The following message was sent to our email list today. Please copy and paste the text and send the text to your friends, family, and coworkers to ask them to join our campaign.

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Hi Friend,

Did you see what President Obama said on Labor Day?

It's why I support the Employee Free Choice Act-to level the playing field so it's easier for employees who want a union to form a union. Because when labor is strong, America is strong. When we all stand together, we all rise together.

And according to news reports, Vice President Biden expressed his support for the Employee Free Choice Act, too, saying it will pass this year.

For that to happen, we need your help. Click here to join our campaign:

http://action.seiu.org/page/s/joinforefca

This week hundreds of people will meet with their Members of Congress, and we'll make thousands of calls to their offices to show the broad public support for the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Employee Free Choice Act will level the playing field against corporate greed by giving working people a free and fair chance to get ahead in this rough economy. We can pass the Employee Free Choice Act, but we need your help to do it.

Can you join our campaign to fight corporate greed? Click here to join:

http://action.seiu.org/page/s/joinforefca

President Obama said it best yesterday: When we all stand together, we all rise together.

Together we can get our economy back on track with the Employee Free Choice Act. Thanks for your help.

In Solidarity,

Michael Whitney
SEIU.org

Today, in a meeting to convene a diverse group of labor, advocacy, faith and business leaders, SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina met with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to discuss immigration reform.

As an added bonus, President Barack Obama made an unscheduled visit to the meeting and reiterated his support of pushing through a comprehensive immigration package this Congress.

The Hill reports that:

"Obama urged leaders to work together in order to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Advocates took the presidential visit as a sign of the administration's commitment to the issue."

In the first of its kind meeting -- to convene a diverse group of advocates to begin sketching a framework for reform-- Vice President Medina issued the following statement:

"Today's White House meeting with Secretary Napolitano and a diverse group of labor, faith, and business leaders is an important step towards shaping smart, comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the comings months. As the leader of the Department that has for far too long been tasked with the impossible job of enforcing broken, outdated laws, Secretary Napolitano knows first-hand how critical it is that we pass sweeping immigration reforms that are smart, enforceable and strengthen our economy for the long term.

"In coming months as the immigration debate heats up, Secretary Napolitano will play a central role in promoting real progress on the issue. In order to achieve the smart policy solution that the American public wants, we urge Secretary Napolitano to stand up publicly, light the fire and become an outspoken champion of comprehensive reform.

"Enforcement without reform has been tried for decades with dismal results. Instead of solving problems, it wastes taxpayer dollars, marginalizes immigrant communities and degrades the quality of life for all workers. In particular, expansion of employment verification programs like E-Verify is like painting the roof when the house is on fire; it's the wrong solution at the wrong time.

"For every day we delay on passing a solution to our broken immigration system, we impede our nation's economic recovery, create unnecessary divisions in our workforce, and cost taxpayers billions of wasted dollars.

"It is unacceptable to live in a country where millions of workers are living in shadows. The only way to ensure that every job in this country is filled by a legal permanent resident is to get undocumented immigrants out of the underground economy, into the system and under the rule of law. Diverse groups are aligned on the need for a comprehensive solution. Now we need the Administration and Congress to take bold steps, roll up their sleeves and pass smart reforms once and for all.

Shortly after the meeting, Secretary Napolitano issued a statement on the meeting saying:

"Today's meeting on comprehensive immigration reform was an important opportunity to hear from stakeholders and build on the significant time I've spent on the Hill meeting with members of Congress on this critical subject. I look forward to working with President Obama, my colleagues in Congress and representatives from law enforcement, business, labor organizations, the interfaith community, advocacy groups and others as we work on this important issue."

Since the 1940's, the old International Ladies Garment Workers Union building in NYC's Garment District has served union members. It's been home to generations of clothing and textile workers, housed a health center and provided services for members and the surrounding community.

After a 4-year marriage gone bad between UNITE and the former hotel and restaurant employees union, HERE President John Wilhelm has decided that the home of UNITE garment workers, as well as the nation's only union-owned bank, now belong to him.

