Are There No Prisons? Are There No Dumpsters?
Jun 18, 2010 - Wherein a conservative think tank spokesperson and a talk radio host do their best Ebenezer Scrooge impressions ... Read more...
Crusade Against Public Employees Masks Wall Street's Abuses
Jun 02, 2010 - As a direct result of Wall Street excesses and corporate abuses, pensions took big hits during the recent market crash that put the American dream of retiring with dignity and security at risk for public sector and private sector workers. For a healthy dose of reality, visit our fact check refuting attacks on public sector workers' pensions here. Read more...
Round-up: Organizing Victories & Recent News From Around the Union
May 28, 2010 - In case you missed it....organizing successes, contract victories and recent news from SEIU Local unions in New York, California, Missouri, Texas, New Hampshire, Oregon, Maine and Minnesota. Read more...
SEIU at the 2010 Green Jobs, Good Jobs Conference
May 04, 2010 - The Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference kicked off today in Washington, DC, bringing together many clean economy leaders from the world of politics, activism, labor, and business to brainstorm and collaborate on how we can best turn the idea of green jobs into reality. SEIU local and division leaders are presenting on several panels during the May 4th - 6th conference, organized annually by the Blue Green Alliance. Read more...
Monterey County Workers Block Benefit and Wage Takeaways
May 04, 2010 - No takeaways. This is what SEIU Local 521 Monterey County employees won at the negotiating table on Friday after they held press conferences, presented millions in budget solutions, and carried out a series of rolling unity demonstrations and rallies. Read more...
Debunking the Myth of the Wealthy State Worker
May 03, 2010 - The Grover Norquists of the world have waged a coordinated, decades-long war on public sector employees. Whether you're a teacher, fire fighter, social worker or engineer-- nobody has escaped the right's smear campaign. The misguided conclusion that lavish pay and benefits have become a way of life for public workers couldn't be farther from the truth. Read more...
Why SEIU Arizona is Against the New Immigration Law
Apr 30, 2010 - Overburdened police departments, swamped justice systems, an unfunded re-deployment of resources at the expense of the residents of cities and counties who will continue to pay for services that fewer public service employees struggle to deliver--these are reasons enough for SEIU Arizona to be against SB 1070. Immigration reform is a complicated issue. It's also a federal issue. The state "solution" signed by Governor Brewer isn't a solution at all for working people and Arizona's local communities, and puts public services at risk. Read more...
Sting, John Legend and Anna Burger Fight Climate Change
Apr 26, 2010 - On April 25th, SEIU's Anna Burger joined an all-star lineup on the National Mall to commemorate Earth Day and challenge people to step up efforts to save the planet. "The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our time," said Burger to a crowd of over 100,000. "And inaction is unacceptable because we know that the health of our planet and the health of our economy are intertwined." Read more...
Labor Links: Checking in with SEIU Locals
Apr 19, 2010 - Stave off that case of the Monday blahs by checking out what's happening with SEIU members around the country....read news, campaign updates and ways to take action from SEIU Locals in California, DC, New York, Arizona, Washington, Illinois, Missouri, Maryland and Illinois below. Read more...
Creative Union Campaign Spotlight: UNISON
Apr 19, 2010 - This "why join a union?" video from UK public services union and SEIU global partner, UNISON shows the importance of labor unions for people who work, thanks in large part to footage of President Obama. It's pretty powerful for a 60-second video. Read more...
Special Tax Day Edition...What Public Services Are YOU Thankful For?
Apr 15, 2010 - Every year, conservatives use April 15 to rally against taxes and government spending. We think it's time to get the public thinking of the services our tax dollars pay for that we often take for granted. "Collect taxes, but don't cut services" is the suggestion from SEIU members in LA, who are protesting service cuts and furloughs proposed by their city's mayor. Read more...
VIDEO: LA City Worker Takes NBC News on a Baywatch Stroll to Show How Cuts Affect Coastline
Apr 13, 2010 - Like other LA City professionals, Stacee Karnya is on a 10% furlough. She spent her furlough day with a TV crew from NBC Nightly News on the beach in Santa Monica, where LA City employees test the water to keep swimmers and surfers safe from toxic runoff. Read more...
Sodexo "Spring Cleaning" Begins at CUBE Conference in Chicago
Apr 12, 2010 - Today, schools throughout the country are in a financial crisis that is unprecedented in recent history. On Friday, a delegation of activists and workers were at the Council of Urban Boards of Education (or CUBE, part of the National School Boards Association) conference in Chicago to deliver a report entitled "Profits First, School Kids Last: Exposing the High Cost of Sodexo." Read more...
SEIU's Gerry Hudson Talks Labor and Progressives
Apr 12, 2010 - SEIU Executive VP Gerry Hudson has long dedicated himself to the cause of organized labor, such as nursing home employees like his own mother. Earlier this week, he joined several panelists at Georgetown's Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor to discuss how the current labor movement fits within the progressive movement and the importance of refocusing our work in the Obama era. Read more...
First day back at the bargaining table for Workers United and Hugo Boss
Apr 08, 2010 - Following a concession by Hugo Boss to back off from their staunch position to close their only U.S. clothing factory, the retailer agreed to resume negotiations with Workers United on behalf of the 350+ Cleveland suit makers whose jobs are at risk. Following their first bargaining session with Hugo Boss since December 2009 today, Workers United issued this statement... Read more...
Labor Links Round-up
Apr 06, 2010 - April 6, 2010: A few interesting things happening around the union in DC, New York, Washington, Connecticut, Maryland, Canada, California and New Mexico.... Read more...
Unemployment Benefits Lapse for 212,000 Out-of-Work Americans
Apr 05, 2010 - Sadly, the glow from Friday's good news that the U.S. gained 162,000 jobs in March--the largest job gain in a single month in the past three years--dimmed greatly today with the expiration of unemployment benefits due to Congressional inaction and irresponsibility. Taking a page right out of KY Sen. Bunning's playbook, Senate Republicans led by Oklahoma's Tom Coburn blocked a $9 billion measure containing one-month extensions of unemployment insurance and COBRA health coverage on March 25. Read more...
Do YOU Count?
Apr 01, 2010 - Happy National Census Day!2010 Census forms began making appearances in mailboxes around the country a few weeks ago, and so far the Census Bureau has reported an approximate 54 percent national participation rate. This year, a full count is more important than ever. Read more...
The largest Medicare fraud ever in the nursing home industry?
Mar 30, 2010 - According to SEIU's research, confirmed by the Washington Post, California-based nursing home company North American Health Care (NAHC) may be falsifying patient records and overcharging Medicare by tens of millions of dollars each year. Putting a stop to this kind of pattern of fraud could begin to fulfill President Obama's promise of cost savings in Medicare through the reduction of waste, fraud, and abuse. Read more...
Mid-week Locals Round-up: In Case You Missed It
Mar 24, 2010 - Recent events, political action and news updates from SEIU Locals around the country in New York, Ohio, Maryland, California, New Hampshire, Washington, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Florida. Read more...
VIDEO: WSJ Takes On Interest Rate Swaps
Mar 24, 2010 - Earlier this month, we launched a campaign calling on attorneys general across the country to investigate swaps deals in their states. We also put together a video to help you become an expert on these shady swaps in 90 seconds. Read more...
March for America: 200,000 Turn Out For Immigration Reform
Mar 22, 2010 - SEIU International leaders Andy Stern, Eliseo Medina and SEIU member leader Athena Jones stood shoulder-to-shoulder with 200,000 immigrants, union members and activists on Sunday in a rally on the National Mall to demand Congress pass immigration reform. March for America is being reported as the biggest political mobilization since President Obama's inauguration a year ago. Read more...
SEIU Battleground Poll: What are Democrats' and Independents' Concerns Regarding Congress?
Mar 16, 2010 - On behalf of SEIU, the Benenson Strategy Group conducted 1,218 interviews with registered Democrats and Independents in CO, NH and NV in February. Three big takeaways from the poll and memo: 1. No one party is without blame 2. Voters need and demand change and 3. Dems control their own future. View more polling result insights here. Read more...
LA City Workers Steal the Spotlight at Mayor's Pre-Oscar Party
Mar 15, 2010 - To spotlight the impact that 4,000 proposed layoffs and drastic service cuts will have on the entertainment industry, LA City workers held a mock red carpet event and an awards ceremony to honor the best in City services. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton understands gets how the proposed cuts will make LA a bad place for the film industry to do business--it's too bad Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council can't get on his level. Read more...
Help Maryland put big banks on notice
Mar 15, 2010 - On Wednesday, Maryland could become the very first state to change its bad relationship with the big banks. Already, the big banks and the Maryland Bankers Association are fighting this bill. They like things just the way they are. Help pass this bill into law--tell the legislature about your experience with the big banks: http://action.seiu.org/mdmovesmoney Read more...
1199SEIU RNs Report Back From Haiti
Mar 15, 2010 - On February 8, two 1199SEIU RNs flew from New York to the Dominican Republic and were then transported to Haiti to attend to the victims of the earthquake that hit the capital Port-Au-Prince on January 12. Claudia Warrington and Marie Fontaine were both born in Haiti, and both still have relatives residing in the most devasted areas. Both volunteered knowing they would have to stay two weeks on their own time and would receive no monetary compensation. Read more...
L.A. Votes to Move Its Money
Mar 05, 2010 - Just moments ago, the LA City Council voted to adopt the "big banks" bill into law. This is a huge blow to Wall Street banks that refuse to invest in our communities - and it only happened with your support. Thousands of you wrote letters to the Council that were adopted into the official record. And dozens more took our message directly to the banks in L.A., where City Councilmember Richard Alarcon joined us to speak out against their harmful practices. Read more...
What 14,000 Voices Strong Looks Like
Mar 02, 2010 - On Monday, SEIU Healthcare 775NW home care workers delivered 14,000 petitions to legislative leaders and the Washington state Governor's office--all in support of new revenue to avoid devastating cuts to long term care. Read more...
Tell Hollywood: No Hugo Boss on the Red Carpet
Mar 02, 2010 - You would think that if you're selling high-end fashion like Hugo Boss does, you could afford to pay decent wages to the people who make them. And you'd be right. That's why actor Danny Glover is asking stars not to wear Hugo Boss on the red carpet at Sunday's Academy Awards. Read more...
GOP Filibuster Kings "Taking A Stand" on Backs of Unemployed Americans
Mar 01, 2010 - Two Republican Senators have decided extending benefits programs for more than 1.1 million Americans is less important than getting their pet projects enacted. As a direct result of Sen. Bunning and Sen. Kyl "taking a stand" on the backs of the unemployed, the Senate recessed for the weekend without taking action to reauthorize UI and COBRA health benefits created by the Recovery Act. Read more...
SEIU's Andy Stern 'Honored' to Serve on Obama's National Debt Commission
Feb 26, 2010 - Today, SEIU President Andy Stern was chosen by President Obama as one of his six choices to serve on a bipartisan commission to recommend ways to reduce the national debt. Stern put out a statement today on his appointment to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility. Read more...
Insurer Anthem Blue Cross resents attempts to protect consumers from outrageous rate increases
Feb 25, 2010 - The Foundation for Patient's Rights has a new ad up, highlighting the recent news of the astronomical latest rate increases (39%!) by big insurer Anthem in California. Anthem, which is owned WellPoint--which insures more Americans than any other company--is pushing double-digit premium hikes in 11 states across the country. Read more...
House Financial Services Committee Hearing: Is Additional Stimulus Needed?
Feb 23, 2010 - "The question being asked here today is should additional stimulus be adopted by the Congress, given the state of the economy," said Barney Frank today at the opening of the House Financial Services Committee hearing. Then he continued, saying, "The relevant question is, what would things have been like in its absence?" Much more to come in today's 2:00 p.m. hearing on the prospects for employment growth and the need for additional economic stimulus, including testimony from SEIU's Andy Stern. Read more...
SEIU's Anna Burger on Hire Act: Good First Step In Getting America Back To Work
Feb 22, 2010 - Today, SEIU released the statement of Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger on Congress's successful cloture vote on the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. Read more...
Report: The Impact of the Recovery Act
Unsung Hero of the Year
Feb 18, 2010 - Read more...
SEIU's Burger: Recovery Act Stopped the Bleeding; Now We Need to Invest in Local Communities
Feb 17, 2010 - Marking the first anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released a statement from Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger praising the bill for creating and saving hundreds of thousands of jobs, and calling on Congress to continue needed state fiscal relief. Read more...
REPORT: The Recovery Act, Unsung Hero of the Year
Feb 17, 2010 - Marking the first anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the SEIU is releasing a new report today analyzing the social and economic impact of the Recovery Act. This report explains what the aggregate numbers on economic growth and job creation fail to illustrate--how the Recovery Act helped counter the recession by protecting human services and the workers employed to deliver those services at a local level. Read more...
Groundhog Day: The Infinite Loop of Wall Street Bonuses
Feb 03, 2010 - If you thought the long winter of Wall Street bonuses was over, think again. Americans will likely weather much more than the six weeks of additional bleakness Punxsutawney Phil predicted, as failed Wall Street firm AIG announced plans to pay out $100 million in bonuses yesterday. Read more...
Fact Check on Rep. John Kline's Opening Statement at Today's House Education and Labor Committee Hearing with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
Feb 03, 2010 - During his opening statement at today's House Education and Labor Committee Hearing with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) underscored how out of touch he is with the needs of working families in his Minnesota district and across the country. "We certainly expected his opening statement to be long on anti-worker rhetoric, but we were shocked on how wrong he was on the facts," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. Read our fact check here. Read more...
Labor Secretary Solis's first-ever testimony before House Ed & Labor Committee
Feb 03, 2010 - This morning, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is testifying before the House Education and Labor Committee on her first year at the DOL and the Obama administration's priorities in 2010. After eight years of the GOP undermining the Labor Department during the Bush Administration, it is so good to hear our Labor Secretary speak out on how she and the Dept. of Labor plan to actively work to improve the lives of American workers...instead of just looking out for CEOs and corporate interests. Note this excerpt from Solis's testimony, where she endorses good union jobs, and restates her unequivocal endorsement for the Employee Free Choice Act. Read more...
GOP operatives pen talking points most likely to scare American public away from reform
Feb 02, 2010 - Should the "Party of No" want to spin the news about happenings on Capitol Hill away from what's good for working people to what's good for the GOP and Wall Street, Frank Luntz is not the only go-to right winger to consider. GOPers took part in a similarly dishonest, distasteful anti-reform brainstorm back in 2005, as word of the Employee Free Choice Act legislation to reform broken labor law emerged from Congress. Read more...
Our Support in Haiti is Critical
Jan 29, 2010 - As Haiti continues picking up the pieces in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas, our continued support in Haiti will be critical. Just ask Roberson Louis Jeune, one of our members from near Pittsburgh... Read more...
In Video: Key Policy Moments from Obama's State of the Union
Jan 28, 2010 - Obama touched on many issues in his SOTU address that matter deeply to the members of our union -- creating new jobs, health reform and holding accountable the parties that crashed our economy (to name a few). Here are some of the best policy moments from his speech last night. Read more...
Haitian RN Joins Crisis Care Volunteers in Port-au-Prince
Jan 27, 2010 - Originally from Haiti, NAGE/SEIU member Simone Adelugba is a registered nurse in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) at the Baltimore Veterans Administration Hospital. She's volunteered to travel to Haiti to assist with disaster relief in the wake of the earthquake, joining other health care professionals from the union already on the ground. Read more...
