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Thursday 29th July 2010 10:10 AM |
SEIU members make their voices heard at Legislature
By Alessandra Fuhrman 12 February 2009
| ST. PAUL - Recently, 200 members from local unions of the Service Employees International Union came to the state Capitol to speak with legislators about the slowing economy and what that means for working Minnesotans. |
SEIU has four locals in Minnesota, representing office building and window cleaners, building maintenance workers in the Minneapolis Public Schools, healthcare workers, private security officers and public school service employees. With 17,000 of SEIU’s total Minnesota membership of 28,000 working in the healthcare industry, it comes as no surprise that comprehensive health care reform was at the forefront of the agenda for the Feb. 3rd Lobby Day.
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| Members from four different SEIU locals participated in the union's Lobby Day at the state Capitol. |
According to the union’s website, SEIU is lobbying the state for a universal health care program that is both cost effective and individualized enough to met the specific needs of workers. Meeting with state representatives, SEIU members advocated for healthcare reform that allows workers to choose their doctors and health care plan, while also providing them with quality, preventive care.
“Preventive care” their website reads, “must be a part of any basic benefit plan to promote health, control costs, and eliminate economic and racial disparities.” Appealing to lawmakers’ need to address the state’s projected $5.5 billion budget deficit, union members promoted the cost savings that would be realized through comprehensive care for all Minnesotans.
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Kathy Phillips
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SEIU members also voiced also their concern to lawmakers about proposed legislation that would require the creation of a "shared services" program for school districts and charter schools. SEIU Local 284, representing 8,000 public school service employees, is worried that districts currently operating their own school buses would instead sign contracts with large, regional transportation companies – with potentially negative consequences for Minnesota’s students.
"The most important thing is the continuity with the community and my rapport with the children," said Kathy Phillips, a Local 284 member who has driven a bus for Robbinsdale public schools for 22 years. "There is not a child on the bus I don't know.”
"I know at a certain stop that Elliott's mom is always there to pick him up. If she's not there, I know something's not right and I don't let him off the bus."
Private companies, in contrast, often use many different drivers on the same route, many working only part time, Phillips said. The workers, she continued, are under greater pressure to complete assignments and they often don't know the children on their buses. Also being that they are largely based outside the region or even the country, private companies tend to be less involved and accountable to the communities they serve, the union said.
As Phillips noted, for them "it's all about the profit" and as our economy sinks further into recession the issue of privatizing public services for short term cost benefits will continue to be a pertinent concern for Minnesota’s workers.
Alessandra Fuhrman, a student at Macalester College in St. Paul, is an intern this semester with Workday Minnesota. |
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