I'm in Puerto Rico for the Vote

by Tim Tagaris, Sat May 31, 2008 at 07:00:17 PM EST

So ... you might have heard there's a vote in Puerto Rico this weekend.

In fact, there was a pretty important vote for working families that happened earlier today.  The result was overwhelming.

The Strategic Unity plan outlines SEIU's goal to organize 350,000 new health care workers over the next four years.  But that's just one piece of what's happening in Puerto Rico and  election day is only a point on the path to our larger goals:

Economic Justice
Health Care for Everyone
Ending the War in Iraq

These are all pieces SEIU is fighting for as part of their Accountability Project

* $10 million fund to take on elected officials who fail to live up to their promises.

* Calls for SEIU members to make at least 10 million phone calls to members of Congress after the election to hold them accountable.

* At least 50 percent of the union's organizing budget and 50 percent of its non-organizing staff at the national and local levels will be devoted to the effort.

In February SEIU members, along with several other organizations, provided a dramatic preview of the new "no nonsense" political accountability program, defeating long-time Democratic incumbent Al Wynn in Maryland and helping elect Donna Edwards.

Many within the union agree with the "Justice for All" platform, and that's fine.  Some don't.  But everyone will have a chance to be heard, and then there will be a vote.  Like the one on the youtube video above.

You can follow SEIU's Convention LIVE at www.seiu2008.org

Here are two more video clips to send you off.  It's SEIU members arriving on the scene of the convention.

Tim

Relevant Disclaimer: I am proud to be helping a great progressive ally, SEIU, grow their internet operation




Tags: SEIU, Convention, Health Care, Accountability Project (all tags)

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another view from the SEIU democracy movement (none / 0)

SEIU communications department staffers are busy getting Stern loyalists to push their views on the internet. It's all pre-written spin. Like all SEIU gatherings, convention is careful scripted and rigged.

However there is a growing movement of SEIU members against Andy Stern's effort to crush union democracy, centralize power in the Washington DC bureaucracy, and sell-out workers interests to his friends in corporate America (there's a reason why Stern gets glowing reviews from the corporate press, after all).

For a more realistic view,
go to
www.seiuvoice.org


by aenglish on Sat May 31, 2008 at 09:10:14 PM EST


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