Victory in Oregon: Voters approve tax measures to hold corporations & rich accountable
Jan 27, 2010 - As eyes are fixed on Washington waiting for the President's first State of the Union address, the pundits should take a look at Oregon. Yesterday, Oregon voters made a clear statement of their priorities: the government's top job must be to preserve vital services and infrastructure and stimulate the economy. Measures 66 & 67 will preserve $733 million in funding for human services, education and community safety. Read more...
Obama's State of the Union Address: How to Watch It Live From Just About Anywhere
Jan 26, 2010 - Don't forget to tune in to President Obama delivering the State of the Union address on Wednesday, January 27th at 9:00 p.m. EST. With the plethora of options now enabling you to watch from basically anywhere (your house, a computer, your phone...), there's really no good reason not to tune in to the President's speech outlining his legislative agenda and national priorities to Congress. Read more...
VIDEO: The Basics of Job Creation
Jan 22, 2010 - The Center for American Progress has proposed a set of three main policy steps they believe Congress and Obama could take to contribute substantially to putting our nation's labor market back on track. To accompany their proposals, CAP has created this informative video explaining why unemployment in the U.S. is still so high--and how a more aggressive jobs plan (like SEIU's) could be enacted to tunnel us out of the recession. Read more...
Interviews: Aftershocks of Haiti Earthquake Shake SEIU Communities
Jan 21, 2010 - Yesterday we interviewed two SEIU Healthcare Florida members--a CNA and an organizer--who have been personally affected by the tragedy in Haiti. One of the interviewees is stuck in the agony of not knowing what has happened to her loved ones, while the other knows all too well the heart-wrenching toll such a disaster can have on one's family. These are their stories. Read more...
GOTV Tool: Be all that you can be for Martha Coakley
Jan 19, 2010 - I don't need to remind you how important it is to vote for Martha Coakley today. But just voting is not enough. Too much is on the line to "just vote." We need you MA voters to get at least 10 people to join you. Use our tool to Get Out the Vote to help all your friends and family in MA find their polling place. Read more...
CHART: Coakley vs. Brown on Working Family Issues
Jan 19, 2010 - As a union, it's our job to inform and represent our members on issues that affect working people. We've identified Martha Coakley and Scott Brown's positions on four key issues that don't seem to get a lot coverage in the media, but which we believe all SEIU members and working people in Massachusetts should know. Check out our comparison chart here. Read more...
The Time Is NOW for Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Haitians
Jan 14, 2010 - SEIU has joined countless advocacy groups, Senators, and community leaders to send letters and make calls urging the Administration to finally do right for the Haitian people and grant temporary protective status. Despite misleading criticism of TPS, it would only be available to Haitians living in the U.S. It's time to end the deportation of Haitians who have escaped countless miseries in order to care for their families and loves ones. Read more...
Number of the Day: 98
Jan 12, 2010 - According to the most recent data from the Treasury Department, Bank of America holds more than 1 million troubled mortgages. But guess how many of those homeowners the banking giant helped by permanently modifying the terms of their loan? 98. Not 98,000. Not 9,800. Just 98. Read more...
Recovery Act Grants Help SEIU Grow Green Training Programs
Jan 12, 2010 - Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced $7.4 million in green jobs training grants to SEIU Local 32BJ and H-Cap, a national partnership of SEIU healthcare unions and major employers. These two grants are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will provide essential green training to help 5,200 Americans get jobs in expanding green industries over the next two years. Read more...
Six of the top 10 fastest-growing jobs are low-wage
Jan 07, 2010 - Economists forecast that over the next decade, roughly 15 million more jobs will be added to the economy. The question then that arises is, what will these jobs be? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), this is the list of the top 10 fastest-growing occupations they predict will supply the greatest number of new jobs over the next decade... Read more...
2009: Remembering the Year That Was...
Jan 05, 2010 - We started the year on a high note: The Inauguration of President Barack Obama, for whom our union worked day and night to elect. As we usher in 2010, we took a closer look back at the legislation, people, stories and campaigns that made an impact on our members and all working people in 2009. Check out our timeline of the year's highlights for working families and SEIU members here. More on the SEIU campaigns that drew a lot of attention this year in our review of the top 10 SEIU Blog stories of 2009. Read more...
Wall Street bonuses could cover 2 out of every 3 uninsured American
Dec 30, 2009 - Instead of ramping up risk-taking and lavishing bankers with excessive bonuses and compensation, the banks could be contributing to a real economic recovery. Even a small portion of the bankers' total bonuses and compensation could make a huge impact at the national, state, and local levels. Providing the funds to insure 31 million Americans or stopping every foreclosure in America through 2012, for starters. Read more...
Wake up call for unorganized workers & the labor movement
Dec 28, 2009 - Today in an interview on The Real News Network, journalist Phil Dine had a message for unorganized workers, on why all working Americans should be in a labor union. Interviewer Paul Jay and Dine also discussed unions needing to be able to say to the Democratic party, "you're either with us...or you're with the Chamber of Commerce." Read more...
Highly profitable companies laying off workers?
Dec 23, 2009 - A review of the corporate layoffs of 2009 shows many were carried out at highly profitable businesses. As millions of families are struggling just to hang onto their homes and get through the next month's bills, shareholders from companies that were not struggling financially in 2009--including Wal-Mart, Aetna, IBM, Verizon and Microsoft--made bigger bank by cutting back their workforce. Read more...
Shocker: Super, Super Rich Want to Stay That Way
Dec 17, 2009 - Members of United for A Fair Economy are calling on the Senate to act to extend the current estate tax before the holiday recess. If the Senate does not act to either pass a one-year extension or a permanent estate tax before January 1, 2010, it will mean that the folks who inherit huge fortunes -- $3.5 million and above -- no longer have to pay taxes on their gains. Read more...
Gov. Rell's "Edward Scissorhands" approach to the budget
Dec 16, 2009 - At a press conference yesterday organized by District 1199/SEIU on the steps of the Capitol, members of the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) joined business, labor & education leaders and activists to decry Republican Governor Jodi M. Rell's proposed budget cuts. Read more...
Your $1 Million Share
Dec 14, 2009 - When you hear a number like $150 billion going into the pockets of the very bankers who crashed our economy, you can't help but think of all the better uses for that money. So, we decided to let taxpayers decide how the cash should be spent. In the next few weeks, taxpayers across the country will be holding actions at the big banks. While they announce their record bonus packages, we'll be there to show them your demands for how that money should be spend to get our economy moving again. Show Wall Street how far $150 billion could go on Main Street by grabbing your $1 million share. Read more...
Parker as Mayor offers HOPE for Keeping Houston Moving Forward
Dec 14, 2009 - Members of the Houston Organization of Public Employees (HOPE) and SEIU Local 1 are celebrating Annise Parker's historic election as Houston's next mayor. More than 100 members volunteered their time to knock on doors for Parker, and HOPE and SEIU Local 1 also sent seven mail pieces to their members and made two rounds of phone calls. Read more...
Congress tightens Wall Streets' financial belt
Dec 14, 2009 - The House voted to approve the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (HR. 4173) by a measure of 223 to 202 on Friday. SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger welcomed the passage of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 in the House as an "important milestone in reversing the decades-long strangle hold Wall Street and big banks have had over our economy." Read more...
Goldman Sachs Says You and I are Wrong. (We're Not)
Dec 09, 2009 - Goldman Sachs has a response on their website to the calls we made to Lloyd Blankfein about the Stella D'Oro factory closing in the Bronx. Shockingly, they say you and I have it all wrong. They even posted a helpful list of facts to bolster their case. Let's review those facts one-by-one... Read more...
EPA findings recognize threat of human-induced climate change
Dec 07, 2009 - Coinciding with the beginning of the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen, the U.S. government has officially recognized that greenhouse gases are dangerous pollutants that threaten public health. Read more...
Fox News et al: Climate Change Fairytales & the Salem Witch Trials
Dec 07, 2009 - Stolen global warming emails between scientists at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (CRU) have resulted in climate change deniers raising their voices in proclaiming global warming is not real, and has no human causes. As the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit begins, Fox News and other media enablers are piling on the fear-mongering wagon that they're calling "Climate-gate." Read more...
Ask Goldman Sachs: How Deep Does It Go?
Dec 07, 2009 - Our request for Lloyd Blankfein and the Goldman Sachs Board of Directors is simple: tell us more. Open your books and show us all the ways you're holding back economic growth. We gave Goldman Sachs $63.6 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts. That's 63.6 billion reasons for them to use their board meeting to answer our straightforward questions about how our money is being spent. Help us shed some light on Goldman's books - send your email to the board. Read more...
Workers' productivity rises...their wages don't
Dec 07, 2009 - Workers' productivity has increased at a negative costs to employers. Companies are keeping a bigger share of profits, and their labor costs are falling--all while workers' wages remain relatively stagnant. So even as people that work for a living work work harder and become even more productive, they are not sharing in the wealth they create. Read more...
SEIU Jobs Plan
Dec 03, 2009 - At today's White House jobs summit, the President stressed the willingness of his administration to hear fresh perspectives and new ideas to directly confront the continuing jobs crisis. Yesterday, Burger called for an ambitious and multi-faceted jobs plan for the 21st century to immediately start putting paychecks back into the hands of America's workers. Read more...
Christmas is saved for "needy" Bank of America execs
Dec 03, 2009 - Bank of America announced late Wednesday that it will return $45 million in TARP funds just in time to avoid those pesky regulations limiting executive bonuses for TARP fund recipients -- clearing the way for 3 top BofA execs to get a combined $1 billion in bonuses. Read more...
Watch White House Jobs Summit Live
Dec 03, 2009 - President Barack Obama is bringing together labor, business, and economic leaders today, including SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger, to brainstorm and discuss how we can get our economy to start creating jobs for working people again. The White House is streaming today's jobs forum live. Watch it here. Read more...
Putting people back to work and Obama's jobs summit
Dec 02, 2009 - On the eve of President Obama's Jobs Summit at the White House, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer and Change to Win Chair Anna Burger has a piece on Huffington Post outlining a bold jobs plan to meet the demands of a 21st century economy. Read more...
God, Guns, and Goldman
Dec 01, 2009 - Bloomberg is reporting that Goldman Sachs execs are loading up on firearms "and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank." So, let's get this straight. Goldman Sachs orchestrates a financial ruse of global proportions, crashes the U.S. economy, takes billions of our tax dollars--and now they're scared of us because we're calling for reform? Read more...
Apology Not Accepted
Nov 19, 2009 - Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein feels bad about crashing our economy. To make up for it, he's decided to give back $500 million of the money he's made to a handful of small businesses. It's a gesture so empty, it's insulting. Never mind that $500m is one good day of trading for Goldman Sachs. Read more...
Big banks + drug companies = bedfellows in fighting reform
Nov 18, 2009 - The financial industry isn't the only industry engaged in a race to empty consumers' pockets as much as possible in advance of new laws that will rein in their abuses. While credit card lenders have been increasing fees and interest rates, raising minimum payments and lowering credit limits, drug companies have been busy jacking up their prescription prices too. Read more...
SEIU Statement on President's Interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force
Nov 18, 2009 - Today, SEIU released the following statement of Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger on the President's creation of the Interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. Read more...
Getting By on $16,438 a Day
Nov 17, 2009 -
Bank of America has a new excuse for why they haven't found someone to replace ousted CEO Ken Lewis. Nobody will take the job because it doesn't pay enough! They're claiming that they can't find talented candidates because of the pay restrictions put into place by Kenneth Feinberg. Read more...Visual Recap: DC Goldman Sachs Protest
Nov 16, 2009 - One of our favorite images from today's protest was a fabulous visual representation of Goldman Sachs, depicted as writer Matt Taibbi so accurately described the financial giant in Rolling Stone: "The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." More photos here. Read more...
U.S. Chamber: Lobbying Against the American People Since 1935
Nov 16, 2009 - News broke today that the U.S. Chamber has been fishing around for an economist willing to file a "report" on health care reform (translation: they're offering to pay $50,000 to someone willing to say health care reform is bad for the economy - which is exactly what they did against the Employee Free Choice Act earlier this year). Sadly, this latest gaffe is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Chamber's decades-long campaign against the American people, and in the last few months, they've gone into overdrive. Read more...
Andy Stern: Time to Put Country Over Company
Nov 16, 2009 - Goldman Sachs is starting to figure it out - we're not going away. Today, on the heels of a massive mobilization in Chicago, hundreds of taxpayers rallied outside Goldman's DC office to deliver a letter for their CEO, Lloyd Blankfein. The letter asked that Goldman Sachs forgo paying out its multi-billion dollar bonus pool and instead use that money to help the millions of families facing foreclosure due to Wall Street's risky behavior. Read more...
Dear Mr. Blankfein...
Hundreds of Taxpayers Deliver Letter to Goldman Sachs in DC
Nov 16, 2009 - Hundreds of taxpayers from across the country are gathered outside the Goldman Sachs office in DC right now to speak out against the financial giant's Wall Street greed. We'll be delivering a letter to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blanfein asking him, once again, to stop paying himself and his cronies big bonuses and to start helping the millions of families losing their homes because of Wall Street's risky behavior. Read more...
No More Ken Lewises
Nov 16, 2009 - The papers are reporting that the scene inside BofA right now is chaotic. Lewis' sudden ousting caught them off guard - and the man responsible for finding a new CEO cannot be reached because he's "on vacation on a ship" until the end of the month. Since it's our tax dollars being pumped into BofA, we decided to help with the hiring process. Read more...
Ocean's 14: SEIU members take over Mayor Newsom's Office in undercover operation
Nov 16, 2009 - "What does it take to get the mayor's attention in this town?" was the question on their purple lips Thursday night (it was cold) after several dozen SEIU 1021 members and staff occupied Mayor Gavin Newsom's office, while hundreds more cheered them on inside and outside City Hall. It was a two-pronged tactic of escalating the San Francisco campaign through civil disobedience on top of public rallies. Read more...
NY's Caregivers to the Governor and Legislature: "Enough is Enough"
Nov 15, 2009 - Purple hats and gold thunder sticks carrying the message, "Enough is Enough," filled Albany's West Capitol Park on Thursday as some 5,000 1199SEIU caregivers rallied to protest another round of healthcare budget cuts proposed by New York's Governor David Paterson. $2.2 billion has been cut over the past two years, resulting in the loss of several hospitals and nursing homes in distressed areas. Read more...
Thanks, Terminator: CA workers lost pay for no economic benefit
Nov 13, 2009 - 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. Read more...
What, Exactly, is Going On at 85 Broad Street?
Nov 13, 2009 - Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said in an interview that he and the team at Goldman are "doing God's work." It isn't God's work to kick families out of their homes when they're struggling most. It isn't God's work to use other people's money to pay themselves obscene bonuses. And it isn't God's work to oppose health insurance reform because it's bad for the bottom line. Read more...
Workers demand Resident Commissioner Pierluisi reject anti-worker policies of Fortuño administration
Nov 13, 2009 - RIght now, SPT-SEIU members and leaders are holding a sit-in in Pedro Pierluisi's office, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. Members of SPT-SEIU took charge of the Resident Commissioner's office in San Juan earlier this morning, demanding that Pierluisi, as a Democrat, reject the Republican policies of Governor Luis Fortuño. Read more...