Retired garment workers spent their lifetimes building this union. We've heard a lot from lawyers and John Wilhelm, but don't the workers matter? "We paid for this building with our blood our sweat and our tears." said retired garment worker and former UNITE member Joe Raico. Watch a video of real workers telling John Wilhelm what they think:

What you can do:

« Ask John Wilhelm to respect workers and retirees and end the destructive fight between our union Workers United, formerly UNITE, and his.

« Share this video with your friends and colleagues so the workers' voices can be heard.

More at www.workersunitedunion.org.

We just sent out this email about the outrageous editorial the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published this week. Read the email and then use the tool to write a letter to the editor--we must take a stand for workers in Arkansas.

With the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act still going, it was bound to break Godwin's Law: yesterday the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial board "unequivocally" equated the Employee Free Choice Act to.... Nazis. The newspapers' anti-Employee Free Choice editorial ends with this:

Have you noticed? Political parties supposedly dedicated to the workers' welfare have a way of undermining their rights. They may begin by bullying management but wind up dictating to labor, too. And everybody else. For a European example to beware, note the sad history of the grandly named National Socialist German Workers Party, aka Nazis.

The "Workforce Fairness Institute" and "Center for Union Facts" both linked to the editorial approvingly and without distancing themselves from the Nazi association.

Think Progress reports:

Corporate front group tweets approvingly about editorial equating Employee Free Choice Act with Nazism.

Today, the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) -- which is a corporate front group, "founded by several longtime Republican operatives," that is lobbying against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) -- tweeted approvingly about an editorial in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette that unequivocally equates EFCA with Nazism.

The editorial says that "American public opinion came to the defense of the secret ballot when it was about to be junked. It needs to stay vigilant against these sly little provisions intended to achieve the same end."

WFI's Mark McKinnon (background on ex-Bush strategist McKinnon here) has previously warned that Employee Free Choice is equatable with "tyrannies and socialism." In November 2008, the National Journal reported that WFI "has been doing grassroots work in 16 states for about six months," in opposition to EFCA. When asked by the New York Times, WFI's Mark McKinnon "would not say which companies are financing the institute, founded by several longtime Republican operatives." So although the group will not identify its funders, the National Journal has also reported that WFI is likely funded by big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot.

Recently, deceptive ads about the Employee Free Choice Act ran in Arkansas and Nebraska, falsely claiming that organized workers do not have a say in negotiations over their wages and benefits and implying that employers are handing out raises to their employees with the union that is standing in the way. The ads are paid for by the Employee Freedom Action Committee (EFAC), and EFAC, like its affiliated anti-EFCA corporate front group Center for Union Facts, is run by corporate lobbyist Rick Berman. Beginning to see the ties that bind here?
Comparing those who support a workers' rights to mass murderers is beyond the pale and completely undermines the Democrat-Gazette's credibility as a legitimate news outlet. We believe such an outrageous, offensive claim by Arkansas' largest paper demands a strong rebuttal. Let the editors of the Democrat-Gazette know what you think about their Nazi comparison. Write your letter to the editor now.

UPDATE, 4:00 p.m.: Former Sen. Norm Coleman announces his concession. Al Franken will be the next senator from Minnesota!

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that Al Franken won the state's U.S. Senate election last November against incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.). "During the election, Senator-elect Franken made clear he will work hard to rebuild our economy through real healthcare reform and the Employee Free Choice Act, as well as tackling the long-term challenges we face on the environment, keeping college education affordable and fixing our broken immigration system," said SEIU's Anna Burger.

Today's decision begins the last chapter in a story that began almost two years ago, when then-candidate Al Franken participated in SEIU's Walk a Day In My Shoes program, becoming the first Senate candidate to do so. Watch the video of Franken's WAD with SEIU member and nursing home worker Ulysses Bridges in Minnesota.

Timing matters and it's well past the time for Minnesota to recognize Al Franken as the duly elected Senator from Minnesota--and send him to Washington. "Minnesotans took the time to conduct an extensive and thorough recount process, but now that all reasonable legal options have been exhausted, Minnesota deserves its full representation in Congress," said Burger. "We call on Governor Pawlenty to pursue the state's best interests and end this contest instead of favoring those who would allow the recount to continue for purely partisan reasons."

