects hard work, family and the pursuit of the American Dream. Our immigration system must hold true to these principles."

Read the AFL-CIO and Change to Win's "Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform."

The Center for American Progress Report (CAP) is out, and the results are definitive: labor unions are a crucial part of fixing our economy.

The state-by-state study reports that even a five percent national increase in unionization rates would pump more than $25 billion into the national economy, $77 million of which would go directly to Maine.

As the study reports, economic recovery starts not with big government bailouts, but with the purchasing power of average Americans. 70% of our nation's economy comes from consumer activity, but with income for the median working age household falling by $2000 between 2000 and 2007, so did the accompanying consumer activity. And an economy built on debt-driven consumption is unsustainable, as we can clearly see today.

Unions have been responsible for the creation of the middle class, and pioneered such benefits as health care, pensions, even the weekend. As Penni Therault, owner of Lots of Tots Child Care and President of Kids First, MSEA-SEIU, says, "We need to lift up as many workers as possible into the middle class...When workers are doing well, our economy does well. And when our economy is doing well, there is more funding to maintain good public jobs and quality public services."

The facts from the CAP report speak for themselves:

Unions Help Workers Achieve Higher Wages

• Between 2004 and 2007, unionized workers wages in Maine were 8.6 percent higher than similarly employed workers not a member of a union


• Maine workers that join a union will earn $1.54 more per hour than their identical non-union counterparts

Workers Wage Growth Lags as Productivity Increases

• If Maine's workers were rewarded for 100 percent of their increases in labor produc¬tivity between 1980 and 2008, average wages would be $23.27 per hour - 29.60 percent higher than the average real wage in 2008.

Unionization Rewards Workers for Productivity Growth

• If the rates of unionization in Maine were the same today as they were in 1983, new union workers in Maine would earn an estimated $144 million more in wages per year.


• If 5 percent more Maine's workers were union members, $77 million would be pumped into the state's economy.


• Non-union workers would also benefit, as employers would be likely to raise wages to match those of workers in a union.

Union employers are significantly more likely to provide employee benefits:

• Nationwide, union workers are 28.2 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 53.9 percent more likely to have employer-provided pensions than similar workers who are non-union.

Three out of five workers would join a union if they could (according to the Peter Hart Research Associates Poll). However, workers attempting to unionize currently face a hostile legal environment, with intimidation by aggressive anti-union employers the norm.

The Employee Free Choice Act would protect workers by ensuring a fair, majority sign up, penalizing employers who break unionization contract rules, and ensuring mediation to thwart bad-faith bargaining, all without big government spending. Boosting workers wages and benefits would provide a much-needed jolt to Maine's economy.

Let's improve our economy the American way, and pass the Employee Free Choice Act in support of unions.

Yesterday, your U.S. Senator, Arlen Specter, announced that he would vote against even allowing a debate about the leveling the playing field with the Employee Free Choice Act.

Honestly, I was shocked. It doesn't make sense. How can someone who is such a strong supporter of the democratic process refuse to allow even a meaningful debate about such an important issue?

Senator Specter and his staff need to hear from you. Please take 5 minutes to call his office and tell him that you're not happy with his decision.

Click here to make a free phone call to Senator Specter.

Senator Specter said he doesn't think we should give employees free choice at work until the economy improves. That's backwards. If we're going to get out of our current economic mess, Pennsylvania will need those secure jobs now, more than ever.

If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, it can help almost 1 million Pennsylvanians and pump more than $2 billion into the state's economy every year.

Can you believe that? That's what Senator Specter is denying your state by not supporting a debate on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Click here to make a quick, free call to Senator Specter and urge him to allow a debate. Just 5 minutes of your time will go a long way.

For Senator Specter's whole career, he's stood up for working people. He knows the struggle of working people who want to join a union.

We need Congress to act as swiftly on real economic recovery for working people in America as they did to bail out Wall Street. Senator Specter can bring this change - but he needs to hear from you now.

Please make this call.

The GOP's new chairman, Michael Steele, has been making the media circuit rounds over the last few days. One of his TV tactics has been to throw red meat at the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Take a look at this FOX News interview where Steele reveals he's open to retribution for Republicans who are brave enough to choose the best interests of their constituents over obstruction:

Specifically, Steele singles out Senators Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and suggests that these elected officials were likely to face primary opponents should they continue down the horrible, terrible, and awful road of bipartisanship. The nerve!

Here's what SEIU's national political director, Jon Youngdahl, said to Greg Sargent over at The Plum Line about Steele's diss:

"Threatening Senators Snowe, Collins and Specter at the ballot box for doing right by their constituents and voting in favor of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is exactly the sort of out-of-touch partisan maneuver that got his party in the electoral position it's in now."

