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March 23, 2011

One Year of the Affordable Care Act!

Thousands of seniors, children, young adults and people with pre-existing conditions in our families are finally receiving quality affordable Health Care. The bill is only a year old and more barriers between working people and health care are yet to be brought down.  But Insurance companies are working to repeal or prevent any of the next phases of the act. Enough is enough! This week is the Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act! We must show how the Act is affecting your life and the people you care about.

TESTIFY and tell us YOUR STORY!

Have you added your adult child under 26 to your health insurance?

Are you a retiree who is now getting free preventive care under Medicare?

Did you receive $250 because you fell in the Medicare "donut hole?"

Do you now have health coverage through the pre-existing condition high risk pool?

Your voice is important. We need to know the stories of those of us benefiting from the Affordable Care Act. Send your story to Jason@seiumo.org

FLOOD THE PAPERS with Letters to the Editor SUPPORTING THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT!

Help us flood newspapers throughout Missouri and Kansas with Letters to the Editor talking about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. We have a sample letter and will review your own letter. Most importantly, please let us know if you've submitted a Letter to the Editor, so we can keep track of our work together and our success.

Report letters submitted, or get feedback on a letter you want to send from Jason@seiumo.org

SEIU's Henry: Walker's Desperate Manuever Proves This Was Never About the Budget, May Have Illegally Denied Wisconsites a Voice in the Process

SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry released the following statement in response to the vote in the Wisconsin Senate to strip public employees of their voice at work:

“Scott Walker made it crystal clear to the people of Wisconsin -- and the entire nation-- the extent he will go to in order to pay back billionaires such as the Koch Brothers and bad actor corporations that want to destroy the middle class.  This legislative gimmick proves Walker's attack on the middle class was never about balancing the budget; it was always about stripping workers of a voice and rewarding the cronies who helped finance his campaign."  

“It was so important for Walker to move this legislation in the dead of the night, that he and republican legislators may have illegally denied the people of Wisconsin their right to adequate notice to be involved in this process. In the end, Scott Walker turned a deaf ear to the tens of thousands of courageous nurses, environmentalists, students, faith leaders and others who stood up for a brighter vision of Wisconsin that values fairness, rewards hard work, and provides quality services to those who need them."

"From denying working people the right to have a voice, to failing to create the jobs that Wisconsinites so desperately need, Walker has proven time and again that his first priority is rewarding the Koch Brothers and corporate interests, not the people of Wisconsin."

SEIU Members critical in last minute bill for Metro Transit funding

When the rates went up and the routes started disappearing for St. Louis’s Metro Buses, Trains and Call-A-Ride, members said we need our Union to do something about it. The SEIU State Council answered the call by organizing Lobby days for members to talk with their legislators. They heard your voice in Jefferson City.

Politicians don’t ride the bus! We needed to remind them how important an affordable public transportation system is to working people’s lives and the economy of our state.

Members that went on the SEIU lobby days spoke face to face with their representatives and told them more state funding was needed.  On our final lobby day 75 members’ blitzed legislators with the message to add more Metro funding in the budget.  Our Lobbying paid off. On the ride home we learned the bill for $12 million finally passed.

At this time Metro is publicly marketing the plans and details for the reinstatement of routes. But the fights not over, St. Louis County needs to pass a sales tax to reduce fares and increase routes. 75 of your sisters and brothers got $12 million in the state budget, imagine what you and over 15,000 SEIU members can do in St. Louis County.

Here is a link to the St. Louis Post Dispatch's interactive map of restored routes.

Home Care Attendants Vote Union YES!

www.missourihomecareunion.org

SEIU Summer Of Change!

This summer SEIU members from all over the state are standing up and taking action to win an American solution to the healthcare crisis and build the labor movement.  Members worked hard in 2008 to make sure we had a President and Congress that represented working people. In  2009 we have to continue the fight to make sure reform happens.

Members from SEIU made a “declaration of independence” from the insurance industry on July 2^nd with health care rallies in St. Louis, K.C. and Springfield.  In Springfield we offered Rep. Roy Blunt the opportunity to sign onto a pledge to support a public health insurance option, he refused. In St. Louis and Kansas City we rallied against BlueCross/BlueShield and WellPoint insurance. They have a monopoly on Health care insurance in Missouri and spend millions on lobbyists to prevent health care reform.

These actions were followed up on July 17^th with a protest at the Missouri Chamber of Commerce’s fundraiser to fight the Employee Free Choice Act. CEO’s paid $1,000 to see Bush crony Karl Rove bash unions and call them undemocratic over dinner. SEIU members rallied outside to let the community know that the Employee Free choice Act would bring democracy to workplaces. Negotiating over conditions, pay, benefits and voting to ratify a contract is workplace democracy!