Banks issuing credit cards still up to dirty tricks; predatory practices
Nov 12, 2009 - In May 2009, a bill that would stop the abuses of the credit card industry passed. According to a new report by the Pew Health Group, predatory practices by credit card companies haven't abated since then -- they've actually increased. Read more...
Tuesday morning round-up
Nov 10, 2009 - In case you missed it...news highlights from yesterday and this morning on banks, union heroes, health insurance reform, voter turnout and fighting budget cuts [and the swine flu]. Read more...
"Infamy Day:" November 6 Layoffs go into effect in Puerto Rico
Nov 09, 2009 - Protests and tears marked "Infamy Day" in Puerto Rico, as thousands stood up for the nearly 3,000 public employees laid off as of November 6. Despite delaying layoffs until after the holidays, Puerto Rican government officials continue to state that "there is no way back" and that by January, 2010, there will be nearly 30,000 fewer public employees on the books. Read more...
Andy Stern sits down with Maria Bartiromo
Nov 09, 2009 - In wide-ranging interview, SEIU President Andy Stern sat down with Maria Bartiromo this weekend on the Wall Street Journal Report. Topics included in their discussion include the current state of the economy, H1N1, healthcare reform, the White House visitors list, the state of the Employee Free Choice Act, and the role of unions in an increasingly globalized economy. Read more...
One year anniversary of the day we changed America forever
Nov 04, 2009 - There's an old saying that goes, 'We make the road by walking.' Today, even in the face of historic opposition to change, there's no question that Barack Obama and the pro-worker members of Congress we elected last November have taken every step with working families at their side. Read more...
And on the Eighth Day, God Created Bonuses
Nov 04, 2009 - Bloomberg reports that, last night, executives from the big banks went to churches across London to spread the word that their billion dollar bonuses are actually inspired by biblical teachings. According to Goldman Sachs bigwig Brian Griffiths, Jesus' teachings were an "endorsement of self-interest." He went on to say, "we have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all. I don't pretend to be an expert on biblical teachings; and I wouldn't dare presume to know what Jesus thinks of Wall Street's behavior. I want, instead, to post a few Bible passages that address this subject directly. Read more...
Wall Street banksters want their bonuses, and they want them now!
Nov 04, 2009 - Recent data from eFinancialCareers.com shows that financial professionals still think that the middle class should still be taking it on the chin to pad their pockets. According to a recent survey, 83 percent of Wall Street professionals expect to receive bonuses this year, and one-third expect to receive even bigger bonuses than they did in 2008. Read more...
BREAKING: Layoffs for unionized Puerto Rican workers postponed until January 8
Nov 03, 2009 - Members of SPT-SEIU Local 1996 in Puerto Rico scored a victory when Superior Judge Carlos Dávila Vélez granted their petition to stop the Department of Education's (DE) plans to lay-off 6,000 workers on Friday, giving them an additional 30 days on the job. SEIU's petition claimed the DE failed to follow proper notification procedures requiring notice to workers 30 days prior to letters of dismissal. Read more...
Around the union: November 3rd quick hits
Nov 03, 2009 - Why being in a union makes you more likely to have health insurance; H1N1 sick leave bill introduced, and news from SEIU locals in Michigan, California and New York. Read more...
McClatchy Newspapers Investigates Goldman Sachs
Nov 02, 2009 - McClatchy Newspapers has launched a multi-part exposé on financial giant Goldman Sachs and their role in the economic collapse. For the millions of Americans who - until recently - had never heard of Goldman Sachs, let alone done business with them, it's a sobering look at how the banking leviathan has managed to take our money from us six ways to Sunday. Read more...
The Path to Sustainable Economic Recovery
Nov 02, 2009 - 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. Read more...
Shopping you can feel good about: Buying the union label
Nov 02, 2009 - while shopping can feel more like a forbidden past time or guilty pleasure in this economy, buying the Union label is something you can feel good about. Because you're not just getting a high-quality product--you're also supporting local economies, helping maintain middle class manufacturing jobs, and propping up responsible companies that employ workers at fair wages. Read more...
White House List Demonstrates Desire to Hear From Working People
Oct 31, 2009 - Coming off an eight-year period when the voice of workers fell on deaf ears, the list demonstrates the White House desire to hear from working people. Andy Stern has tweeted about some of his White House visits, and you can follow him here. Read more...
What's Next?
Oct 30, 2009 - What happened outside the bankers' conference on Tuesday was a reminder of the power of our voices together. For three days, thousands of us from every corner of the country and all walks of life came together to demand change from the Wall Street banks. Together we stood up to the big banks that have done so much harm to our communities; Together we marched through the streets of Chicago, 5,000 strong, forcing the bankers to answer for their actions; Together we showed the world through stories and pictures and words that our voices united can make a difference. Read more...
Bank Workers in Brazil Celebrate Victory
Oct 30, 2009 - Following a ten-day strike, Brazilian bank workers have won an increase in wage and improvements in their working conditions, as a result of a wage accord between union leaders and banks October 9. The workers are members of Confederaçao Nacional dos Trabalhadores no Ramo Financeiro (CONTRAF). Read more...
Schwarzenegger administration botches implementation of home care cuts affecting 800,000+ residents
Oct 29, 2009 - ollowing a federal court order by Judge Claudia Wilken halting the implementation of severe cuts to home care for 130,000 Californians, new information presented during a Capitol hearing yesterday demonstrates that the Schwarzenegger Administration is unprepared to meet its own Nov. 1 deadline to implement new restrictions on In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program providers. Read more...
Meanwhile, Back in DC...
Oct 29, 2009 - While thousands of Americans were delivering a letter to Goldman Sachs on Sunday demanding they stop using our tax dollars to lobby against financial reform, Goldman Sachs was ...using our tax dollars to lobby against financial reform. Read more...
More than 5,000 Taxpayers March on the ABA
Oct 27, 2009 - It was an intense and often emotional conclusion to three days of action against the ABA in Chicago; and a powerful beginning to a taxpayer-led campaign to bring an end to Wall Street greed. More than 5,000 taxpayers marched over the Chicago River and to the front door of the American Bankers Association this morning. Read more...
Anna Burger: "Call Them Out"
Oct 27, 2009 - Standing in front of the American Bankers Association conference in Chicago, Anna Burger led more than 5,000 taxpayers in demanding an end to the greedy Wall Street practices that led to economic meltdown. Watch video of Anna's speech as well as taxpayers delivering a past due invoice to the big banks for the money they've taken from us. Read more...
VIDEO: The First Steps Toward Change
Oct 27, 2009 - The marchers just took the first steps towards the ABA conference to protest what Andy Stern just called "the people who put company before country." They're being led by people from across America that have been directly impacted by the greedy actions of the Wall Street bankers gathered at the ABA conference. People who have worked all their lives, but were kicked out of their homes, watched their life savings dry up, and seen their interest rates skyrocket. Read more...
Seeing Purple
Oct 27, 2009 - The crowd is starting to gather along the Chicago River for the largest protest against bank greed since the economic crisis began. We're about 30 minutes out from taking the first steps toward the ABA conference - and the first steps in our campaign to end Wall Street greed. Read more...
Big Banks: Making a Killing
Oct 26, 2009 - 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. Read more...
VIDEO: The Faces of the Showdown
Oct 26, 2009 - Another amazing day in Chicago. Americans are fired up to put an end to Wall Street greed. Everybody is excited for tomorrow; it's going to be the largest protest against bank greed since the financial crisis began - over 5,000 people. Here's a wrap up of today with a few faces of the Showdown in Chicago. Read more...
VIDEO: Meet Mary from Cincinnati
Oct 26, 2009 - Outside the ABA conference today are more than 1,000 people with more than 1,000 stories of bank greed hurting families and small businesses. I wanted to share one in particular that grabbed me. Meet Mary from Cincinnati. Read more...
VIDEO: Two for Two
Oct 26, 2009 - More than 1,000 taxpayers decided to take a walk down Wacker Drive to see how their money is being used by America's bailed out banks - and to ask for a few changes to prevent another financial meltdown. Having tried to deliver our letter to the ABA last night and being kicked out, we went directly to the banks today - Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo. The demand, as always, is a simple one: stop using our tax dollars for toxic loans, big bonuses, and anti-consumer lobbying campaigns. Read more...
VIDEO: Tom Balanoff at Showdown in Chicago
Oct 26, 2009 - Here's a new video up from Tom Balanoff's speech at the Showdown in Chicago. He kept the crowd on their feet the entire time. Definitely worth checking out. Read more...
VIDEO: "An End to the Too Big to Fail Doctrine"
Oct 26, 2009 - Sheila Bair is an exceptional speaker - I know because she just spoke at the Showdown in Chicago. She talked about the importance of stopping the greedy Wall Street practices like predatory lending, sub-prime mortgages, and lack of regulation that led us into financial crisis. She also took something from us to give to the ABA. It's the letter that we tried to give them ourselves yesterday, but they kicked us out. Will the kick Chairwoman Bair out, too? Read more...
"Shame, Shame, Shame on You"
Oct 25, 2009 - It's Day 2 of the annual meet-up of the American Bankers Association, and nearly a thousand taxpayers decided to facilitate a little meet-and-greet between the people that created the financial crisis (and got rich from it), and the people who paid the price for Wall Street's greed--and footed the bill to bail the banks out. Unfortunately, the banksters letting loose in the Sheraton's lavish ballroom couldn't be convinced to leave their posh party to attend our rally....but 40+ policemen and numerous onlookers did turn out. Read more...
VIDEO: You Weren't on the Guest List
Oct 25, 2009 - Today was an amazing beginning for us. Not just the beginning of the three day protest against the American Bankers Association (ABA) conference, but the beginning of the end for business as usual on Wall Street. The big banks heard loud and clear tonight that taxpayers are fed up with them taking our money and using it to pay themselves outrageous profits and lobby against financial reform. Read more...
I Think They Know We're Here
Oct 25, 2009 - The bankers were just trying to have a nice, roaring 1920s party (paid for with our tax dollars) to celebrate the trillions of dollars they've made in the past year. So, can you imagine how frustrating it is for them... Read more...
Senator Durbin at the Showdown in Chicago
Oct 25, 2009 - Senator Dick Durbin came out to the Showdown in Chicago and talked about one Chicagoan, Netty McGee, and her run-in with big banks. Read more...
Bankers Fix Up One House this Weekend, Foreclose 23,000 Others
Oct 25, 2009 - The Wall Street bankers are in Chicago this weekend for the American Bankers Association conference - and they've decided to do one good deed for the people of Chicago while they're here. They are helping to renovate a house that had been foreclosed... by them. It's a nice gesture on the bankers' part, but a completely empty one. In the time it took them to help fix up that one house, banks were kicking 1,440 families out of homes across the country; that's one foreclosed home every 7.5 seconds. Read more...
New clash between Puerto Rican police & protestors
Oct 25, 2009 - A scuffle erupted between protesters and the police on Thursday, after several hundred union members and activists finished a rally against Governor Luis Fortuño outside El Conquistador hotel, where the Governor held a conference with business companies on public-private partnerships. Read more...
Crash the Bankers' Party in Chicago
Oct 23, 2009 - If you could get all the architects of the banks/bailout 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, for a 4 day celebration of wealth and opulence paid for by our tax dollars. Read more...
Thousands of Taxpayers to Converge on Bankers Convention to Demand Banks Stop Lobbying Against Financial Reform
Oct 23, 2009 - In the largest taxpayer mobilization since the economic crisis began, thousands of Americans from 20 cities will converge on the American Bankers Association (ABA) conference in Chicago from October 25 to 27 to demand banks stop spending millions in taxpayer dollars to lobby against reforms that would protect Americans from the next economic crisis. Read more...
'80s Flashback: Average Workers' Pay > Average Financial Industry Employee Bonus
Oct 23, 2009 - In 1985, the average annual salary for all workers across the country was several thousand dollars higher than the average bonus: $19,000 to $13,970. Over twenty-five years later, the average Wall Street bonus has soared almost 14 times higher. Yesterday the Federal Reserve announced a plan to help lessen this wage disparity between Main Street vs. Wall Street, cutting executive pay by as much as 90 percent for CEOs at the seven biggest TARP recipients. Read more...
Big Banks & U.S. Chamber, There's a New Cop in Town
Oct 23, 2009 - 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. 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). Read more...
Stephen Lerner on CNBC: America Wants Wall Street to Quit Whining
Oct 22, 2009 - Wall Street has a message for Americans who think it's unfair that they take our tax dollars and pay themselves huge bonuses: they need that money for all their hard work. SEIU's Stephen Lerner went on CNBC today to debate a representative of Wall Street over the Obama administration's decision to cap exec pay at seven bailed out firms. Read more...
All of Puerto Rico: Much More than a March
Oct 22, 2009 - In a Huffington Post piece today, SEIU Healthcare Chair Dennis Rivera warns that "what started as a march in protest to the impending firings of public sector workers has turned into a movement to hold Governor Fortuño accountable for solving [Puerto Rico's] financial nightmare." Read more...
Obama Administration Begins Crackdown on Bank CEO Salaries
Oct 22, 2009 - The Obama administration has gone and done something that might put a bit of a damper on the bankers' big party in Chicago this weekend. They're drafting a plan, to be announced in the coming days, that will dramatically cut CEO salaries for the companies that took the most taxpayer money during the financial collapse. Read more...
Will eggs fly at Governor Fortuño's head tomorrow?
Oct 21, 2009 - Workers to picket Fortuño meeting: Tomorrow, coalition Todo Puerto Rico Por Puerto Rico will picket outside the meeting Governor Fortuño is having with business companies to discuss the privatization of public projects and agencies. Read more...
Crash the Big Banks' Party
Oct 21, 2009 - Did you know you're throwing a party this weekend? Well, you're paying for it but you're not invited. It's the American Bankers Association (ABA) conference in Chicago. The ABA is the lobbying group that gets millions of our tax dollars from America's bailed out banks. Read more...
In case you missed it...Oct. 21 round-up
Oct 21, 2009 - In case you missed it...news round-up on upcoming Chicago banks actions, unemployment benefits, how an SEIU member became a Ugandan king, SEIU's recent online healthcare campaign waves, and a recent meeting of international labor leaders to discuss Mexico's broken labor laws. Read more...
Top Bank Lobbyist Receives High Honor
Oct 20, 2009 - If only they gave out awards for helping bank CEOs get rich and using tax dollars to lobby against financial reform; ABA president and CEO Edward Yingling would win them all. Well, exciting news for fans of Wall Street greed. Now, there is such an honor: the Golden Throne Award. And the first one is going to none other than Edward Yingling. Read more...
CA Judge's ruling blocks cuts for 130,000 in-home care recipients
Oct 20, 2009 - Home care providers, seniors, and people with disabilities prevailed in federal court yesterday, securing a preliminary injunction to stop cuts to essential home care for 130,000 Californians. We've been following this fight for several months now, and it's such amazing news for home care workers and those they care for that this ruling will put a stop to these devastating cuts. Read more...
Around the Union: Locals Round-up
Oct 19, 2009 - Quick hits around the union from ULTCW, SEIU Massachusetts, SEIU District 1199, CSEA, Local 5-Virginia, SEANC, Local 721 and 32BJ. Read more...
