In response to today's New York Times piece on the Employee Free Choice Act, SEIU President Andy Stern issued the following statement:

In yesterday's "Fair Pay for Caregivers," the New York Times editorial team urged the Department of Labor to change the regulation within the Fair Labor Standards Act that classifies home care workers as "companions," making them exempt from minimum wage protections and overtime pay. Citing the hard work and critical role they play with an aging boomer population, the NY Times editorial declares that "Home care aides should not have to wait any longer for the fair pay they have been denied for so long."

It's been over two years since the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the 1974 interpretation of the FLSA law ("Long Island Care at Home v. Coke"), denying home care workers a living wage and overtime compensation. That definition of the law 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. Under a new administration, this ruling did give the Labor Department--not the court--the right to change that interpretation under a new administration. However, more than two years later, the regulation still stands.

Sadly, one of the women who played a leading role in the fight for increased wages and paid overtime for in-home care aides, Mrs. Evelyn Coke, passed away today. Ms. Coke was the plaintiff in the "Long Island Care at Home v. Coke" case challenging the "companionship exemption" for home care workers. Read more about Mrs. Coke in the New York Times article highlighting her struggle for justice and a fair wage.

Support to extend federal overtime and minimum-wage requirements to home care workers--a growing labor force that earns average hourly wages lower than that of all other jobs in healthcare--has been increased in recent months. In June, a group of 15 Senators led by Senator Harkins (D-IA) sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis advocating for the Department of Labor to expand federal wage and hour laws to the estimated 1.5 million home care workers in the U.S.

"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 institution," reads the letter sent to the DOL.

Secretary Solis responded with a statement saying she shares the concerns of the Senators who are advocating for fair treatment of home care workers, telling an AP reporter that her department was looking into whether the exemption should be overturned. Since that time, no real steps have been taken towards the federal reform that is urgently needed to provide home care workers with the compensation and respect they deserve. Please ask Department of Labor Secretary Solis to include home care workers in the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act

Last week, a flurry of publicity heralded Maine as one of the leading health care reform campaigns in the country. From New York to Los Angeles, the stories and concerns of every day Mainers demanding health care reform are being heard.

Watch Video of New Coverage Here:

Stories like those of Greg Douglas, a carpenter from Harpswell who, after surviving a catastrophic car wreck that smashed his ribs and collarbone, was forced to pay over $165,000 in medical bills. The experience inspired Greg to fight for the quality, affordable health care that would have saved him from years of medical debt he has under our current system. From the LA times:

He said he was drawn into political advocacy after neighbors in Harpswell, Maine, raised $3,000 toward his hospital bills with a church dinner and collection cans in stores.

Douglas said he may not understand the intricacies of President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, but he knows he wants affordable health care for everyone, so nobody has to beg.

"People aren't standing up to be counted," Douglas said, explaining why he allowed his name to be used in a political YouTube video. "I just hope I can help somebody else.

Across the country the voices of our activists are also being heard. An article in the New York Times featured many of our activists speaking out their support for a strong public health plan option. Activists like Keith Brown and Lisa McSwain:

"So many people are being priced out of the private market," said Lisa McSwain, who runs a steeple restoration company in Edgecomb. "In my community, where so many people are self-employed, everyone wants a public option." ...

Keith Brown, who owns a small engineering firm in Washburn and attended the rally in Presque Isle, said he had written Ms. Snowe urging her not to allow a watered-down version of a public option.

"Typically I wouldn't bother to speak out on something like this," said Mr. Brown, who said he paid about $15,000 a year in premiums and deductibles. "My fear is that even if the public option passes, it will be altered to the point where it would leave out people like me that are trying to make a living."

From our ralliesagainst rising medical costs perpetuated by the profits of big business insurance, to our video featuring the hard working families forced to 'beg for change' because of a lack of affordable insurance, our activists are bringing to light what many of us have known all along: that our health care system is broken, and Maine's citizens are the ones that suffer for it. Pastor Bozeman of Augusta explained his support of health care reform that involves a strong public health plan option to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network:

Pastor Bozeman, of the South Parish Congregational Church in Augusta, says health insurance is beyond the reach of nearly 120,000 Mainers, largely because insurance company practices are fundamentally unfair. Bozeman says the scriptures demand more from a society that seems to recognize health care only for those lucky enough to be able to afford it.

"Whenever I personally am confronted with someone in our town who is going through a tough time and needs a hand, I often wonder as I look into their eyes and meet their gaze if it isn't Jesus himself looking back at me, testing me, to see how I treat the least of these who are members of his family," Bozeman said.

Coverage in the Portland Press Herald, the Morning Sentinel, the Kennebec Journal, and the Bangor Daily News emphasize both the enthusiasm of reform's supporters, as well as Maine's importance in the upcoming health care reform plan. With your help, we can continue to make a difference in historic fight for a health care plan that provides a quality, affordable option for all.

Are you a small business owner in Maine? Do your part by signing our health care pledge here: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/MESmBizPledge

View more pictures of our Anthem protests here: http://picasaweb.google.com/farkas424/MainersAreDyingForHealthCare#

According to the New York Times, Citigroup is raising salaries by as much as 50 percent for investment bankers and other top executives, to accommodate for smaller annual bonuses.

The Times also reports on to whom the bonuses will go:

Legal and risk management employees, as well as those in the credit card and consumer banking units, whose pay is typically skewed toward salary, rather than bonuses, are expected to receive smaller increases.

Anna Burger, Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union released a statement in reaction to the news:

Color us skeptical, but not surprised: The top dogs at a company who took three taxpayer-funded bailout packages worth $45 billion, while wrecking the economy and keeping the bulk of its employees at near-poverty levels, have decided to reward themselves once more. Unfortunately, not all raises are created equal.