These were the first of many calls to action that our union will be having over the summer and fall to let Congress know where we stand on the issues.

If you have any questions about upcoming events please call (314) 367-0013 or email

Volunteer@seiumo.org

$4.41 million in back pay -- Finally in Probation and Parole members Pockets

An early victory took place for Probation and Parole members as the $2,931,580 million back pay Supplemental Appropriation bill, HB14, was passed on March 11 by the state legislature and signed by Governor Nixon on April 7.

Now the conclusion, the almost $1.5 million pay-restoration/re-classification contained in the regular Corrections Appropriations bill, HB9, passed just one day before the May 8 deadline and now sits on the Governor’s desk.

SEIU has been at work on this since 2005. Union members work in 2008 put a worker friendly Governor, Jay Nixon, in charge of the state. It now appears certain that this new Governor will fix the past discrimination in raises. 

With this long-fought achievement, we want to emphasize the importance of having worker friendly elected officials, and that the decisions they make impact the well being of thousands of public employees.

SEIU MEMBERS LOBBY DAY

SEIU crowded the Capitol halls with nearly 75 workers at the end of April, just two weeks before the end of session.  At the close of session, on May 15, it was apparent our event had a great impact on workers’ issues legislation.

SEIU leaders, Local 1-MO Division Vice President Nancy Cross and Local 2000 Trustee and SEIU State Council Director, Brandon Davis addressed SEIU members, and then members broke out into two groups -- public and private sector.  Members lobbied about the SOS “Save our Secret Ballot” anti-union organizing bill; St. Louis Metro Transportation funding; Probation and Parole workers back pay settlement; Mental Health workers privatization issues, and the need for heath care restoration. At the close of the event, several legislators and guests spoke to the group, including Representatives Gina Walsh, Mike Frame, KiKi Curls, Don Calloway, Senator Robin Wright-Jones and St. Louis Metro Transit President, Bob Baer.

Later that week several Representatives and Senators commented to SEIU Legislative Director/Lobbyist, Clark Brown  that SEIU union members, in purple, had visited them.  The legislators stated that the SEIU members educated them on the   critical issues for SEIU.  The legislators were very complimentary on the ability of the SEIU members to make sure the legislature would be voting the right way on SEIU’s issues.

THREAT to Minimum Wage For Tipped Workers DEFEATED

Including this legislative session, we’ve now seen six attempts to overturn the minimum wage rates approved by voters in 2006.  HB258 which would have exempted tipped workers from receiving half the COLA minimum wage rate as passed by the voters, seemed unstoppable after it was voted cleanly from the House at 87-71.  We were able to work with worker-friendly Senators to defeat this bill by setting it up in committee with controversial prevailing wage exemptions.  Another bill proposing to freeze the minimum wage for all workers for the next three years, after passing easily in the House, also died in the Senate when the bill’s fiscal costs revealed millions of dollars lost with the included tax discounts for new businesses.

New hope: UNEMPLOYMENT benefits and JOB DEVELOPMENT With Fed’s Stimulus

Even after Missouri Senators were able to see the great need for reducing the numbers of uninsured in our state once again it appears, we still do not have the support of the Missouri House Representatives. 

SEIU members diligently spoke to legislators about the costs for  taxpayers pay to cover the uninsured, and the desperate need to reinstate the cuts to Medicaid.  Governor Nixon worked with the hospitals in Missouri and proposed a plan that would have given health coverage to 35,000 people who were cut in 2005, and would have cost the state of Missouri NOTHING.   Even this plan still lacked any cooperation from House legislators.

A Senate bill that included the Governor’s proposal to reinstate 35,000 people  back into coverage was held up and died in conference committee between the House and Senate on the last day.

While Missouri’s and the rest of the country’s unemployment rate moves up to an all time high for workers without jobs, lawmakers did have the heart to pass an extension of an additional 13 weeks and higher rate benefits for the unemployed. 

$130 million dollars of federal stimulus funding was appropriated and passed in both the House and Senate on the last day of session to combat the joblessness in our state.

Additionally, passed by both the House and Senate was a substantial job development bill HB191 that will help promote large scale development, report and track the results of job creation,  add an additional 20 million in the Quality Jobs program, and expand funding for pre-employment training.

Missouri Home Care Workers Take Next Step to Form a Union

More than 420,000 home care workers in the U.S. and Canada have joined together in SEIU to win better wages and benefits. SEIU personal care attendants in other states have made gain—and now it's time for Missouri PCAs to come together and have a voice at work.