Must See TV: Workers United in HBO Documentary Schmatta
Oct 19, 2009 - Did you know that in 1965, 95 percent of American clothing was made in USA? Times have changed since then. Just a few decades later, only 5 percent of the clothing worn by Americans is manufactured here in this country. Don't miss tonight's HBO premier of Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags -- a documentary that tells the unexpected history behind New York's Garment District and a "must see" for anyone who cares about our union and the workers who built it. Read more...
Krugman: 'We Desperately Need to Pass Effective Financial Reform'
Oct 19, 2009 - 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. Read more...
The greatest public demonstration in Puerto Rican history
Oct 18, 2009 - The one day General Strike that mobilized around 150,000 workers and citizens to protest Governor Fortuño's massive layoffs took place in Puerto Rico on October 15. Chair of SEIU Healthcare Dennis Rivera, Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina and Local 1966 President Roberto Pagan joined the historic protest along with hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rican workers, SEIU members, faith leaders, students and citizens in what's being called 'the greatest public demonstration in Puerto Rico's history.' Read more...
Pay Czar: Ken Lewis to Receive No Salary, Bonus for 2009
Oct 15, 2009 - More than 11,000 of you signed a letter to Obama administration's pay czar, demanding a halt to CEO bonuses until banks stopped using our tax dollars to lobby against financial reform. On Thursday, the pay czar announced that he is taking action on Ken Lewis' outrageous compensation, asking for a stop to any salary or bonuses for 2009. Read more...
It's not just Ken Lewis...
Oct 15, 2009 - Last week, we sent a letter to the Obama pay czar, signed by over 11,000 taxpayers. We told him to stop payment on Ken Lewis' $53.3 million bailout. But it's not just Ken Lewis getting rich with our money. The papers are all leading today with headlines about America's banks on track to earn record profits and pay out record amounts of bonuses to their top brass. America is still reeling from the financial crisis, but it's business as usual on Wall Street. Next weekend, thousands of taxpayers are going to confront big banks and hold them accountable to us - will you demand they meet with us? Read more...
Photos from today's massive demonstration in Puerto Rico
Oct 15, 2009 - Enjoy the slideshow from today's strike by workers to protest Gov. Fortuño's layoffs--the largest demonstration in Puerto Rico's history. We'll keep the site and photostream updated as we get more from the ground in Puerto Rico. Updates on all things Puerto Rico on SEIU's Blog here. You can also follow SEIU on Twitter for updates. Read more...
Defeat of fear well underway in Puerto Rican general strike
Oct 15, 2009 - Two successful events that have already taken place today in the strike include the closing of Plaza Las Americas and more significantly, the defeat of fear. Hundreds of thousands of workers are now marching for justice, overcoming the campaign of media terror launched by the Puerto Rican Government during the last days. Protesters are marching from seven different locations of the Banks Zone in San Juan today, heading towards the southern side of Plaza Las Americas--which is expected to largest public gathering in Puerto Rican history. Read more...
On the Eve of the General Strike in Puerto Rico
Oct 14, 2009 - It's a very tense evening in Puerto Rico tonight--you can feel it in the streets and towns around the Island. Tomorrow the workers' movement and its allies will face a showdown with the Government police and paramilitary forces, as the general strike called to protest massive layoffs in the public service will begin in the early hours of the day. Read more...
Stop Puerto Rico's George Bush
Oct 14, 2009 - Tomorrow, over 200,000 people are preparing to take to the streets in a general strike, and Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño is threatening to charge the protesters with terrorism. Not even Karl Rove and George Bush tried that. Violating the civil rights of your own citizens is unacceptable--ask Congress to hold hearings on Fortuño's anti-American behavior. Read more...
MEDIA ADVISORY for Oct. 25-27: Thousands of Taxpayers to Converge on Bankers Convention to Demand Banks Stop Lobbying Against Financial Reform
Oct 14, 2009 - In the largest taxpayer mobilization since the economic crisis began, thousands of Americans from 20 cities will converge on the American Bankers Association (ABA) conference in Chicago from October 25 to 27 to demand banks stop spending millions in taxpayer dollars to lobby against reforms that would protect Americans from the next economic crisis. Read more...
Turning the Big Apple into the Big Green Apple
Oct 11, 2009 - The energy consumption of our nation's large buildings is inextricably linked to the talent, training, and hard work of building operators. Teaching our building operators to maintain our large structures is the highest-impact way to address the climate crisis, at the lowest cost. The Urban Green Council (United States Green Building Council of New York) and SEIU Local 32BJ have released a report detailing the essential role that building workers play in improving energy efficiency and discuss how 32BJ's training initiative will help New York City's building superintendents go green. Read more...
More Than 10,000 Taxpayers Sign Letter to Stop the Ken Lewis Bailout
Oct 09, 2009 - It's been a little over a day since we invited people to sign on to Anna Burger's letter to the Obama pay czar, asking him to stop payment on Ken Lewis' bailout until Bank of America agrees to clean up its act. Already, more than 10,000 taxpayers have signed the letter, demanding accountability from America's bailed out banks. Read more...
New video: Break up with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Oct 08, 2009 - Five major companies have recently joined the growing list of groups ditching the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over their out-of-touch policies on climate change. Companies like Nike and Apple are serious about their break-ups with the Chamber -- but if it's any consolation, they still totally want to be friends. Watch our new video to find out why the Chamber keeps getting dumped. Read more...
The Onion reviews the Ken Lewis record
Oct 08, 2009 - The Onion, America's Finest News Source, has nicely summed up the various mistakes that caused Ken Lewis to step down as CEO of Bank of America. Chiefly, that whole "worldwide economic collapse" thing. Read more...
Stop the Ken Lewis Bailout
Oct 07, 2009 - Despite helping to drive us into one of the worst financial meltdowns in history, it's been revealed that Bank of America plans to send Ken Lewis out the door with a $53.3 million pension on top of the hundreds of millions he's already made during his failed tenure as CEO. The Obama administration has appointed a 'pay czar,' Kenneth Feinberg, to make sure our tax dollars aren't being used to pay outrageous earnings to bank CEOs. Will you tell the pay czar to stop payment on the Ken Lewis bailout? Read more...
Potential home care cuts could be a humanitarian disaster
Oct 06, 2009 - SEIU members, disability, senior-citizen rights groups filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court Friday to stop 130,000 people from either being dropped or cut from California's In-Home Supportive Services program as of Nov. 1. Nearly one hundred thousand people would be part of the group only having 'some' of their services cut--which sounds almost positive compared to those that will lose all of their in-home care, right? Except when you consider the actual breakdown of these services to be lost... Read more...
Snapshot of recent worker actions protesting Puerto Rican Governor's mass layoffs
Oct 03, 2009 - he temperature is rising fast in the labor climate in Puerto Rico as a result of the 16,970 public employees laid off by Governor Fortuño on one stroke last Friday. Several scenarios accounted for the increased tension yesterday between government and workers, both organized and unorganized, and leaders from SEIU-affiliated locals SPT (Local 1996) and UGT continued their peaceful protests across Puerto Rico. to demand a roll back of the layoffs. Read more...
Bet Gov. Fortuño isn't eating scrambled eggs for breakfast this week
Oct 02, 2009 - According to reports, Governor Fortuño's personal security detail has been significantly beefed up since an incident on Tuesday when a protester threw an egg at him. The governor was holding a press conference in Fajardo to tout his new project for the improvement of the boats that carry passengers to the islands of Vieques and Culebrain. As the governor announced that the boats would be repaired in Fajardo, praising it as initiative to create jobs, one of the workers affected by the Gov.'s mass layoffs hurled an egg at the Governor's head, shouting "Hypocrite, how dare you talk about jobs when you're getting rid of them!" Read more...
Victory: Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis to Resign after SEIU Campaign
Oct 01, 2009 - Yesterday, Americans were given one more reason to look forward to ringing in the New Year: Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis announced he will be be stepping down from the bank, effective Jan. 1, 2010. As a part of the Take Back the Economy coalition, SEIU and partners have been calling (loudly and persistently) for Lewis' ouster for several months. Read more...
Labor Leaders Pronounce Puerto Rican Labor Secretary's Position "Vacant"
Oct 01, 2009 - The second civil act of disobedience in three days protesting the Fortuno administration's massive lay-offs ended a little over an hour ago, when Puerto Rican labor leaders pronounced the Labor Secretary's position "vacant" after Secretary Miguel Romero failed to show up at his office for a meeting. The leaders from the labor coalition All of Puerto Rico For Puerto Rico and union members from SEIU-affiliated locals SPT and UGT who carried out the action narrowly missed the police anti-riot unit that entered the building, positioning itself in the 20th floor to reach the 21st floor where the labor leaders had carried out their sit-in to demand to have their voices heard by Secretary Romero. Read more...
Puerto Rican Governor sicks SWAT team and police brutality on laid-off workers holding peaceful protest
Sep 30, 2009 - On Tuesday in San Juan, peaceful demonstrators outside of the official estate of Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño were violently removed by SWAT team agents and arrested, despite assurances that they would leave peacefully and not resist arrest. Labor leaders and other demonstrators protesting the massive 16K+ firing of Puerto Rican state employees are shoved and billyclubbed by SWAT team ordered by Governor Fortuño. Read more...
Rachel Maddow Takes on the Extremists
Sep 30, 2009 - Last night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow took on the radical right-wingers seeking to silence working families by attacking progressive community organizations. As part of that segment, she discussed with Peter Dreier, professor of politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles, why they're trying to target the SEIU next. Watch the segment here. Read more...
Watch Anna Burger's testimony at hearing on Consumer Financial Protection Agency
Sep 30, 2009 - SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger is testifying before the House Financial Services Committee this morning at a hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. You can watch online starting now here http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr_092309.shtml. Anna should be speaking shortly before 11:00 a.m. Read more...
Puerto Rican Workers Chain Themselves to Gates of Governor's Mansion
Sep 29, 2009 - Puerto Rican union leaders instituted Camp of Dignity and Shame today in front of La Fortalez, the San Juan home of the Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño. ""This is Camp Dignity and we will not move from here," said Robert Pagán, president of SEIU Local 1996SPT , who is one of four union leaders who chained themselves to the gates of the Governor's home in an act of civil disobedience to stand up against the announcement from the government dismissing thousands of public sector employees. Read more...
What's the Big Deal with the 2010 U.S. Census?
Sep 28, 2009 - With less than a week to go before the launch of SEIU's ya es hora !HAGASE CONTAR! campaign for a full count of U.S. Latinos in the 2010 Census, we thought you might want to know why we think this is such a big deal. The U.S. Census, held every 10 years, is the single most powerful indicator of who we are as a nation. It not only dictates the story we tell about our demographic makeup-but it also determines the allocation of our federal purse string and the seats of our political power. Read more...
Update: Filling Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat, Banks, Protests for Corporate Reform, Employee Free Choice
Sep 28, 2009 - This past week, while much of D.C. has been focused on the healthcare mark-up (us included), we've also been tracking a few other stories that we wanted to bring to your attention. First--the encouraging news that Massachusetts will return to full representation and the Democrats in Congress to a cloture-proof majority. Also, don't miss two stories on SEIU's calls for financial reform and a questionable award choice from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Read more...
New SEIU Report: Wall Street's $18 Trillion Fleecing of the World Economy
Sep 23, 2009 - 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. Download the report here: The Trillion Dollar Bank Job: How Wall Street and the Big Banks Are Holding Up America's Economic Recovery. Read more...
On Eve of G-20 Summit...
SEIU Releases New Report: Wall Street Bilked Taxpayers for $18 Trillion Since Financial Collapse
Sep 23, 2009 - On the eve of the G-20 summit and just one year after the financial world collapsed, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released a report today detailing the severe impact the economic crisis has had on working families. According to the report, once all crisis-related programs are factored in, taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $17.8 trillion to rescue the big banks. Read more...
Insurance Companies Consider C-section Birth "Pre-Existing Condition"
Sep 17, 2009 - Did you know that most insurance companies on the individual market consider pregnancy "optional"? The fetus is viewed as an uncovered "pre-existing condition," and therefore not something that's necessary for insurance companies to insure. Many insurers also consider a Cesarean section pregnancy a "pre-existing condition"--and refuse to provide health coverage for women who have had the procedure. Read more...
Wall Street Reform Must Not Be Stalled or Stopped
Sep 15, 2009 - "When Lehman Brothers fell, they took not just the rest of Wall Street, but all of Main Street, down with them. Yet, one year later, the greedy CEOs who caused the collapse are unremorseful, unrepentant, and virtually unchanged," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger, following President Obama's speech yesterday on the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. While the economy continues to recover, President Obama warned, "normalcy cannot lead to complacency." Read more...
Statement of Anna Burger on Lehman Brothers Collapse and President Obama's Speech
Sep 14, 2009 - Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released the statement of Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger on the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse. Read more...
Budget cuts coincide with "Back to School"
Sep 14, 2009 - Public school staff employees in LA and many other districts across California and across the U.S. are dealing with searing budget cuts, furlough days, crowded classrooms and worst of all, layoffs. In an LA Sentinel op-ed, SEIU Local 99's Executive Director Bill Lloyd considers the predicament of Bell High School night custodian Theresa Aguilar, who is facing a situation all too familiar to the thousand custodial, cafeteria, playground, and other essential classified positions were cut over the summer. Read more...
Watch LIVE: President Obama's speech on the financial crisis
Sep 14, 2009 - A year after the collapse at Lehman Brothers and the worldwide financial collapse, the President will speak from Wall Street's Federal Hall in New York about the government's role in moving the economy forward after the financial crisis that peaked one year ago, focusing on how to protect consumer's money by preventing another financial collapse. He is expected to speak on stricter regulations of the financial and banking industry. The livestream from the speech at Federal Hall begins at 12:10 p.m. ET and 9:10 a.m. PT. Read more...
Citizenship push gears up as National Citizenship Day approaches
Sep 11, 2009 - With less than a week before National Citizenship Day on September 17--ya es hora ¡Ciudadania! (Citizenship: It's Time!), national community partners and the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) announced that more than 25 citizenship events are being held across the country this month to help thousands of eligible immigrants apply for U.S. citizenship. Read more...
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Reinvigorates Ad Campaign to Stomp out Consumer Protections
Sep 08, 2009 - As Congress returns from recess and gets back to work to pass legislation to bring access to quality, affordable healthcare to everyone, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is wasting no time working hard to hang onto the same reckless business practices that got us in this hot financial mess in the first place. The Chamber is launching a new $2 million ad campaign attacking the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Read more...
Recent union contract victories benefit more than 12,500 workers
Sep 08, 2009 - Over the last week and a half, SEIU Locals in California, New York and Oregon have reached new or tentative contract agreements that will benefit nearly 13,000 workers. Locals and their bargaining teams worked hard to reach agreements that serve as victories for members by lessening the impact of budget cuts on their jobs and pocketbooks or increasing wages. Read more...
Progress towards protecting American workers
Sep 08, 2009 - Labor Day is a time to reflect on the achievements of the American worker and our nation's commitment to helping all families pursue the American Dream--especially now that many are facing difficult times, as the result of the recession and the anti-worker agenda carried out by the previous administration. In a short period of time, President Obama and the 111th Congress have been working hard to undo many of the policies that have harmed our nation's workers; showing time and time again that they stand on the side of working families. Read more...