When the U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposed early versions of the healthcare bill Tuesday, we weren't surprised. This is, after all, the same group that colorfully told the Associated Press it was "time to unload the powder and fill the musket" in their fight against health care reform. Call us cynical, but we didn't think they were planning on using that $100 million "campaign to defend the free market" on tea parties and Civil War reenactments.

The fact is, America's healthcare system is broken and all the right-wing continues to do is champion the status quo and purposely distort the reality of what fixing healthcare will mean to millions of American families. The Chamber's assault on the current bill is simply the latest in a string of attacks on common-sense healthcare reforms during the course of their existence. Here's our "Top 10."

Top 10 Historical Chamber Quotes Against Healthcare

10. U.S. Chamber of Commerce Denounced Patients' Bill of Rights As Special Interest Giveaway To Trial Lawyers. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said that 2001 of the Patients' Bill of Rights "should be called the Trial Lawyers' Right to Bill...adding new mandates and expanding liability will only serve to increase insurance costs and undermine employers' ability to offer this valuable benefit." [U.S. Chamber of Commerce Press Release, 6/12/01 ]

9. U.S. Chamber Spokesman Said OSHA Is a "Blatant Denial of Fundamental Fairness." When describing the structure of the Labor Department within the Executive Branch rather than the Judicial Branch of the government, Richard Berman, director of labor law for the United States Chamber of Commerce, said "This has a chilling effect on an employer's exercise of his right to appeal and is thus a blatant denial of fundamental fairness." [U.S. News & World Report, 11/24/75]

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vigorously Opposed Occupational Safety Regulations and "led the fight to defeat the 1968 bill." In an article written between the initial bill supported by President Johnson and the second bill, that passed, supported by President Nixon, the New York Times reported: "The first legislation providing for a comprehensive nationwide system of health and safety standards was proposed last year by President Johnson. Strongly supported by labor, the bill ran into immediate and vigorous opposition from industry, led by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States." [New York Times, 12/10/69; New York Times, 3/19/70]

8. U.S. Chamber President Called OSHA "An Abysmal Failure." In 1980, Richard L. Lesher, President of the U.S. Chamber of Congress, charged, "OSHA at best has been a major disappointment, at worst an abysmal failure." "To date, there has been no solid documentation that OSHA has yielded any gains in safety or health," said Lesher. [AP, 4/1/80]

7. U.S. Chamber Spokesman Compared Employer Mandates to Jumping on a "Runaway Train." In 1989, U.S. Chamber Spokesman Frederick J. Krebs was asked by the Washington Post about employer mandated coverage and said, "Health-care costs are out of control -- so being forced to provide these benefits is like being told to jump on a runaway train." [The Washington Post, 4/13/89]

6. Referring to Mental Health Parity Legislation, Chamber Officials Said Personal Tragedy is a "Poor Way to Make Legislation." Complaining that opposing Republicans on mental health parity legislation put them in an awkward position, Neil Trautwein, manager of health care policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, "It's tremendous to have someone with the stature of Pete Domenici or Alan Simpson get up and describe these personal tragedies, but it's often a poor way to make legislation," says Trautwein. "An emotional argument late in the night is not the way to make policy." [The Washington Post, 6/19/96]

We thought we'd save the best for last, so: be sure to read the "top 5" quotes, after the break.

This week, SEIU Executive VP Eliseo Medina is in Mexico City meeting with key legislators and labor leaders on the importance of working together to improve labor rights and economic opportunities for workers on both sides of the border. "In order to build an immigration system that puts an end to the senseless suffering of so many families on both sides of the border, labor, social and political organizations in both countries must work together to build comprehensive reforms that are just and humane," Medina remarked to El Universal during a press conference with key reporters in Mexico City.

In other immigration reform news....

A temporary victory on E-Verify: On Friday two harmful E-Verify amendments were defeated in the House Appropriations committee for the Department of Homeland Security. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Rep. Ken Calvart (R-CA) had proposed two separate E-Verify amendments to the House Appropriations bill for FY2010, but both amendments failed. The Kingston amendment would have required government contractors to run all employees and new hires through E-Verify. Rep. Calvart's amendment would have made E-Verify permanent in the House Appropriations bill, but it received resistance from, most notably, Rep. David Price who argued that the E-Verify will be addressed during a larger immigration reform debate.