"Hundreds of thousands of families in Pennsylvania and Maine consider the tens of billions in aid secured by Senators Snowe, Collins, and Specter a much-needed lifeline in a time of unprecedented economic instability."

For more information on how these senators stood up for what's right, you can read Anna Burger's email to SEIU activists from earlier this month.

We cannot get our economy back on track without repairing the American health care system. Health care reform is not just a moral imperative, but also an economic necessity. In 2007, the U.S. economy lost as much as $207 billion as a result of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured.

Skyrocketing health care costs add to families' already overwhelming burden, threatening their health and financial security. We can do better. Solving America's health care crisis will improve quality of care, reduce costs and make businesses more competitive.

The urgent need for reform is more apparent now in Tennessee than ever. In the past eight years, health care premiums for family coverage have risen more than 5 times faster than wages. With 7.9% unemployed, many families are at risk of losing their health coverage. The message is clear: Tennessee's families urgently need Congress to take direct action on health care reform.

Supporting Facts

---

• Health Insurance premiums in Tennessee increased by 61.9% from 2000 to 2007, while median earnings only increased a mere 12.1%. The median yearly wage in 2007 for Tennessee was only $25,639, but the average health care premium for a family was $10,606. This means that premiums grew 5.1 times faster than wages.


• In Tennessee, approximately 1,301,000 non-elderly people spent more than 10% of their pre-tax family income on health care costs in 2008. 87% of those people have insurance, but are underinsured. 1,133,000 Tennessee residents with insurance spent more than 10% of their pre-tax income on health care costs, and 333,000 spend more than 25% of their income.


• By 2016, projections show that Tennessee families will have to pay close to $19,400 for health care or over 44 percent of median household income. This would represent a 70 percent increase over 2008 levels.


• In addition, more and more Tennessee residents have been forced into the exorbitantly expensive individual market, as unemployment reaches massive heights. As of December 2008, 241,183 Tennessee residents were unemployed. That reflects a loss of almost 90,000 jobs statewide last year alone, increasing the state unemployment rate by over 2.9 percentage points.


• If the state keeps losing jobs at the rate it did last year, 384,425 people in Tennessee will be unemployed by 2010. 48.35% of insured Tennessee residents depend on their employers for their health insurance. If nothing is done to stem the economic downturn and reform our health care system, 69,259 Tennessee workers will lose their current health coverage, meaning that 28,684 more people will likely enroll in COBRA. That leaves 40,611 people who will have to enroll in Medicaid, fend for themselves on the private market, or become uninsured.


• This year Tennessee faces a $1.4 billion budget shortfall. As of 2007, 29% of all state spending has gone to Medicaid and SCHIP. $7.5 billion went to spending on Medicaid alone.


• As of 2007 there were already 126,186 uninsured children in Tennessee, and more than 714,361 uninsured adults. 276,378 of uninsured adults in Tennessee also live below the Federal Poverty Line. Tennessee's economy lost as much as $3.57 billion because of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured in 2007. That equates to $4,000 per uninsured Tennessee resident.


• Of the top 10 employers in the state of Tennessee, 3 of them are Healthcare Providers. According to the US Census, 209,949 individuals work in the Heath Care Sector in the state & make an average of $3,886 per month, which accounts for $1.0 billion in wages per month.

The health of the American economy cannot improve without addressing the healthcare crisis. Building on the existing healthcare system, quality, affordable healthcare can be guaranteed to every American. It's the reform truly needed to rebuild Tennessee's economy.

We cannot get our economy back on track without repairing the American health care system. Health care reform is not just a moral imperative, but also an economic necessity. In 2007, the U.S. economy lost as much as $207 billion as a result of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured. Skyrocketing health care costs add to families' already overwhelming burden, threatening their health and financial security. We can do better. Solving America's health care crisis will improve quality of care, reduce costs and make businesses more competitive. The urgent need for reform is more apparent now in North Dakota than ever. In the past eight years, health care premiums for family coverage have risen more than twice as fast as wages. With 3.5% unemployed, many families are at risk of losing their health coverage. The message is clear: North Dakota's families urgently need Congress to take direct action on health care reform.

Supporting Facts

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• Health Insurance premiums in North Dakota increased by 74.3% from 2000 to 2007, while median earnings only increased a mere 26.4%. The median yearly wage in 2007 for North Dakota was only $24,255, but the average health care premium for a family was $10,674. This means that premiums grew 2.8 times faster than wages.


• In North Dakota, approximately 155,000 non-elderly people spent more than 10% of their pre-tax family income on health care costs in 2008. 89% of those people have insurance, but are underinsured. 138,000 North Dakotans with insurance spent more than 10% of their pre-tax income on health care costs, and 48,000 spent more than 25% of their income.


• By 2016, projections show that North Dakota families will have to pay around $20,000 for health care or over 41 percent of median household income. This would represent an 76 percent increase over 2008 levels.