This Labor Day, Pledge to Bring Affordable Healthcare to Working Families
Sep 04, 2009 - This Labor Day, nothing is more critical to working families than seeing real progress on healthcare reform. Click here for a listing of events being held on Labor Day, Monday, September 7th. No one knows better than working families and healthcare providers the mounting cost of inaction--and the stakes just keep getting higher. Read more...
Honoring the Worker: What are you doing this Labor Day?
Sep 04, 2009 - On Labor Day, it's important not to forget the sacrifices of our brothers and sisters whose brave acts earned us the working rights we now possess. As Congressional recess comes to close, let's remind members of Congress just how many working families are still struggling to make ends meet under the strain of skyrocketing health care costs. Join events being held by SEIU and HCAN across the country on Monday, September 7th. Read more...
New report shows executive compensation at bailed-out banks is 40% higher than peers
Sep 02, 2009 - A new study out today from the Institute of Policy Studies shows the extent to which Wall Street's continued practice of paying out big figure bonuses to the architects of our economic collapse continues. The study found that the CEOs of the 20 financial firms that have received the largest bailouts were paid nearly 40 percent more last year than other CEOs--and the average CEO pay was 430 times larger than for the pay received by the average workers. Read more...
Labor Day 2009 Challenge: Wal-Mart Must Reflect America's Values
Sep 01, 2009 - With 1.4 million Americans working in its stores, Wal-Mart bears a unique responsibility to its workers and our communities--which is why as Labor Day approaches, SEIU is part of a coalition of labor, environmental, consumer protection, and community groups led by UFCW that are challenging Wal-Mart to start practicing common-sense core American values like workers' rights, corporate responsibility, equal opportunity, quality jobs and environmental stewardship. Read more...
In case you missed it....August 17th round-up
Aug 17, 2009 - In union news this week...Hear both sides of the story surrounding the St. Louis health care town hall; read about SEIU's Anna Burger's speech at the Netroots Nation convention; help stop a Detroit college freshman's deportation; counter "death panel" noise with real facts about healthcare and tell Wal-Mart to end their financial support of Glenn Beck's televised hate. Read more...
Does Bank of America's Ken Lewis Deserve a Bonus this Year?
Aug 17, 2009 - As Obama's pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is weighing how and whether to use his power of broad and "binding" authority over executive compensation, including the ability to "claw back" money already paid, we're hoping he takes into account the laundry list of reasons why Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis and other top banking executives don't deserve bonuses this year. We've laid out our "Top Ten" here. Read more...
As big banks' bonuses continue to flourish, consumer protections reform hangs in the balance
Aug 13, 2009 - 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. Read more...
August 11: International Day of Solidarity with Honduras
Aug 11, 2009 - To support the courage of the Honduran people living in limbo and fight back against attacks against democracy and human rights, hundreds of organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad have responded to the call that today be International Day of Solidarity with Honduras. Read more...
SEIU's Anna Burger (and Bill Clinton) to keynote at Netroots Nation
Aug 10, 2009 - We're pretty excited that SEIU Secretary-Treasurer and Change to Win chair Anna Burger is set to keynote at the fourth annual Netroots Nation conference (formerly known as the YearlyKos Convention) this weekend in Pittsburgh, PA. Read more...
The Vanguard of an American Clean Energy Revolution
Aug 10, 2009 - The benefits of green buildings cannot be overstated--and one of the most cost-effective ways to "green" a building is to ensure that it has a knowledgeable and well-trained workforce. SEIU 32BJ's Training Fund has developed the first-ever Green Buildings Initiative to train building superintendents in the latest, state-of-the-art, best practices in energy efficiency. Read more...
CA State Budget: Kindergarten Cop turns on kids
Aug 05, 2009 - Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the state budget into law last week, but not before chopping another half billion dollars from services for women, children, the sick and the elderly - services that just days before he'd agreed not to cut any further. Read more...
Bank of America's One Percent Solution
Aug 05, 2009 - On Monday, the SEC slapped Bank of America with a $33 million fine for misleading investors on plans to award multi-billion dollar bonuses to Merrill Lynch executives during BofA's purchase of the failed bank. Read more...
95,000 CA state workers vote to strike if necessary
Aug 04, 2009 - By a 74 percent margin, SEIU Local 1000 state workers in California voted to step up pressure on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to ensure that the contract signed with the governor's representatives this past February is ratified. Read more...
Financial Wolves: Private Equity and the Banks
Aug 04, 2009 - Private equity firms are some of the most secretive, unregulated financial firms - and they want to buy up failed banks with taxpayers' money while keeping most of the profits for themselves. SEIU President Andy Stern wrote about these firms' plans on the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal this morning. Read more...
The Penthouse View vs. Main Street Reality
Jul 31, 2009 - 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. 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. Read more...
SEIU to Congress: Employee Free Choice Act Essential to Reining in Reckless CEOs and Corporate Greed
Jul 31, 2009 - As Congressional gets sets to pass H.R. 3269, the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009, cracking down on corporate and big bank CEO pay, SEIU called 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. Read more...
Bank of America to Close 10% of its Branches?
Jul 31, 2009 - If reports that BofA intends to close 10% of the bank's branches are true, that means the jobs of up to 5,000 bank employees at hundreds of BofA branches are at risk. If you are a BofA employee, we need you to add your initials to our letter to Ken Lewis. Read more...
Lifestyles of the Rich and Bailed Out
Jul 30, 2009 - It appears that big bonuses are back on Wall Street....er rather, maybe they never really left. The WSJ reported last week that "Executives and other highly compensated employees now receive more than one-third of all pay in the US." Which begs the question: Are wealthy Americans truly turning back to pre-crisis habits, even as most of the country remains in deep economic stress? Read more...
Change That Works demands reform from elected officials: August Congressional recess events
Jul 30, 2009 - As members of the U.S. House and Senate turn their sights from committee hearings and floor votes in D.C., to barbecues and luncheons back home, SEIU's Change That Works team is ready to ensure they don't forget the promises they made on the campaign trail to fix our broken healthcare system and support hardworking families. Read more...
Pet owners forced to choose between feeding their pets or families
Jul 29, 2009 - Pat Bryan, Ventura County Steward and Animal Control Officer knows first-hand the impact of job loss, foreclosures and a weak economy. The animal kennels in his California region are filled to capacity, and shelter officials say they are seeing more and more pets being brought in by their owners because they can't afford to care for their pets, or they have lost their homes and have to move to apartments or mobile homes that don't allow dogs or cats. Read more...
Lewin Group FAIL
Jul 29, 2009 - Imagine you're an insurance company making billions of dollars by charging people tons of money for health care. Now, imagine there's a reform bill in Congress that could end your stranglehold on the market, forcing you to lower your prices and improve your services. Read more...
CA budget outcome declares its winners: Corporations. The losers: Everyone Else.
Jul 27, 2009 - Even though the new California state budget approved by legislators on Friday puts an end to the endless "debate" that's been causing debilitating migraines even in those who don't suffer them, the pain is far from over. Governor Schwarzenegger and lawmakers proved they're no 'girlie-men' with California's budget cuts by taking healthcare from the sick and frail and every kind of care from the elderly; by closing schools so kids have nowhere to learn, and after-school programs so they have nowhere else to go. Read more...
'Slowing' the decline in living standards for low-wage workers is not enough
Jul 24, 2009 - Today's increase means a full-time minimum wage earner will receive $28 more a week. This raise is badly needed. It is also categorically insufficient. While our nation's plunge into recession has forced many working families to tighten their belts, low-wage workers have fared even worse. Read more...
July 24th: Minimum wage inches up to $7.25/hour
Jul 23, 2009 - Starting tomorrow, the Federal minimum wage is increasing from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour, the last part of the 2007 minimum wage legislation passed by Congress. Read more...
The clock is ticking for consumer protections
Jul 23, 2009 - Congress is reportedly delaying action on President Obama's consumer protection reforms. Why? Because the U.S. Chamber and big bank lobbyists complained for a delay. Click here to fax your Representatives and tell them the U.S. Chamber and big banks shouldn't set the agenda on financial reform. Read more...
Ad check: U.S. Chamber of Commerce pushes phony numbers in new offensive against health care reform
Jul 22, 2009 - The Chamber of Commerce continues their "Just Say No!" strategy against health care reform with a new ad this week that flaunts a series of misleading numbers to make the case (or rather, their lack thereof) against legislation that will guarantee Americans access to quality, affordable healthcare. Here are the real facts on how small businesses and taxpayers would actually be affected by the latest proposals for fixing our broken system. Read more...
Bank of America Takes Billions of Bailout Money, Only to Cut Lending for Struggling Small Businesses
Jul 22, 2009 - A new report released by SEIU today shows that Bank of America has cut small business loans - despite taking billions in taxpayer-funded bailouts meant to stimulate the economy. Instead of lending money to small businesses through SBA loans, BofA appears to be moving its small business clients to higher-interest credit card loans. Read more...
California budget deal missing actual solution
Jul 21, 2009 - In spite of the fact that months of debate between CA lawmakers on how to resolve the state's $26 billion budget deficit may be finally coming to an end, there can be no cause for celebration when the 'solution' does not reflect the priorities of a vast majority of California voters. Read more...
Big banks and the Chamber do their best to stop economic recovery--AGAIN
Jul 21, 2009 - Today, reports hit saying Congress is delaying action on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency after a series of lobbying efforts and a letter from the U.S. Chamber and big banks. When it comes to fixing our economy, Congress must not buckle under the pressure of the U.S. Chamber and big banks. Read more...
U.S. Chamber, Big Banks Continue Attack on America's Economic Recovery
Jul 21, 2009 - Today, SEIU released a statement from Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger following reports that Congress is delaying action on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency following lobbying efforts and a letter from the U.S. Chamber and big banks. Read more...
California state workers will vote to strike; protest Governor Schwarzenegger
Jul 20, 2009 - As the governor and legislators continue to battle over the budget in California, leaders of SEIU Local 1000 have issued a strike authorization vote to the union's 95,000 members beginning today, July 20. SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker sent a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week ,
Letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger: Trail of broken campaign promises must end
Jul 14, 2009 - "Governor, we've sacrificed. And we've now reached our limit. We cannot, and will not, allow you to use us as pawns in your political power game," writes SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker in a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger concerning the California union's contract deal and latest budget proposal. The Governor's proposal seeks to pile on an additional 5 percent pay reduction or fourth furloughed work day for more than 230,000 state workers. Read more...
AIG bonus requests: Is this some kind of joke?
Jul 10, 2009 - Upon hearing the news that bailed-out insurer AIG plans to reward top executives $2.4 million in bonuses next week, SEIU's first reaction was...sheer and utter disbelief. As in, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING US. How is it possible that the same company that received the largest of all taxpayer bailouts, at a total cost of $173 billion to the American people, would decide it's a good idea to reward themselves for doing such a fantastic job of losing more money? Read more...
Labor unions set to talk EFCA, healthcare & economic stimulus with President Obama
Jul 09, 2009 - Labor unions SEIU, AFL-CIO, NEA, USW, CWA, IBT and UFCW are headed to the White House next week. On Monday, the united group of labor leaders--including SEIU's Andy Stern and Anna Burger--will meet with President Obama to discuss joint efforts to build an economy that works for all including passing healthcare reform, economic stimulus and the Employee Free Choice Act. Read more...
If the U.S. Chamber had their way, Louisianans would suffer
Jul 08, 2009 - When CEOs in Washington decide the agenda of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, they seem to forget all about real workers and business owners throughout America. For decades, they have fought legislation that would have a real impact on working families right here in Louisiana. With over 136,000 Louisianans out of work, now is the time to do everything we can to stand up to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - and stand up for working families. Read more...
July 7th & 8th: National Healthcare Call-In Day
Jul 07, 2009 - As SEIU members, our calls are especially important right now. Industry lobbyists may have deep pockets, but they can't talk about health care the same way we can. Call your member of Congress right now: 1-800-603-SEIU Read more...
End the war on home care
Jul 02, 2009 - A U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction last week ordering the state of California to halt pay cuts for the state's 400,000 home care workers. Now that a court has ruled against the Governor and his cuts, we need to ask him to reverse course on these short-sighted cuts. Read more...
Governor Rell's veto stamps out dreams of working people
Jul 02, 2009 - The unions in the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC), District 1199 launched their latest TV ad this week taking aim at Governor Jodi Rell for protecting the wealthy in a time of crisis. Read more...
SEIU to Citigroup: Shameful to Raise Interest Rates During Economic Crisis
Jul 01, 2009 - SEIU's Anna Burger: "It's shameful that Citigroup would raise interest rates on millions of Americans during a time when record unemployment and home foreclosures are forcing families to rely more and more on their credit cards just to get by." Read more...
Time's up: SEIU members and Californians crank up the heat on Schwarzenegger
Jul 01, 2009 - Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated that his idea of "shared sacrifice" is to force the entire budget burden on working families and those who can least afford it. He has refused to support a budget that contains his own previous proposals for modest oil extraction fees and insurance fees that would fund critical public safety services. SEIU Local 1000 is liveblogging from their rally at the Capitol in Sacramento. Read more...
Working families need Al Franken in the U.S. Senate
Jun 30, 2009 - 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.). Read more...
Wisconsin state budget gives home care workers breakthroughs to improve care
Jun 30, 2009 - Home care aides in Wisconsin are celebrating a new state budget signed yesterday by Gov. Jim Doyle that includes breakthrough improvements for home care workers and their clients. The improvements give approximately 5,000 home care workers in Wisconsin the freedom to unite with SEIU. Read more...
Rep. Keith Ellison, Consumer groups to join bank workers speaking out against predatory sales practices, failed banking model
Jun 30, 2009 - Today, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) will join Bank of America workers to speak out against predatory sales practices and a failed banking model and call for reforms that protect frontline bank workers and consumers. Read more...
House takes historic Leap toward clean energy economy; Obama touts new (sexier) light bulb standards
Jun 29, 2009 - On Friday, Congress took an extraordinary step forward on efforts to curb global warming. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the first-ever bill designed to advance a clean energy economy that creates green jobs, boosts national security and protects our planet. Read more...
Top Five Worst U.S. Chamber Policies for Small Businesses
Jun 29, 2009 - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce claims to defend the interests of small businesses, but even a quick examination of their legislative record shows them opposing bill after bill that may help small businesses--and consistently siding with big corporations. Read more...
Groups Launch Ads in Support of House Clean Energy Bill
Jun 23, 2009 - As Congress marshals us closer to a clean energy economy that creates green jobs, boosts national security and protects our planet, SEIU and coalition groups including the Blue Green Alliance and Sierra Club launched a major advertising campaign last week, urging Congress to pass and strengthen the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Read more...
What was your Dream?
Jun 19, 2009 - Remember what it was like when you had a dream? For many immigrant students their dreams of pursuing higher education can't be realized because of their immigration status - even though they may have lived here most of their lives. Read more...
Letter from the "Other" Washington: Meet SEIU Grassroots Lobbyist Susie Young
Jun 18, 2009 - Nine SEIU members and workers from key states across the country have relocated to Washington, DC this spring for a three-month long stint as a Grassroots Lobbyist (GRLs) on Capitol Hill. Meet Susie Young, one of the amazing grassroots lobbyists who has spent the last few months fighting the good fight with SEIU here in D.C. "This has been one of the best experiences of my life," says Susie of her time spent as a GRL. Read more...