Bush Rule Bolstering Deportations Is Withdrawn: Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. reversed a Bush administration ruling that had weakened the ability of immigrants facing deportation to argue that their lawyers did a bad job. The original order, issued just days before the inauguration of President Obama, held that immigrants did not have a constitutional right to effective lawyers in their deportation hearings. That 11th-hour decision abruptly closed off one of the most common avenues for appealing deportation decisions.

U.S. Temporarily Suspends Policy of Deporting Widows of Citizens: The Department of Homeland Security said last Tuesday it is temporarily freezing a policy of deporting widows and widowers of U.S. citizens, a sign of the Obama administration's interest in new approaches to immigration. Only a few hundred people were at risk of deportation under the policy, but critics viewed it as one of the most painful consequences of President George W. Bush's immigration crackdown.

Throughout the middle part of the 20th century--when more than a third of working Americans belonged to a union--American workers generated economic growth with increased productivity and were rewarded with higher wages. But this link between greater productivity and higher wages has broken down.

In the past 50+ years that have passed since America's middle class was expanding and the economy was soaring, former labor secretaries Robert Reich (1993 - 1997) and Ray Marshall (1977 - 1981) have seen an economy weakened by a combination of personal greed, individual irresponsibility and unsustainable financial conditions. In Sunday's Chicago Tribune, Reich and Marshall explain why the Employee Free Choice Act is critical to getting our economy back on track.

While the debate surrounding the Employee Free Choice Act continues to grow, the underlying principles behind the measure shouldn't be swept under the rug or marginalized for political convenience. We have a president and secretary of labor who both support making it easier for workers to join unions. We shouldn't squander this opportunity for change.

Our country's history, Reich and Marshall say, has shown that unions are necessary to give the middle class the bargaining power it needs for better wages and benefits and the opportunity to fulfill the elusive American dream.

The years following World War II saw the largest increase in union membership in U.S. history, and along with it came increased productivity and shared prosperity. We can repeat this, but we must reform our obsolete labor laws so workers can join unions without the roadblocks so many face.

Putting more money in workers' pockets would provide a needed boost for the long-term growth of U.S. economy by giving consumers the purchasing power they need to buy more of the goods and services our economy produces. Especially, say the former labor secretaries, because "a vital component of our nation's recovery is making sure that we don't return to a bubble-and-bust economy, where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed."

Today, employers are "more than twice as likely as they were in the 1990s to use 10 or more tactics...to thwart workers' organizing efforts." A very important feature of the Employee Free Choice Act, Reich and Marshall remind us, toughens penalties against companies that violate their workers' rights by using union-busting tactics like intimidation, harassment, or threat of fire.

The principles that are the foundation of the Employee Free Choice Act -- giving workers a direct path to form unions, toughening penalties against employers who break the law and helping workers secure a first contract in a reasonable period of time -- are ones we must never waiver on.

The sooner the Employee Free Choice Act is enacted, the better -- for U.S. workers and for the U.S. economy. Because in this economy, "people should be able to bargain, not beg, their way into the middle class."

Read the whole editorial here.

A group of 15 Senators led by Senator Harkins (D-IA) have sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, urging the Department of Labor to expand federal wage and hour laws to an estimated 1.5 million home care workers in the U.S., one of the fastest-growing professions in the country today.

In-home care providers belong to a growing labor force that earns average hourly wages lower than that of all other jobs in healthcare. These front-line caregivers also lack employment security, healthcare benefits, or even workers' compensation.

When the Department of Labor (DOL) amended the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1974 to cover domestic workers, it was to address concerns that wage and overtime protections would be extendeded to "companionship services" provided by teenagers, family members or friends on an occasional or informal basis [example: babysitters].

In reality, the FLSA has been anything but fair when it comes to home care workers. In the summer of 2007, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the 1974 interpretation of the FLSA law ("Long Island Care at Home v. Coke"), which excludes home care workers. The Court's decision to deny home care workers a living wage and overtime compensation by upholding the "companionship exemption" essentially put the teenager who occasionally watches your kids on the same level with a worker trained to provide full-time and long-term care for seniors and disabled persons with essential care needs.