• In addition, more and more North Dakotans have been forced into the exorbitantly expensive individual market, as unemployment reaches massive heights. As of December 2008, 12,848 North Dakota residents were unemployed. That reflects a loss of over 1,078 jobs statewide last year alone, increasing the state unemployment rate by over .3 percentage points.


• If the state keeps losing jobs at the rate it did last year, 14,025 people in North Dakota will be unemployed by 2010. 66% of insured North Dakotans depend on their employers for their health insurance. If nothing is done to stem the economic downturn and reform our health care system, 630 North Dakota workers will lose their current health coverage, meaning that 235 more people will likely enroll in COBRA. That leaves 395 people who will have to enroll in Medicaid, fend for themselves on the private market, or become uninsured.


• As of 2007, 14% of all state spending has gone to Medicaid and SCHIP. $513 million of North Dakota's budget went to spending on Medicaid alone.


• As of 2007 there were already 14,305 uninsured children in North Dakota, and more than 53,677 uninsured adults. 16,927 of uninsured adults in North Dakota also live below the Federal Poverty Line. North Dakota's economy lost as much as $269 million because of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured in 2007. That equates $4,400 per uninsured North Dakota resident.


• Of the top 10 employers in the state of North Dakota, 8 of them are Healthcare Providers. According to the US Census, almost 42,000 individuals work in the Heath Care Sector in the state & make an average of $3,264 per month, which accounts for $137 million in wages per month.

The health of the American economy cannot improve without addressing the healthcare crisis. Building on the existing healthcare system, quality, affordable healthcare can be guaranteed to every American. It's the reform truly needed to rebuild North Dakota's economy.

We cannot get our economy back on track without repairing the American health care system. Health care reform is not just a moral imperative, but also an economic necessity. In 2007, the U.S. economy lost as much as $207 billion as a result of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured.

Skyrocketing health care costs add to families' already overwhelming burden, threatening their health and financial security. We can do better. Solving America's health care crisis will improve quality of care, reduce costs and make businesses more competitive.

The urgent need for reform is more apparent now in Iowa than ever. In the past eight years, health care premiums for family coverage have risen almost 4 times faster than wages. With 4.6% unemployed, many families are at risk of losing their health coverage. The message is clear: Iowa's families urgently need Congress to take direct action on health care reform.

Supporting Facts

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• Health Insurance premiums in Iowa increased by 72.6% from 2000 to 2007, while median earnings only increased a mere 18.5%. The median yearly wage in 2007 for Iowa was only $26,247, but the average health care premium for a family was $11,194. This means that premiums grew 3.9 times faster than wages.


• In Iowa, approximately 701,000 non-elderly people spent more than 10% of their pre- tax family income on health care costs in 2008. 91% of those people have insurance, but are underinsured. 638,000 Iowans with insurance spent more than 10% of their pre-tax income on health care costs, and 172,000 spend more than 25% of their income.


• By 2016, projections show that Iowa families will have to pay over $21,000 for health care or over 39 percent of median household income. This would represent a 76 percent increase over 2008 levels.


• In addition, more and more Iowans have been forced into the exorbitantly expensive ndividual market, as unemployment reaches massive heights. As of December 2008, 77,080 Iowa residents were unemployed. That reflects a loss of over 13,100 jobs statewide last year alone, increasing the state unemployment rate by 0.8 percentage points.


• If the state keeps losing jobs at the rate it did last year, 92,989 people in Iowa will be unemployed by 2010. 59% of Iowans depend on their employers for their health insurance. If nothing is done to stem the economic downturn and reform our health care system, 9,126 Iowa workers will lose their current health coverage, meaning that 3,182 more people will likely enroll in COBRA. That leaves 5,944 people who will have to enroll in Medicaid, fend for themselves on the private market, or become uninsured.


• This year Iowa faces a $134 million budget shortfall, and has already depleted its budget stabilization rainy day fund. As a result, the state has instituted a hiring freeze on public employees. As of 2007, 17% of all state spending has gone to Medicaid and SCHIP. $2.6 billion went to spending on Medicaid alone.


• As of 2007 there were already 41,361 uninsured children in Iowa, and 248,817 uninsured adults. 89,178 of uninsured adults in Iowa also live below the Federal Poverty Line. Iowa's economy lost as much as $1.2 billion because of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured in 2007. That equates $4,335 per uninsured Iowa resident.


• Of the top 10 employers in the state of Iowa, 4 are Healthcare Providers. According to the US Census, 142,870 individuals work in the Heath Care Sector in the state & make an average of $3,256 per month, which accounts for $466 million in wages per month.

The health of the American economy cannot improve without addressing the healthcare crisis. Building on the existing healthcare system, quality, affordable healthcare can be guaranteed to every American. It's the reform truly needed to rebuild Iowa's economy.