White House Plan to Cleanup Wall Street, Stabilize Economy & Protect Consumers is Strong First Step
Jun 17, 2009 - Today, Anna Burger, Secretary-Treasurer of the Services Employees International Union (SEIU) and a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, issued the following statement in response to the White House's fiscal reform plan: "The White House plan is a significant first step towards reforming and holding accountable a financial system whose irresponsible, risky practices have destabilized our economy and devastated millions of hard working families..." Read more...
Workers March in Portland: "What Do We Want? Fairness!"
Jun 16, 2009 - After numerous songs, slogans, speeches and a march across Portland's Hawthorne Bridge, the message came down to a simple chant rising from Terry D. Schrunk Plaza and echoing off the Portland skyscrapers around it: "What do we want? Fairness! When do we want it? Now!" With that, about 2,500 SEIU Local 503 members and allies concluded the United for Oregon rally against state budget cuts and layoffs last Sunday. Read more...
President Obama addresses the AMA; Doctors say public health insurance option must be part of health care reform solution
Jun 15, 2009 - In his 50 minute address to the American Medical Association at the group's annual convention in Chicago, President Obama reiterated his strong support for a truly national public health insurance plan, calling the current state of the nation's health care system a "ticking time bomb." Read more...
Stop Squeezing the Middle Class: Former Labor Secretaries Reich and Marshall on Employee Free Choice
Jun 15, 2009 - 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 and Ray Marshall 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 necessary if our economy is to succeed. Read more...
Coalition of Doctor Organizations: "Our Patients Deserve the Choice of a Public Health Insurance Option"
Jun 15, 2009 - A coalition of 8 organizations representing over 200,000 physicians and physicians-in-training, including SEIU's Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) and Doctors Council, issued a statement this morning in support of achieving health care reform this year, including the creation of a robust, high-quality public health insurance option. Read more...
BofA & Merrill: "Who was holding the shotgun?"
Jun 15, 2009 - 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. Did the Fed force BofA into a shotgun wedding, or is it possible that BofA put a shotgun to the head of the broader economy in order to get political and economic cover for a bailout that it needed anyway? Read more...
SEIU Workers in Puerto Rico Lead March Against 30,000+ Layoffs
Jun 15, 2009 - Led in part by SEIU Local 1996 in Puerto Rico, close to 100,000 union members, students, and other activists marched in front of the capitol building in San Juan last week to protest Governor Luis Fortuño's plan to lay off more than 30,000 government employees and suspend public sector collective bargaining rights. Read more...
It's On Your Kitchen Table
Jun 12, 2009 - President Obama last week indicated that we must provide Americans with the option of a public health insurance plan. Now it's time to convince Congress; and the strongest proof that our current health care system is broken is probably sitting on your kitchen table - your medical bills. Read more...
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Stands Up for its Constituents: Ken Lewis and Bank of America
Jun 12, 2009 - Yesterday the U.S. Chamber of Commerce saw fit to stand up for Bank of America's disgraced ex-Chairman and current CEO Ken Lewis. Lewis testified to the House Oversight Committee about the bank's purchase and subsequent bleeding of Merrill Lynch. Read more...
Colorado Small Businesses Endorse Employee Free Choice Act
Jun 11, 2009 - Today, 225 Colorado businesses released a "directory" featuring businesses that support the Employee Free Choice Act. In this economic crisis, we have a duty to support entrepreneurs and start-up companies in building sustainable, long-term successful businesses, rather than being forced to compete against irresponsible companies in an unwinnable, low-wage race to the bottom. Read more...
Time for Answers: Bank of America's Ken Lewis to Testify on Capitol Hill
Jun 10, 2009 - Tomorrow, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis will face tough questioning in his testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 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. Read more...
New online campaign for Employee Free Choice: Stand with working people, not greedy CEOs
Jun 10, 2009 - Yesterday SEIU launched an online campaign asking senators to stand with working people, not greedy CEOs, on the Employee Free Choice Act. In addition to putting out the four web videos, the SEIU is also launching email campaigns targeting the five senators, with much the same message and aim. Read more...
What would you ask BofA CEO Ken Lewis?
Jun 10, 2009 - This Thursday, Ken Lewis will be in front of Congress to answer questions about Bank of America's business practices. If you're an employee of Bank of America, here's an opportunity for you: What do you want to ask Ken Lewis? Submit your questions at http://letstalkbanks.com/ask/ Read more...
SEIU Study Reveals $34.7 billion in "The Hidden Branch of Government": Unfulfilled California Vendor Contracts Canceled
Jun 10, 2009 - Yesterday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order calling for all unfulfilled state department vendor contracts to be canceled. Schwarzenegger's recognition of the vendor waste is just the tip of the iceberg--SEIU Local 1000 believes the California government is hiding $34.7 billion in some 13,600 vendor contracts. Read more...
Quickening the Pace of Progress: Obama's Roadmap to Recovery
Jun 08, 2009 - At a Cabinet meeting on Monday, President Barack Obama promised to speed federal money into hundreds of public works projects this summer, vowing that 600,000 jobs would be created or saved in the second hundred days--four times the number created or saved in the first 100 days. Read more...
SEIU Endorses Feingold Bill To Help Displaced Workers Find Health Care Jobs
Jun 05, 2009 - SEIU has endorsed Community-Based Health Care Retraining Act legislation reintroduced by Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). The new version of the bill, formerly introduced in 2004, 2005 and 2007, would establish a program to distribute grants to colleges and other institution to retrain workers in areas of high unemployment to take jobs in healthcare. Read more...
Anna Burger Speaks Out on Excessive Corporate Pay
Jun 03, 2009 - Yesterday, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger addressed a conference sponsored by the Institutional Investor Education Foundation on retrieving the excessive pay and bonuses corporate CEOs received as they helped drive the nation's economy down. Read more...
Industrial and Labor Relations Expert: The System Is Failing
Jun 03, 2009 - In an opinion piece published by the Washington Post this morning, industrial and labor relations scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner writes about the obstacles facing workers today. The system itself, she states, is failing "to defend workers' rights in a timely manner" and creates "delays that favor employers." That, in itself, is a large reason to support the Employee Free Choice's "first contract arbitration" section. Read more...
Morning Joe Team Wakes Up on Wrong Side of Bed, Goes on Anti-Union Tirade
Jun 03, 2009 - 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. Read more...
SEIU Vows to Block Governor Schwarzenegger's Assault on Home Care
Jun 02, 2009 - Governor Schwarzenegger gave a speech to the joint session of California legislatures this morning on the state's budget, pressing lawmakers to resolve the state's financial crisis, advocating a federal solution to do so that will devastate seniors, people with disabilities and the in-home care providers they depend on to survive. SEIU intends to fight the Governor's callous and immoral budget proposals and advance real solutions that enhance state and federal revenue, instead reducing funds for home care and other vital services Californians need. Read more...
"I'm too old to get rehired and too young for Social Security."
Jun 02, 2009 - This weekend, about 100 union service employees, police and firefighters in Orlando, FL, met to discuss budget cuts which would force them from their jobs. "It's not the unions causing the crisis. Read more...
Survey Results: The American Dream and the New Progressive Majority
Jun 02, 2009 - Change to Win released the results of the seventh in its ongoing series of American Dream surveys today, measuring views on how strong majorities of working Americans view the economy, the role of government, the American Dream, and the action agenda that is at the heart of the new progressive majority. Read more...
Governor Schwarzenegger: Home Healthcare Is Not A Throw-Away!
May 28, 2009 - Today, SEIU home healthcare members closed their 48-hour vigil with a press conference on the steps of the California statehouse to protest drastic budget cuts which would drive home care workers into poverty and force seniors and people with disabilities into more restrictive and costly institutional settings Read more...
Blinding Greed
May 28, 2009 - An editorial in today's Wall Street Journal paints the current contract negotiation process as something that "works." Ask anyone who's been through the process, and they'll tell you that it works - but only for corporations. The employees, instead, tend to get the shaft. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of workers who form a union still don't have a contract after one year, and companies refuse to negotiate in good faith in over 28 percent of cases. Read more...
President Bartlett Pledges to Pass The Employee Free Choice Act
May 27, 2009 - You may have heard of President Obama's support for the Employee Free Choice Act, but today, Catholics for Working Families is launching an ad with another president's endorsement: President Bartlett (or, as he's known in the real world, Martin Sheen). Read more...
Stop Schwarzenegger's Cruel Cuts
May 27, 2009 - Two years ago, President Barack Obama walked a day in the shoes of SEIU home care worker Pauline Beck. Today, Pauline and home care workers across California face pay cuts of up to 33% -- from $12.10 an hour down to $8. Please send a message to the Governor telling him you strongly disagree with his misguided priorities--we're not going to let this happen without a fight. Read more...
Sierra Club President Allison Chin: "An economy that treats workers fairly is fundamentally better for our planet"
May 27, 2009 - To mark the occasion of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Sierra Club President Allison Chin addressed a group of SEIU employees during a lunch lecture on the topics of grassroots activism, the Employee Free Choice Act and working together with labor in the Blue Green Alliance. Read more...
Tonight in California: Thousands Begin 48-Hour Vigils to Protest Massive Cuts
May 26, 2009 - SEIU members, seniors home care givers and community supporters from across the state will hold vigils tonight on the grounds of the State Capitol to protest Schwarzenegger's proposed cutbacks that would reduce vital services to seniors and people with disabilities. Read more...
Judge Sotomayor's Nomination to the Supreme Court an Extraordinary Choice for Today and Tomorrow
May 26, 2009 - President Obama said he would appoint people to our courts who not only had brilliant legal minds, but who also understand how the law impacts the everyday lives of working families. Today he has fulfilled that promise by nominating U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Read more...
43 Members of Congress Write in Support of Hartmarx Workers
May 22, 2009 - Yesterday, 43 Members of Congress issued a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, asking him to weigh in on Wells Fargo's attempt to liquidate nearly 4,000 jobs at Hartmarx, a unionized suit manufacturer whose customers include President Obama. Read more...
Big Interest Groups Throw a Hail Mary on Employee Free Choice
May 22, 2009 - A newly-formed coalition of religious leaders and people of faith--Faith Leaders for Workplace Fairness--publicly announced their support for the labor reform bill on a conference call with press last week, calling the legislation a "moral imperative" and a civil and human right. Over the last few days, several conservative websites and corporate interests have decided that such a coalition is unacceptable, because they apparently own all the stock on religion. Read more...
Green jobs and energy are focus of President's first Economic Recovery Advisory Board meeting
May 20, 2009 - During the first quarterly meeting of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger and fifteen other board members discussed green jobs and energy with the President, sharing their expertise on the creation of a comprehensive energy plan that will generate millions of clean energy jobs. Read more...
Big Banks Liquidating Your Company? Let Us Know
May 15, 2009 - Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) launched a toll-free hotline and website--Keep America Working--to support small business owners and workers facing job loss because of frozen credit and liquidation at the hands of bailed-out banks. Visit www.keepworkinghotline.org if your company is facing liquidation threats from big banks. Read more...
Obama Administration Blocks Harmful Cuts to Homecare Workers
May 15, 2009 - In a victory for struggling homecare workers, the Obama Administration ruled last week that California's proposed cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program violates the terms of the federal stimulus aid going to the state under the terms of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Read more...
New Video: The Epic Battle for Employee Free Choice
May 14, 2009 - Corporate lobbyists and executives are gearing up for their next round of attacks on the Employee Free Choice Act. But the next battle is bound to show them for who they are: greedy people who will do anything to hold onto their power. Watch our tongue-in-cheek video here. Read more...
Tell Wells Fargo: Save Jobs at Hartmarx
May 12, 2009 - The public gave Wells Fargo $25 billion in bailout funds, but rather than investing that money in American jobs by keeping credit flowing, Wells Fargo is considering cutting the cord. oment to sign a letter to Wells Fargo Executive Vice President John Stumpf asking him to choose a bidder who will save these jobs. Read more...
Is Bank of America Clueless?
May 12, 2009 - The bank was "shocked" at the Treasury's initial figure and "negotiated" to have the number lowered by about $20 billion. Of course this begs a question as to just how healthy BofA actually is. I mean, I've heard of accounting tricks, but I didn't know you can knock off 30% of your capital shortfall through "negotiations". That's one hell of an accounting trick! Read more...
Call the Senate: Support the Credit Cardholder Bill of Rights
May 12, 2009 - President Obama said he wants to sign a bill that protects credit card holders, but Big Banks are twisting the arms of your senators to get them to oppose even the most basic reforms. Make the call now: tell your senators to support the Dodd-Shelby amendment to the Credit Cardholder Bill of Rights. Read more...
US Chamber: We Hate Arbitration. Except For When We Love It.
May 08, 2009 - In a post on the US Chamber of Commerce's blog, Brad Peck attempts to argue against our point that corporate lobby groups - such as the Chamber itself - were long for arbitration before they started assailing the process as a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad thing. Read more...
Bank of America Fails "Stress Tests," Needs $34 Billion and Accountability
May 07, 2009 - Yesterday's federal government stress test results confirmed what concerned shareholders, taxpayers and bank employees have been saying all along--that Bank of America is failing taxpayers and our economy. Read more...
Point of View: What Prop. 1A really means for California
May 06, 2009 - The new rules under Prop. 1A would require massive savings even in bad years and would greatly reduce the funding available for public services. Prop. 1A won't reduce California's looming deficit for the 2009-10 budget by a single cent, and most of its provisions will not take effect for two years--years that should be spent hammering out real solutions to the state's budget and fiscal challenges. Read more...
Our Letter to Bank of America's New Chairman
May 05, 2009 - Last week, Bank of America's CEO, Ken Lewis, was ousted by the company's shareholders from his position as chairman of the board. At the same time, nearly 100,000 of you signed "taxpayer proxy cards" calling for Lewis' removal as CEO. Read more...
Obama's First 100 Days: What he's done for workers
Apr 29, 2009 - Today marks the 100th day Obama has been in the Oval Office. "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's Anna Burger, highlighting workers' engagement during the Administration's first 100 days. Read more...
Video: 90,000 "Taxpayer Proxy Cards" Delivered to Bank of America
Apr 29, 2009 - Earlier, we delivered your 90,000 "Taxpayer Proxy Cards" to Bank of America, directly before the annual shareholder meeting. Read more...
Pictures from Today's Rally in Charlotte
Apr 29, 2009 - Fresh in from North Carolina, here are some picture's from today's event outside of the Bank of America annual shareholder's meeting, where we presented Bank of America with over 90,000 "Taxpayer's Proxy Cards." Read more...
Bank of America: In The Doghouse?
Apr 29, 2009 - For a while, we've been saying that people are a little ticked at Bank of America's practices. We apologize to our canine friends, who, it appears, are also joining the movement for real reform at Bank of America. Read more...
Grand Total: Over 90,000 "Taxpayer Proxy Cards" Signed and Delivered
Apr 29, 2009 - Just moments ago, we delivered over 90,000 "Taxpayers Proxy Cards" to Bank of America. Who are these 90,000 people? They're an eclectic mix of those who signed on the Internet and those who joined one of 100 actions yesterday, out there in your community. Read more...