However, this 2007 court ruling also gives the agency -- under a new administration -- the right to change that interpretation. "[...] A professional caretaker is simply not the type of informal and casual relationship that Congress sought to exempt," reads the letter to the DOL.

"In the three decades since the exemption was created, the numbers of home care workers and their responsibilities have expanded dramatically as the population has aged and more and more people are choosing long-term care services in their homes rather than in institutions. Home care, increasingly, has become not casual work performed by a friend or family member but a full-time regular type of employment.

"It is critical that these professional workers, who provide essential services to our nation's elderly and disabled, have the same right to minimum wage and overtime pay as enjoyed by other workers."

SEIU, as part of a coalition that aims to shave $2 million in healthcare spending by implementing changes to care delivery in the long term care field, sent a letter to the Obama administration last week recommending cost savings by expanding home- and community-based services. Secretary Solis said on Friday that she shares the concerns of the Senators who are advocating for fair treatment of home care workers. "As secretary of labor, I intend to fulfill the department's mandate to protect America's workers, including home health care aides, who work demanding work schedules and receive low wages," Solis said.

This morning, the Morning Joe crew of MSNBC decided to go on an anti-union tirade. Clearly, they didn't drink the coffee handed to them by their unionized colleagues that help to get their show in the air.

After a rant from "smart" money man Jim Cramer (who, in recent months, has admitted that he's "gotten a lot of things wrong" and that he "should do a better job") on the terribleness of unions, the entire on-air team decided to weigh in.

The discussion went as far as co-host Mika Brzezinski claiming that unions "cripple the system that makes a company work." Together, they failed at naming a single "successful" unionized company - even though they all work for one.

Watch it here:

As mentioned above, the Morning Joe crew needed to look no further than their colleagues. GE, which owns NBC-Universal (and thusly MSNBC), is one of the world's largest companies, and made more than $18 billion last year. In total, 13 different unions represent GE companies.

Media Matters takes this issue a step further, wondering aloud if this might have anything to do with the fact that the members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA union have protested NBC-Universal in recent weeks. These fellow brothers and sisters have been working without a contract for nearly two months, and little progress has been made to reach a new agreement.

Perhaps that's what's leaving the Morning Joe crew with such a bitter taste in their mouths.

One more thing - today is day two of Starbucks' official sponsorship of Morning Joe. That would be the same virulently anti-union Starbucks pushing the "For CEOs, By CEOs" alternative to the Employee Free Choice Act that Morning Joe trumpeted in this morning's segment.

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.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that more and more Wal-Mart employees want a union. The distorted "big bad Union vs. Company" image of organized labor depicted in the story is typical of the bias that is promoted by mainstream media. But it is not the real story--the real story is the workers on the ground who are desperate for change.

A new documentary by UFCW that tells the story of Wal-Mart's war on their own workers. In the video, ten workers from coast-to-coast detail the company's response to their organizing efforts (hint: it's not exactly warm and fuzzy).

After watching this video, doesn't Wal-Mart's slogan of 'Save Money, Live Better' seems particularly accurate? These workers need your support to affect real change at Wal-Mart.

Spread the word about Wal-Mart employees' collective struggle for dignity at work - tell your friends about Wal-Mart's anti-worker policies and add your signature to the growing list of activists who support rights in the workplace for hardworking Wal-Mart employees.

May Day, a day historically used to celebrate the the contributions of working people, has become the day for the immigrant rights movement in recent years. This May 1st, thousands of workers, labor leaders and community activists are taking it to the streets to demand justice for all workers and pressure Congress to pass comprehensive reform that puts an end to the Bush administration's immigration policies.

From DC to Los Angeles and everywhere in between, people will be showing their support for President Obama's plan for immigration reform in 2009. "We want to move this process," Obama said at a news conference yesterday on his 100th day in office. "We can't continue with a broken immigration system. It's not good for anybody."

