Hundreds of Workers Head to Washington Monday to Press Lawmakers, Lobbyists and CEOs on Need for Workers' Voices in Rebuilding Economy

Next week, 350 SEIU members from across the country will come to Washington, DC to tell lawmakers, lobbyists, and corporate CEOs to stand with them and take immediate steps to create an economy that works for everyone--not just those at the top.

Corporate CEOs and lobbyists are spending millions of dollars to stop President Obama from creating the change we voted for in November. Even worse, they are using our tax dollars to oppose laws that will help working families. They want to continue down the same failed economic path of the past eight years--lower wages, higher healthcare costs, and an uncertain future for our families.

On Monday, workers, religious leaders, and community allies will join SEIU member lobbyists for a 3 p.m. rally on the northwest corner of Lafayette Park to tell corporate CEOs to stop standing in the way of an economy that works for everyone. On Tuesday, workers will sit down with their Senators and Members of Congress to share their stories about being fired, intimidated, and harassed by their employers for trying to form a union and discuss the importance of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Workers will also visit the offices of eight major corporate industry associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to ask for a meeting with the groups' top officers and call on them to stop spending millions of dollars lobbying against common-sense legislative solutions to our economic crisis.

The actions are part of SEIU's Change That Works campaign--a campaign in more than 30 states to bring economic solutions to Main Street by ensuring passage of comprehensive healthcare reform and the Employee Free Choice Act. Stayed tuned for more details about next week's member mobilization kick-off events, leading up to nationwide "Take Action Against Corporate Excess" demonstrations in 50+ cities March 19th.

Read more about SEIU's Grassroots Lobbyists program through our Change That Works campaign here and check out blog posts written by two of our member lobbyists:

• "My First Week in Washington DC with SEIU," by Mike Kingsbury, an RN from Colorado who has been an active member of the Nurse Alliance of CO for many years and also worked with SEIU on the Obama campaign.
  
• "Standing Up for Homecare Workers in Washington," by Theo Jackson, from Scotts Valley, CA, who was one of five workers to share his story at the Feb. 4 Employee Free Choice Act rally on the Hill to urge Congress to support the legislation.

This week, SEIU is launching our Change That Works campaign--a new state-by-state effort to bring economic relief to millions across the country, help fix the nation's broken healthcare system, and guarantee workers have the freedom to choose a voice at work. This campaign will be a massive, grassroots movement to turn America's unprecedented hope into unparalleled progress. SEIU has set aside $10 million to jumpstart Change That Works campaign efforts and will be mobilizing more than 1,000 members and staff to work full-time in 35 targeted states.

Andy Stern joined a live video chat broadcast on Ustream with bloggers and activists to discuss the campaign at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. Hundreds of viewers tuned in to watch and have their questions answered, thanks in part to two of the largest progressive blogs -- Daily Kos and AmericaBlog -- both linking to the stream along with a few others to help us get the word out.

Watch the Q & A video chat with Andy below:

Working Americans and health care consumers offer views & ideas on Obama health plan

Despite the busy holiday season, Americans throughout the country - from caregivers like nurses, doctors and pharmacists to ordinary health care consumers - have been gathering to hold their own health care meetings. You've brought your friends, your family, like-minded individuals, and even those who have different points of view together to share their ideas and input on health care reform that comes from the ground up.

News report after news report has been gracing our inboxes over the holiday season - from national papers like the New York Times to small, local papers from your areas.

Try this out - it's unbelievable:

1. Go to http://news.google.com. That's the Google News site.
2. Type in "obama health care discuss," and then click "search."
3. Voila! - that's right, there are that many articles that have been written about your health care discussions from around the country.

And it's not just the sheer volume of stories, it's what's contained within them. Each news story contains powerful anecdotes from meet-ups that include personal stories, concerns about the current health care system, and amazing recommendations and ideas on how to improve how we deliver care in this country.

We encourage you to read their reports in their own contexts. Because each and every meet-up has been a true discussion, picking and choosing small bits takes away from the power of reading them in their entirety - each is a portrait of our health care system.

Here are five highlights from the coverage:

1. New York Times: "At House Party on Health Care, the Diagnosis Is It's Broken"
2. San José Mercury News: "Citizens group answers Obama's call on health care"
3. Flint Journal (Michigan): "Health care reform topic of discussion at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Flint"
4. Norwalk News (Connecticut): "Group discusses U.S. health care"
5. The Herald-Mail (Maryland/West Virginia/Pennsylvania): "Group eyes big changes in health care"

We couldn't be more proud of the work that all of you are doing. You've taken the initiative, and this is the result. It's what real grassroots mobilization looks like. Keep it up!

(On a side note: We held our own health care meet-up here at SEIU a few weeks ago - read about the discussion and watch the video footage from the meet-up on SEIU's blog here).