The Billboard That Haunts Ken Lewis' Dreams
Apr 29, 2009 - If you're in Charlotte, NC today, be on the lookout for this giant, moving billboard. Read more...
Bank of America Blog Roundup, April 29th 2009
Apr 29, 2009 - Our Take Back The Economy campaign is picking up some steam on the web, with a good number of blogs covering our events from yesterday and today. Read more...
Video: SEIU President Andy Stern Speaks at Rally in NYC
Apr 29, 2009 - We've just received video from the New York City's Take Back The Economy event, where SEIU President Andy Stern and event attendees delivered a "Taxpayer's Proxy" card to the Bank of America headquarters. Watch the video here. Read more...
Video: Take Back The Economy Rally in Washington, DC
Apr 28, 2009 - Today, SEIU's Executive Vice President, Eliseo Medina, led a rally in front of a Bank of America branch near the White House. Watch it here. Read more...
Bank of America: So, About that "America" Part of Our Name
Apr 27, 2009 - While the US taxpayer has been more than generous towards Bank of America, giving the bank up to $199.2 billion in federal assistance, CEO Ken Lewis hasn't exactly returned the favor. Read more...
When $45 Billion is Really $199.2 Billion
Apr 24, 2009 - If you've been following the news, you know by now that Bank of America is in debt to the American taxpayer in the amount of $45 billion - the amount of TARP funds (aka "bailout money") that they received since last year. But it turns out that a figure that you likely haven't heard - 199.2 billion - paints a bit more of an accurate number on how much Bank of America will most likely "borrow" from the American people. Read more...
Anna Burger joins Earth Day roundtable on role of women in the green economy
Apr 22, 2009 - SEIU's Anna Burger joined women from labor, business, academic and advocacy organizations to shine a light on the important role that women will play in our green economy at an Earth Day roundtable today at the Department of Labor headquarters. Read more...
SEIU Healthcare Illinois Ad: Don't cut home care and child care to the bone
Apr 22, 2009 - SEIU Healthcare Illinois launched a hard-hitting advertising campaign this week, timed to coincide with the return of legislators to Springfield, calling on the General Assembly to stop deep cuts to child care and home care services in the FY10 budget. Read more...
SEIU Master Trust Demands Investigation of Billions in Payouts for Executives in 29 of its Portfolio Companies
Apr 21, 2009 - In letters addressed to the Boards of Directors of 29 major companies in its investment portfolio, the SEIU Master Trust--a consortium of pension funds with approximately $1.3 billion in assets--demand that the companies' boards overhaul their executive compensation structure so top executives do not reap bonuses and other incentivized pay rewards regardless of the companies' performance. Read more...
Public Workers Pay Taxes Too!
New Hampshire Public Employees Protest Job Cuts
Apr 17, 2009 - On Wednesday, over a hundred members of SEIU Local 1984 in New Hampshire joined state employees at the Concord State House for a Tax Day protest against possible public employee layoffs and cuts in pay and benefits. The state budget recently passed by the House would impose a mandatory 2 percent "tax" on 51,000 public workers, pulling $100 million out of the New Hampshire economy, even as local retailers are really struggling. Read more...
Fire CEO Ken Lewis: Sign Your Taxpayer Proxy
Apr 15, 2009 - While Bank of America's CEO, Ken Lewis, is calling for business as usual, taxpayers are calling for change. It's time for Bank of America to stop the policies and practices that helped crash our economy and hurts its customers with unfair fees and hidden costs. Read more...
Labor Groups United to Unveil Unified Immigration Reform Framework
Apr 14, 2009 - Today, the Change to Win federation and AFL-CIO unveiled a unified framework for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The proposal endorses legalizing the status of tundocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. and opposes the adoption of employers' incentive to hire undocumented workers rather than U.S. workers. Read more...
SEIU to Chamber of Commerce: Stop Using Taxpayer Bailout Funds to Undermine Working Families
Apr 14, 2009 - On their blog yesterday afternoon, the Chamber of Commerce admitted to accepting dues from member companies who have received taxpayer bailout money. The Chamber of Commerce must stop accepting taxpayer funds to lobby against taxpayer interests that would improve the lives of hardworking Americans. Read more...
Employee Free Choice Act: Paving the Road to Economic Recovery
Apr 09, 2009 - The Center for American Progress Report (CAP) is out, and the results are definitive: labor unions are a crucial part of fixing our economy. Read more...
Public Outrage Over Bank of America's Self-Serving, Predatory and Dangerous Practices Heats Up
Apr 08, 2009 - In recent weeks, there's been a growing chorus of public outrage over the lavish bonuses paid to bank executives like Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, whose self-serving profit schemes and risky financial deals led to today's economic collapse. Read more...
Bank Workers Worldwide Speak Out Against "Hard Sell" to Customers
Mar 30, 2009 - In a teleconference briefing today, UNI Finance Global Union gathered bank employees from the U.S., UK, Brazil, and Denmark for a "special insider media briefing" on short-term, profit-driven banking procedures that put customers and economies at risk. Read more...
SEIU, Blue Green Alliance Urge Climate Change Legislation in 2009
Mar 30, 2009 - On Friday, four labor unions and two environmental organizations representing six million people announced their support for comprehensive cap-and-trade climate change legislation in 2009. The Blue Green Alliance's goal is nothing less than to transform the U.S. economy through global warming solutions and create millions of family-sustaining green jobs in the clean energy economy. Read more...
Bailout Watchdog Team Drops by "Secret" Financial Services Roundtable Meeting
Mar 27, 2009 - Despite efforts by the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR)--the lobbying organization for banking and financial industries--to keep the location of their spring meeting secret, a group of spirited protesters found them yesterday in Washington, D.C. at the luxury hotel Read more...
Confirm Kathleen Sebelius
Mar 23, 2009 - [YouTube video] Read more...
Why Obama's Budget Matters
Mar 23, 2009 - The first step is making sure the President's budget gets the support it needs from leaders in Congress. His budget makes a huge down-payment on reforming healthcare this year, and toward erasing the disparities that have resulted in unequal care. We need to show our strong and unequivocal support for the Presidents budget. Already, Obama has done more to reform health care than George Bush did in eight years. Read more...
President Obama Reiterates Support for Making it Easier for Workers to Organize
Mar 20, 2009 - At the Costa Mesa town hall meeting this week, Obama reiterated his support for making it easier for workers to form unions to restore balance and improve millions of Americans' economic standing. Read more...
We Want Justice, Not Blood
Mar 19, 2009 - Yesterday, I sat for several hours in a House subcommittee meeting, waiting for a satisfying moment that never came. Scores of cameras, dozens of spectators, and the "Ladies in Pink" (who nearly got thrown out of the hearing for waving signs that said "Jail AIG") joined me as we waited for hours to hear from the CEO of AIG, Edward Liddy. Read more...
A Reality Check for AIG
Mar 19, 2009 - We've just returned from our local AIG headquarters here in D.C., where around 130 people stood in the rain to take part in our Take Back the Economy day of action. Demonstrators held signs, sang songs, and presented AIG with a "reality check" worth billions of dollars from the American people. Read more...
Take Back the Economy Actions: Arrests at Peaceful Protest in Rhode Island
Mar 19, 2009 - We got word that our peaceful protest for TakeBackTheEconomy.org in Rhode Island was stopped by police with 8 arrests. Read more...
Putting Our Money Where Their Mouths Are
Mar 19, 2009 - Rather than focusing on paying the American people back, America's biggest banks have, instead, used their resources to lobby against measures that would improve the lives of their new investors - us. Here's a quick look at a few of these groups. Read more...
10,000 Join in Nationwide Protests at AIG and Major U.S. Banks Today
Mar 19, 2009 - The bonus scandals at AIG and the big banks are the last straw. Americans have simply had it with an economy that keeps delivering for top executives while leaving working people falling behind. Read more...
March 19 Day of Action Against Corporate Excess
Mar 18, 2009 - As public anger erupts at over bonuses to AIG executives and almost daily revelations of abuses by Wall Street giants, we're channeling our frustration and anger into action that can make a difference. On Thursday, March 19, thousands of people nationwide will demonstrate outside major banks and demand real change. Read more...
Surprise! Rush Gets It Wrong on Free Choice
Mar 18, 2009 - The always-entertaining leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, had these words to say about Employee Free Choice today: "One day, Tony Soprano will walk in with a lead pipe and he will start beating people upside the head to vote to unionize." Read more...
Had Enough of Corporate Greed and Irresponsibilty? Join Nationwide Actions Today
Mar 18, 2009 - Read more...
Sometimes 'Sorry' just isn't enough: Fix CNBC Now!
Mar 18, 2009 - Responsible journalism that holds Wall Street accountable has been sorely lacking from news giant CNBC, who in recent months has seemed to be doing PR for Wall Street--instead of investigating and debunking lies to report the behind-the-scenes facts the public needs to know. Read more...
From Reno to Capitol Hill
Mar 18, 2009 - This week has been quite the whirlwind. I left my home in Reno to join coworkers from my hospital (and hundreds of other SEIU members from across the country) to talk to our elected officials in Washington, DC about the need for the Employee Free Choice Act, and why giving workers a voice will help get our country back on track. Read more...
SEIU Workers on Why They Want a Union
Mar 17, 2009 - With corporate interest groups going on the attack around the Employee Free Choice Act, workers are now speaking out about why they want to join a union and the employer resistance and intimidation they've encountered when trying to organize their workplace. Watch SEIU workers share their stories about why the Employee Free Choice Act matters to them. Read more...
No economist needed to see the flaws in Secretary Geithner's latest TALF proposal
Mar 17, 2009 - SEIU's Anna Burger issued a statement yesterday commenting on Treasury Secretary Geithner's latest TALF proposal to invite private equity and hedge fund investors to a fire sale of bank assets--a fundamentally flawed plan Burger says is no more than a "return to the very same policies and practices that triggered the financial crisis in the first place." Read more...
10,000 to Protest at Major U.S. Banks and Firms, including AIG, Bank of America, and Citigroup
Mar 17, 2009 - With almost daily revelations of abuses by Wall Street giants, some 10,000 Americans will participate in over 100 actions in over 30 states on Thursday, March 19 to push the solutions needed to rebuild the economy on sound, strong footing. Read more...
Gallup Poll: Majority of Americans Support the Employee Free Choice Act
Mar 17, 2009 - Read more...
Gallup Poll: Majority of Americans Support the Employee Free Choice Act
Mar 17, 2009 - 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. Read more...
Had enough of corporate irresponsibility?
Mar 16, 2009 - Word broke yesterday that despite being crowned the "Bailout King," AIG is going to pay out more than $400 million in bonuses. We've had enough. On Thursday, March 19, thousands of people nationwide will demonstrate outside major banks and demand real change. Read more...
O'Reilly Responds
Mar 13, 2009 - Bill O'Reilly refused the challenge to come walk a day in our shoes, because he's already "been to those places." While he may have visited Billings, Montana, we seriously doubt he's spent a day there caring for a sick patient, or keeping an office building secure in Chicago. Read more...
Recession reaching all the way to Sesame Street
Mar 12, 2009 - It looks like even beloved Muppet characters Big Bert and Ernie aren't safe in this economic chaos, as Sesame Workshop, the non-profit producer of Sesame Street, announced Wednesday it is laying off one-fifth of its 355-member workforce. Read more...
Employee Free Choice Act Introduced in Congress
Mar 10, 2009 - Read more...
What is the media saying about yesterday's Employee Free Choice rally?
Mar 10, 2009 - Yesterday, hundreds of workers from across the country rallied at the offices of major corporate industry associations to expose the huge scope of their DC lobbying against measures that could help working people in today's economy. We've compiled a short round-up of the media coverage surrounding SEIU's demonstrations - here are a few highlights. Read more...
Today's the day
Mar 10, 2009 - An important step toward restoring balance and fairness to our economy was taken today--the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate. SEIU President Andy Stern and SEIU member Regina Schwartz recorded a video message for you about the Employee Free Choice Act. Please watch the video and ask your Members of Congress to actively support the Employee Free Choice Act. Read more...
Employee Free Choice Act Introduced Tomorrow in House, Senate
Mar 09, 2009 - The Politico reports that tomorrow both houses of Congress will introduce the Employee Free Choice Act, which allows workers to decide for themselves how they'd like to form a union rather than management making that decision for them. Read more...
Unemployment Climbs Further to Hit 25-Year High
Mar 06, 2009 - There's no place to hide, as workers from coast to coast, in almost every sector, are being affected as companies forced to cut their costs slash jobs. As the economy shed 651,000 jobs during the month of February, all 50 states reported increased unemployment for the first time on record. Read more...
SEIU's National Worker Mobilization for Employee Free Choice
Mar 05, 2009 - On Monday, religious leaders, and community allies will join hundreds of workers for a 3 p.m. rally across from the Chamber of Commerce to tell corporate CEOs to stop standing in the way of an economy that works for everyone. Read more...
New Report on Illegal Workplace Firings Shows Clear Need For Employee Free Choice
Mar 04, 2009 - Today, a report issued by the Center for Economic and Policy Research points to a fairly disturbing (not to mention illegal) trend during the 2000s: if you looked at all of the campaigns to earn unions, you'd find that more than one-fourth of them have been "marred by an illegal firing" of at least one worker as he or she fought for representation in the workplace. Read more...
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics, Backs Employee Free Choice Act
Mar 02, 2009 - Make that three Nobel laureates in economics. Joseph Stiglitz, an American economist, professor at Columbia University and Nobel laureate in economics, has added his name to the growing list of now-40 economists who endorsed the Employee Free Choice Act via a full-page ad in the Washington Post last week. Read more...
SEIU's 'Top Choice' is Nominee
Mar 02, 2009 - Moments ago, President Obama announced his nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. SEIU has deployed unprecedented resources and staff toward winning health care reform this year--and we're excited to have a proven advocate for quality, affordable care at the helm of Health and Human Services. Read more...
Watch SEIU President Andy Stern on C-Span
Feb 28, 2009 - Don't miss Andy Stern this weekend on Washington Journal, C-Span's national public affairs show. Stern will discuss the American worker in the current economy, the Obama Administration, expectations of the Labor Department under new Secretary Hilda Solis, and what role labor plays in uplifting America's working families and communities. Read more...
Green Jobs: "Clear Path to a Stronger Middle Class and a Stronger American Economy"
Feb 27, 2009 - The world is facing a historic opportunity to rebuild our global economy through investments in sustainable projects that will create new jobs, reduce our dependence on oil and protect our planet after decades of mismanagement. Read more...
Who Dares Mess With GOP Chairman Michael Steele?
Feb 26, 2009 - 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: Read more...
Change to Win and AFL-CIO File Complaint Against Marcus Foundation, Center for Union Facts
Feb 26, 2009 - Huffington Post's Sam Stein and AFL-CIO's Seth Michaels are both reporting on the latest news concerning the now-infamous Bank of America-sponsored conference call against the Employee Free Choice Act. In a joint complaint to the IRS, Change to Win and the AFL-CIO are alleging that the actions that took place on that call were illegal - under the tax code governing the tax-exempt status of the organizations that participated in the call. Read more...
Andy Stern Interviews on USA Today and Huffington Post
Feb 25, 2009 - Today, interviews with SEIU President Andy Stern have been published in both USA Today and the Huffington Post. In both, Stern talks about the Employee Free Choice Act, discussing timeline and strategy for the piece of legislation. Read more...