Labor and community activists will rally at Malcolm X Park to march to the White House, as part of the larger DC march for immigration reform expected to have a turnout of around 5,000 activists. "This is a perfect time to express our support for the President's position on immigration reform and add some public pressure on Congress," says Jaime Contreras, District Chair and Area Director of SEIU Local 32BJ, who is sponsoring the event with National Capital Immigrant Coalition and CASA de Maryland. Other cities with large expected turnouts include Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Visit www.ANewDayForImmigration.org/ for more info on May 1 marches across the country.

May Day actions: We're trying to gather photos and coverage of May 1 events where SEIU Locals are participating to feature on the SEIU Blog and in CONNECT@SEIU. Please send your photos and articles featuring SEIU May 1 activities to newmedia@seiu.org.

Today marks the 100th day Obama has been in the Oval Office. Over the past three months, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Congress have made major strides to rebuild America for working families. "President Obama has made it clear from day one that we will not be able to rebuild our economy stronger than it was without a greater voice, and greater prosperity, for American workers," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger in a statement, highlighting workers' engagement during the Administration's first 100 days:

Countless hours by SEIU members and other workers reaching out to our neighbors and co-workers helped pass an economic recovery bill that is putting people back to work. Writing letters to our Representatives and newspapers until our hands hurt helped pass a budget with a real down payment on health care. Continuing to call our Senators until we have their numbers memorized will restore the freedom to form unions so that workers, not just CEOs, can benefit from economic progress.

Read Anna's full statement. In the YouTube video clip below, SEIU President Andy Stern talks about the amazing change we've seen over Obama's 100 Days: a stimulus, the passage of SCHIP, the passage of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a budget bill with green jobs, the introduction of the Employee Free Choice and more. Watch now:

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 5,000 member SEIU-SOULA (Security Officers United in Los Angeles) Local 2006 will join community organizations in a three-mile march to commemorate the 41st anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death. The march will focus on the issues that Dr. King fought for all his life: quality jobs, quality education, safe neighborhoods--and, of course, the link between civil rights and labor movements that Dr. King worked so hard to forge.

"The coalition that can have the greatest impact in the struggle for human dignity here in America is that of the blacks and forces of labor, because their fortunes are so closely intertwined," said Dr. King. "Our needs are identical with labor's needs: Decent wages, fair working conditions, liveable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community."

Speaking about the focus on quality jobs, SEIU-SOULA President Faith Culbreath said, "We want to make sure that jobs become good jobs...that the community can benefit from." Read about the April 4th LA march event.

In the first independent poll conducted this year on the issue, Americans are firmly and overwhelmingly in support of not only the Employee Free Choice Act, but of workers' rights and of labor in general.

Here's what Gallup found:

• 53% support "a new law that would make it easier for labor unions to organize workers."
• 55% say it's "important" for Congress to pass "a new law that would make it easier for labor unions to organize workers."

What does this mean, besides the fact that Americans stand firmly behind the Employee Free Choice Act? It also shows that despite a multi-million dollar campaign by corporate interests to lie about the bill and smear working people, the public wants the Employee Free Choice Act. We found the same to be true when the same corporate interests tried and failed to influence the 2008 election.

The fact that only 3% of those surveyed had no opinion on the issue shows that there aren't many people out there to convince, one way or the other. Americans simply like unions, and that view is concrete.

The poll also showed that more people need to hear more about the Employee Free Choice Act. Please take a minute to tell your friends and family about our campaign.

The 14-point majority also becomes even more impressive with a quick look at the phrasing of Gallup's questions. Gallup used a less-than-neutral phrase, "labor unions to organize workers," in its survey - with no further elaboration on the benefits of unions or the Employee Free Choice Act. If anything, this shows that our opposition's demonization of "big bad labor unions" has no effect whatsoever.

It'll be interesting to see how these front groups try to dismiss or spin these Gallup numbers. The similarity in numbers between responses to both questions shows that there's a strong internal validity to this poll.

But given the fact that our opposition has had no prior qualms in merely making stuff up, we're pretty excited to see what kind of imaginative spin they'll come up with.

But while Americans do know what unions can do to improve their lives, the poll also showed that 39% of Americans don't know much about the Employee Free Choice Act. Be sure to take a moment to tell your friends about Free Choice and this new Gallup poll.