Citigroup needs to commit to give any new raises to front-line bank employees, who struggle just to make ends meet while dealing with the rising costs of healthcare, not top executives who have contributed to this mess.

America's big banks stand out as a startling example of an era of corporate excess that needs to come to an end if we're going to rebuild an economy with strength that can last. By passing the Employee Free Choice Act, we can begin to build an economy that doesn't just work for people in the top floor executive suites.

The New York Times is out in front with an early endorsement of a public health insurance option as part of any plan to fix health care:

A new public plan - to offer consumers greater choice, keep the private plans honest and, one can hope, restrain the relentless growth in health care premiums and underlying medical costs - seems worth trying.

The editorial does an excellent job of outlining the savings and benefits that would be accrued for both patients and businesses as a result of a public health insurance option. It would cut down administrative costs, reduce premiums, and improve stability of coverage for consumers.

The article also quells anti-reform groups' arguments that a public health insurance option would end employer-based health insurance as we know it. According to the Times, "[i]nnovative, nimble private plans with well-integrated service systems might outperform any government plan, just as some now outperform Medicare through better coordination of services, stronger preventive care and broader benefits."

There's a general consensus that you can't fix health care with one silver bullet. Real reform requires a smart mix of policies that will address issues of access, quality, and cost. But, as the Times points out, a public health insurance option is an essential ingredient.

Prodded by transition team officials for President-Elect Barack Obama, 12 union presidents held a "unity" meeting January 7 in Washington. They emerged pledging "broad participation" in the effort to reunite the American labor movement.. In attendance at the session, called by former House Democratic Whip David Bonior, chair of American Rights at Work, were presidents of five of Change to Win's seven unions, six of the 56 AFL-CIO unions, and new National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel.

"The goal is to create a unified labor movement that can speak and act nationally on the critical issues facing working Americans," the presidents said in a joint statement said, adding that "while we represent the largest unions, we recognize unity requires broad participation." Other topics included mobilization for labor's legislative agenda - headed by the Employee Free Choice Act - and the structure of the revised labor movement.

Attending the meeting, besides Bonior and Van Roekel, were AFL-CIO member union presidents Larry Cohen (Communications Workers), Leo Gerard (Steel Workers), Ron Gettelfinger (Auto Workers), Gerald McEntee (AFSCME), Ed Hill (IBEW) and Randi Weingarten (Teachers). Change to Win presidents attending were Joe Hansen (United Food and Commercial Workers), James Hoffa (Teamsters), Terry O'Sullivan (Laborers), Bruce Raynor (UNITE HERE) and Andy Stern (Service Employees International Union). AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and Change to Win Chair Anna Burger also joined the session.

Steven Greenhouse from the NY Times gave more inside scoop on the meeting in his article last week, "Labor Calls for Unity After Years of Division:"

"There was a real sense of commitment to unifying our movement again," Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said Wednesday. "It was clear that many of us felt that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and we really want to do things to help American workers get their rightful place in society."

---

Originally published by the Metropolitan Washington Council, an AFL-CIO "Union City" Central Labor Council whose 200 affiliated union locals represent 150,000 area union members.

The New York Times hit the nail on the head when it called for swift passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. In thoughtful analysis of workers' role in an economic recovery, The Times wrote:

The measure is vital legislation and should not be postponed. Even modest increases in the share of the unionized labor force push wages upward, because nonunion workplaces must keep up with unionized ones that collectively bargain for increases. By giving employees a bigger say in compensation issues, unions also help to establish corporate norms, the absence of which has contributed to unjustifiable disparities between executive pay and rank-and-file pay.

The Times understands that ensuring workers have the freedom to form unions is vital to rebuilding our middle class. Workers in unions earn 30 percent higher wages and are 59 percent more likely to have employer provided health coverage.

President-elect Obama and the new Congress should act with urgency to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to ensure that workers, and not just CEOs, can benefit from the economic progress they help create.

Read the full editorial here.

P.S. Know someone else who should receive our updates on the Employee Free Choice Act? Tell your colleagues to sign up for these updates on this page: http://freechoice.seiu.org/page/s/freechoiceupdate

There is a great editorial in The New York Times today on unions and the Obama Administration's commitment to labor--giving basically a full-throated endorsement of the Employee Free Choice Act and why it is such an important part of an economic recovery program.

Employee Free Choice legislation:

"The measure is vital legislation and should not be postponed. Even modest increases in the share of the unionized labor force push wages upward, because nonunion workplaces must keep up with unionized ones that collectively bargain for increases. By giving employees a bigger say in compensation issues, unions also help to establish corporate norms, the absence of which has contributed to unjustifiable disparities between executive pay and rank-and-file pay."

Unions during a recession:

"The argument against unions -- that they unduly burden employers with unreasonable demands -- is one that corporate America makes in good times and bad, so the recession by itself is not an excuse to avoid pushing the bill next year. The real issue is whether enhanced unionizing would worsen the recession, and there is no evidence that it would...Without a united front, workers will have even less bargaining power in the recession than they had during the growth years of this decade, when they largely failed to get raises even as productivity and profits soared."

Labor issues to become higher priority:

"If Mr. Obama's campaign promises are to be kept, that mindset cannot prevail again. Mr. Obama's creation of a task force on middle-class issues, to be led by Vice President-elect Joseph Biden and including Ms. Solis and other high-ranking officials, is an encouraging sign that labor issues will not be given short shrift."

Too many relevant points to quote them all, so read the entire NY Times editorial here.