The President's Address to a Joint Meeting of Congress
Feb 24, 2009 - Tonight, at 9pm ET/8pm CT, President Obama will address a joint session of Congress about his budget priorities and draw a blueprint for the year ahead. Read more...
Andy Stern talks health care with Obama at Fiscal Responsibility Summit
Feb 24, 2009 - Read more...
Why Healthcare Can't Wait
Feb 23, 2009 - "Through the years, there have been many issues where labor and business don't see eye to eye. Here's one where we firmly agree: the need to fix healthcare, now, not in spite of the economic crisis, but because of it. For this reason, we are proud to stand together with President Obama as he reinforces the urgency of health care reform in the State of the Union speech before Congress," SEIU's Andy Stern and Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler write on The Huffington Post. Read more...
VIDEO: Health Care Dominates White House Fiscal Responsibility Summit
Feb 23, 2009 - The first-ever Fiscal Responsibility Summit took place on Monday at the White House. Advisors at the highest levels of the Obama administration hosted members of Congress as well as leaders from a wide range of organizations to discuss solutions to long-term fiscal challenges facing the nation. SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger were among the attendees at the event. Read more...
Bank of America Uses Bailout to Fight Economic Recovery
Feb 20, 2009 - Bank of America Uses Bailout to Fight Economic Recovery Read more...
In Blow to State's Working Families, CA Legislature Approves New Budget Plan
Feb 19, 2009 - As the California Legislature passed a budget package today, Gov. Schwarzenegger applauded legislators as having the "courage to stand up and put the needs of Californians first." SEIU members have a different viewpoint of the budget plan, which includes $14 billion in budget cuts that will affect crucial social programs. Read more...
Change: The Next Steps
Feb 18, 2009 - Thanks in part to your hard work, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law yesterday afternoon. Read more...
New Report to be released on Feb 19. to Show How Union Job Growth Will Aid CA Economic Recovery
Feb 18, 2009 - As the national focus begins to shift from passage of the Economic Recovery Act to securing long-term solutions for re-building the middle class, a coalition of leading academics, religious leaders, and civil rights leaders will gather to advocate for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would give employees greater freedom to join a union. Read more...
Tracking the Stimulus: money + media coverage
Feb 17, 2009 - Keeping in line with his campaign's theme of accountability and transparency, the Obama administration has put up a new website to help people track how the economic stimulus money is spent. Read more...
SEIU's Anna Burger: Economic Stimulus and How it Will Work
Feb 17, 2009 - "President Obama really wants to make sure the voice of people are heard in Washington and that as we develop economic policies, they work for people across our country: for workers, for business, for the economy as a whole," says SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger in a MarketWatch video interview on Friday. Read more...
VIDEO: MSNBC Exposes Source of Health IT Smears
Feb 13, 2009 - Your efforts to uncover the misinformation campaign against health IT are gaining major traction in the mainstream media. MSNBC dug further into the smear tactics being used against health IT on last night's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." Read more...
Video and Pics: Bank Bailout Hearing Action
Feb 12, 2009 - Yesterday, as bailout bank CEOs entered the Rayburn House building to testify before Congress on how they used bailout funds, they were greeted by the playful chants and clever signs of SEIU members. Check out video and photo slideshow of the demonstration here. Read more...
Ken Lewis, What's Really In Your Company's Best Interest?
Feb 12, 2009 - Yesterday, in a congressional hearing about major banking institutions' use of TARP funds (a.k.a. the "bailout" funds approved by Congress last fall), something that can only be described as "enraging" occurred. When pressed by Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN), Bank of... Read more...
Update: Health Care Provisions in the Economic Recovery Act
Feb 12, 2009 - The Speaker of the House has released a report outlining the key points of the compromise the House and Senate have reached on the Economic Recovery Act. There's lots of good news for health care. Read more...
Call Key Senators to Support the Economic Stimulus Act
Feb 12, 2009 - Read more...
How to get the change we need
Feb 12, 2009 - Call Senators Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and thank them for supporting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Tuesday and urge them to vote for it on final passage as part of an economic solution for America's families. Read more...
Caregivers Defend Health IT
Feb 11, 2009 - Yesterday, we told you about Rush Limbaugh's rant against the measures to improve health IT in the Economic Recovery Act. Normally, Rush goes largely unnoticed by most of the general public. But his irresponsible comments about health IT have hit... Read more...
Limbaugh Doesn't Get IT
Feb 10, 2009 - Health care professionals nationwide are writing to their newspapers today to refute claims by Rush Limbaugh on two provisions in the stimulus package: comparative effectiveness research and health IT. Both are designed to provide health care professionals with objective, up-to-date information on treatments, tests and procedures available to them. Read more...
Senate Approves Economic Stimulus Bill
Feb 10, 2009 - As President Barack Obama neared the end of his FL town hall appearance today on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, news broke that the economic stimulus bill had successfully cleared the Senate by a vote of 61 to 37. Read more...
SEIU to Conferees on Recovery Bill: Don't Shortchange Working People
Feb 10, 2009 - Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger today sent a letter to House-Senate conferees that thanks members of Congress for their urgent and necessary efforts so far to create jobs that will stem the economic crisis and that urges them to complete work quickly on a comprehensive plan. Read more...
Senate Moves Forward On Stimulus Package
Feb 10, 2009 - The Senate last night moved forward on the Stimulus Package, voting 61 to 36 to end debate and bring the measure on a vote today. Read more...
Unemployed Americans stretch from sea to shining sea
Feb 06, 2009 - The job loss numbers released on February 6 by the Labor Department show employers slashed 598,000 jobs in January--the deepest cut in payrolls in a single month since December 1974. Read more...
Anna Burger Named to President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
Feb 06, 2009 - Anna Burger, chair of the Change to Win labor coalition and International Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), today was named to President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board in a ceremony at the White House with President Obama. Read more...
U.S. Senate Should Move Forward with Solis Nomination for Secretary of Labor
Feb 05, 2009 - "Hilda Solis is the right choice for Secretary because she understands personally the challenges workers face in a global economy and the need for a bold new agenda that expands healthcare for everyone and gives American workers a greater choice and a greater voice, said Andy Stern SEIU President Andy Stern, urging the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to move ahead with a scheduled vote on the nomination of Hilda Solis for secretary of labor Read more...
Good Jobs, Green Jobs: Help Wanted
Feb 05, 2009 - Green job creation and training is happening right now, all over the country, fueled by the belief that it is possible to ease the intensity of our climate crisis and employ more people to work in better jobs (all at the same time). Read more...
NH SEIU Member, Senators Urge Passage of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Feb 05, 2009 - Read more...
Member Testimony: It happened to me, and it can happen to you too
Feb 05, 2009 - You never think that it could happen to you, but in today's economy it's getting harder and harder to know who's got your back. That's why today I'm in Washington D.C. lobbying my U.S. Senators and urging them to vote for the Economic Recovery Act, which will provide the emergency financial help our states need so they won't have to balance the budget on the backs of workers. Read more...
New Hampshire SEIU Member Stands with Senators to Urge Passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Feb 05, 2009 - SEIU Member and New Hampshire state employee Jessica Paul today stood with Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Frank Lautenberg, Jeff Merkley and Dennis Van Roekel, President of the National Education Association at a press conference on Capitol Hill to discuss the urgent need to pass an economic recovery package. Read more...
Video: Tellers Make Change at Bank of America
Feb 03, 2009 - Last week, as reported on our blog,
Vice President Biden on Employee Free Choice: "This Year"
Feb 02, 2009 - Last week, in a CNBC interview with John Harwood, Vice President Joe Biden talked about the timeline for passing the Employee Free Choice Act. Read more...
Republicans Choose Obstructionism Over Stimulus
Jan 30, 2009 - "Many in the House Republican leadership talked a big game about hearing the message of change Americans so clearly delivered in November, but when it came time to vote they showed they care more about playing the old game of obstructionist opponents than fixing out economy," said SEIU's Anna Burger on The Hill's Congress Blog today. Read more...
SEIU Ad Praising Sen. Reid's Work on Behalf of Nevada's Working Families
Jan 30, 2009 - SEIU believes in rewarding work and in tune with motto, we're rolling out a new television ad campaign today in support of Senator Harry Reid's work on behalf of Nevada's working families. Read more...
Obama and Biden Launch Middle Class Working Families Task Force
Jan 30, 2009 - Today President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden announced the creation of the Middle Class Task Force, which the White House blog says is "targeted at raising the living standards of middle-class, working families in America." Read more...
MSNBC Reports on Bank of America's Anti-Worker Conference Call
Jan 30, 2009 - Reaction to Sam Stein's recent Huffington Post article on Bank of America's anti-Employee Free Choice conference call has been sweeping. Wednesday night, on MSNBC show 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., host David Shuster reported on the call during his "Hypocrisy Watch" segment. Airing some of the tape from the call, Shuster makes a special comment. Read more...
New TV Ad Campaign Targets House Republicans Completely Out of Touch with Working People in America
Jan 29, 2009 - SEIU and coalition groups Americans United for Change, MoveOn.org Political Action and AFSCME unveiled a new television ad campaign that aims to to pressure key and potentially deciding votes in Congress and build momentum behind President Obama's "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act". Read more...
Labor, Progressive Groups Hold Press Conference Call to React to House Vote on Obama Economic Recovery Package and Announce Plans for Senate Vote
Jan 29, 2009 - TODAY, at 2:15PM EST, the Center for American Progress Action Fund will host a conference call with Anna Burger, International Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU, Jim Gerstein, Executive Director, Democracy Corps, Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn.org, James Kvaal, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Brad Woodhouse, President of Americans United for Change and Alan Charney, USAction... Read more...
House Republicans' Vote on Economic Recovery Package: "Completely Out of Touch with Working People in America"
Jan 28, 2009 - The only solution House Republicans offer to our economic crisis is tax cuts, but tax cuts only work for people who are working. People who have lost their jobs and watched their futures go up in smoke don't want more hot air ... they want action and got it today from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Read more...
Statement of SEIU President Andy Stern Regarding Growth in Union Membership in 2008
Jan 28, 2009 - The Bureau of Labor Statistics annual union membership report shows that the share of workers belonging to a union rose in 2008. Growth in SEIU--88,926 members--accounted for nearly 21 percent of the national growth. Read more...
SEIU's Andy Stern: "Less social dialogue and more social change"
Jan 28, 2009 - "Financial manipulation, greed and deregulation have led to economic havoc," writes SEIU President Andy Stern in a op-ed today on Reuters. Stern will join over 40 Heads of State and 1,600 of the world's most powerful CEOs at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Read more...
Shortening the work week to stimulate the U.S. economy
Jan 27, 2009 - On the commentary section of Guardian.co.uk, Dean Baker discusses why Congress needs to approve a version of President Barack Obama's stimulus package as quickly as possible to further that all important first step toward stopping the downward slide of the economy. "However, the package is only a first step," says Baker. Read more...
Audio Leak: Bank of America Hosts Anti-Employee Free Choice Conference Call
Jan 27, 2009 - Sam Stein, the political reporter for the Huffington Post, just published a vital article on corporate America's fight against the Employee Free Choice Act. Entitled "Bailout Recipients Hosted Call to Defeat Key Labor Bill," Stein writes about a conference call - hosted by Bank of America - and audio of the event that he's managed to obtain. Read more...
Time to Go: Bank of America must fire CEO Ken Lewis (Banner)
Jan 27, 2009 - Read more...
Time to Go: Bank of America must fire CEO Ken Lewis
Jan 27, 2009 - Over the last few months, it's become abundantly clear that Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis just doesn't get it. The era of greed and irresponsibility is over. Bank of America tellers make about $24,000 a year. That's less than what the CEO of a company bought by Bank of America paid for his curtains during the $1.2 million redecoration of his personal office. Enough is enough. Today, we're calling on Bank of America to fire CEO Ken Lewis. Read more...
Kids' Health on the Line
Jan 26, 2009 - There is strong public support for SCHIP, and strong bipartisan consensus. Our kids are our future, and if there's one message that young voters and immigrant voters sent last November, it's that they are so over the tired appeals to categories and ideologies that divide us. SEIU President Andy Stern weighs in on the reauthorization and strengthening of the Children's Health Insurance Program on the National Journal - read it here. Read more...
Stronger Economic Future for America Requires Long-range Vision
Jan 26, 2009 - "The millions of working people reeling from the severe economic recession need a recovery package that not only addresses the crisis and relieves the pain, but also lays the groundwork for a stronger and fairer future," writes SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger on Politico's The Arena, commenting on what kind of stimulus plan this country needs to get our economy back on track. Read more...
Former US Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich on the Employee Free Choice Act
Jan 26, 2009 - In an editorial for the Los Angeles Times today, former US Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich gives his advice on how we can reverse this deepening recession and give middle class Americans the greatest opportunity for a better life. Read more...
Economist Paul Krugman's Open Letter to President Obama
Jan 24, 2009 - Paul Krugman, a Nobel-prize laureate in Economics, professor at Princeton University, and a columnist for the New York Times has published an extraordinary piece in the latest edition of Rolling Stone magazine. In it, he writes an open letter to President Obama, giving his advice on some steps that he'd advise the new president to take in order to get our economy back on track. Read more...
Tell Gov. Schwarzenegger We Need Real Budget Solutions in California Now
Jan 23, 2009 - Today Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina spoke at a rally in Sacramento, California where over 1,000 SEIU members from across the State came together to speak out for real solutions to the state's budget crisis. Read more...
Why Smart Investments Include Health IT
Jan 22, 2009 - This week, the National Journal asked health care advocates and experts to weigh in on the issue of health IT as part of the larger economic recovery package. Read Andy Stern's response here. Read more...
Obama's Inaugural Address: A Moment to Define A Generation
Jan 21, 2009 - Obama delivered his Inaugural Address in a decisive and inspiring manner, calling for no less than the remaking of America and summoning generations, new and old, to return "to a new era of responsibility." Read more...
Take Action: Help Strengthen the Economy Today
Jan 19, 2009 - Read more...
Andy Stern: "Let's Stay Focused on the Right Kind of Economic Recovery"
Jan 14, 2009 - Even after the collapse of the myth of the market, conservatives are still waging class warfare on the rest of us. Read more...
SEIU President Andy Stern Statement on President-Elect Obama's Economic Speech
Jan 08, 2009 - SEIU President Andy Stern issued the following statement following President-elect Obama's speech on the economy at George Mason University. Read more...
SEIU Unveils Major National Campaign to Bring Economic Solutions to Main Street
Jan 07, 2009 - As Congress begins consideration of an economic recovery package supported by President-elect Obama, the two million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is launching a new state-by-state effort to bring economic solutions to Main Street by ensuring passage of the economic recovery package, passing comprehensive healthcare reform and ensuring workers have freedom to choose a voice at work. Read more...
SEIU to Congress: Act Now To Relieve Pressure on Working People
Jan 06, 2009 - Thousands of members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) this week will make calls, send emails, and set up lobby visits to urge Congress to act as swiftly on real economic recovery for working people in America as they did to bail out Wall Street. Read more...
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Service Employees International Union
Change to Win Federation USA | Canadian Labour Congress
1800 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036
© SEIU | Privacy Policy