You can read Gallup's write-up on this poll here, or watch editor-in-chief Dr. Frank Newport discuss the poll's findings:

The 12th annual Freedom to Marry Week is being celebrated right now (February 8 - 14) in cities across the nation, and asking supporters to do one thing for marriage equality: talk. This year's theme to raise awareness is "7 Conversations in 7 Days," encouraging people to begin talking openly about marriage equality, its context within the social justice movement, and why it is so important that we end discrimination in marriage for lesbian and gay couples.

SEIU International Executive VP Mary Kay Henry writes about what this movement means to her personally and to the labor movement on Freedom to Marry's blog today, Straight Talk on Marriage. Read it here:

The fight for the freedom to marry is dear to me, for safeguarding my own partnership and for realizing the same goals of social and economic justice that we advance every day at SEIU and in the labor movement.

I have worked for thirty years to ensure that health caregivers--nurses, technicians, ambulance drivers, home care workers--can do their jobs safely giving high-quality service to people in their communities while having a say in their working lives and their government.

Even in hard economic times, the health care sector continues to add jobs. And even though caregivers' votes, along with those of other working people, have won elections--even though we have put important allies in power, such as President Obama--caregivers don't have as decisive a voice as we might want in our economy or in establishing and protecting equal rights at the federal and state level.

But through SEIU, the conscience of caregivers and working families speaks loudly and clearly. We are the largest union in North America, uniting more than 2 million members. Five years ago, at our International Convention in 2004, we made winning equal rights and benefits for all our members a priority in bargaining and legislative campaigns at every level of our union.

We passed a resolution supporting marriage equality. In it, we committed to opposing any laws and constitutional amendments that deny equal rights. We will continue to stand against any campaign or candidate who uses antigay, anti-union, anti-worker policies as a wedge to divide our communities or states.

In the past year, we made good on these commitments on several fronts, including the landmark quest to gain, preserve, and now win back marriage equality in California. We cheered the court ruling for equal marriage in Connecticut, and we will assist in future drives to secure and defend this indispensable form of equal protection.

My union's motto, "stronger together," applies not simply to the strength that health caregivers and other workers enjoy by joining forces through a union. It applies to our union's broader vision of a nation that includes, respects, and rewards each worker, where a CEO and a nursing home caregiver are equal under the law and where our founding ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not a promise for the few, but rather a contract with every American that we work as one to make good for all.

We hope that as we walk forward together, you will find opportunities to add your voice to our own for workers' freedom to form a union in a climate without coercion or intimidation. It is in this spirit of shared values and timely collaboration that I am proud to support Freedom to Marry in its fight for marriage equality.

The organization Freedom to Marry has a list of activities you can participate in during the week, so check it out to get involved.

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Mary Kay Henry is an International Executive Vice President of SEIU and a member of Freedom to Marry's Voices of Equality. SEIU is the largest and fastest growing union in North America. She is the leader of the SEIU Healthcare Division and has devoted her life to helping America's health caregivers form unions, improve their jobs and the quality of care, and advocate for a more rational and humane health care system. She is a founding member of SEIU's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Lavender Caucus.

Can you believe it? President Obama nominated a pro-working family Secretary of Labor! How novel.

But for some conservatives in the Senate, the prospect is too much to handle. They're doing all they can to block Rep. Hilda Solis from becoming our next Secretary of Labor simply because she supports the interests of working people.

More than 10,000 of you have already signed our petition to the Senate in support of Solis' nomination, but we need to grow that number before the full Senate vote takes place tomorrow.

Click here to watch our new video about Hilda Solis, then sign our petition to the Senate.

http://action.seiu.org/page/s/confirmsolis

So who is Hilda Solis?

Hilda Solis is a champion of the middle class. She's fought for green jobs, fair pay for women, and children's health insurance. Raised by two union members, Solis is an experienced leader who has fought to restore balance to our economy and fairness for working families throughout her entire career.

Our country loses thousands of jobs every day. In the midst of our economic crisis, America's workers need a strong advocate at the table. Hilda Solis is the perfect person to be our Secretary of Labor - and it's time she was allowed to get to work.

Learn more about where Hilda Solis stands by watching our video and signing our petition.

Click here to sign the petition: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/confirmsolis