MEDIA ADVISORY
For Friday, October 7, 2011, 12 pm [Updated October 8 at 10:40 am]
1199SEIU will back #OccupyBoston
State’s largest healthcare union to lend resources, support to growing movement
BOSTON, MA – The state’s fastest growing union—1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which is also the state’s largest healthcare union—announced today that it will lend support and resources to the #OccupyBoston movement. Fourty-four thousand hospital, nursing home, home care, and clinic workers in Massachusetts are members of 1199SEIU.
1199SEIU Executive Vice President Veronica Turner issued this statement today:
Because we are of the 99%, 1199SEIU healthcare workers in Massachusetts stand in solidarity with the #OccupyBoston protesters and their demand that Wall Street be held accountable for the current economic crisis.
It is time for large corporations and the super-rich to pay their fair share, so this country can invest in our communities, create jobs, and get back to work. It is time for Congress to pass the American Jobs Act to put millions of Americans back to work. Our country needs jobs, not cuts.
The healthcare workers of 1199SEIU will join #OccupyBoston in the streets and will immediately begin dedicating resources—including medical and printing resources—to promote and sustain the growth of this important push for social and economic justice.
Representing more than 44,000 healthcare workers throughout Massachusetts and 350,000 workers in Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Florida, and Washington D.C., 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. Their mission is to achieve affordable, high-quality healthcare for all. 1199SEIU is part of the 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
[This advisory was updated to reflect changes made by members of Occupy Boston. We are a horizontal democracy. Every voice matters. Every voice is heard.]
19 Responses to “1199SEIU Supports Occupy Boston”
While I of course welcome the material support and the statement of solidarity, I have to just throw in my wariness in regards to specific political demands in this notice (namely, the Jobs Act). I think it would be important to amend to this, perhaps as a PS from the Occupy Boston community, that these demands represent the specific demands of the SEIU, but have not been ratified or adopted by the group as a whole. Sorry if this sounds like looking a gift horse in the mouth, but considering what kind of gift horses other organizations have received (think the “gift” of Sarah Palin and Fox News to the Tea Party), it seems warranted.
This of course is not to say that the SEIU should be disallowed from having their own opinion as an organization, and I encourage them to fight for what they believe in. I’m merely suggesting that we be vigilant to avoid being co-opted by either the left or the right, and any specific organization other than our own, as governed by the GA. We should of course expect groups on both the left and right (and other) to have demands of their own… Perhaps it would be best to address how we as a community intend to handle these so that all sides can enjoy solidarity without the worry of being made into a puppet army.
I have to agree with Cykros here. Rank and file union members are who the movement should be wanting to attract; union leadership ( as evidenced by the call to pass Obama’s Jobs Plan) continues to be a arm of the democratic party and would love to make this an electorally minded movement.
Veronica Turner is not part of the 99% – I don’t mean to make that a disqualifier, but it is worth noting that the exectuive leadership of the large international unions has done very very well, while the rank and file has been taking it on the chin. For decades.
At Occupy DC, Chris Hedges, noted author and journalist said, (paraphrasing):
“people are realizing that they have no way to vote against Goldman Sachs- you can vote against republicans or democrats, but you cant vote against Goldman – that choice isnt offered. Barack Obama has carried out their agenda as assiduously as George Bush”
Participation should be welcome from ALL. But, at least in my opinion, it should be made clear that this is not a “re-elect Barack Obama” campaign
Before retiring as a Licensed Practical Nurse, I was a member of the 1199SEIU. Its history began with restaurant workers..many of them minorities and grew to empowering health care workers. In the state I worked this did not include professional nurses (RN). So many in this union are overworked and underpaid (nurses aides and LPNs working in long-term care facilities caring for the elderly and severely disabled)though collective efforts have helped to improve wages and benefits. If they are offering you assistance, I believe it is in their nature to want to help and they are truly the 99%. I, also think The Americans Jobs Act proposed by President Obama would have helped with unemployment and prevented discrimination against the unemployed that was included. It was not perfect but better than the no solutions and would have been funded without costing any more in taxes. Perhaps it might not hurt to study The Americans Jobs Act before passing judgement on its merits because it was an Act for the 99%…teachers, firemen, policemen, EMPs, construction workers and long-termed unemployed..especially veterans.
The tax rate for the highest bracket was 50% under Reagan, by their very own dogma and religion they should be paying me.
To everybody out there blaming Republicans or Democrats as the cause for America’s prosperity getting flushed down the toilet. You’re missing the big picture. The situation is simple: The near entirety of the US government is corrupt and run by political Bribe-takers bought and paid for by people who have amassed the most wealth overall in this country (the top 1% of the U.S. population).
These politicians, now solely representing their funders and not the voters turn around and pass legislation that gives the Super Rich here every advantage possible, including free money (Quantitative Easing/Bailouts), lower taxes and zero accountability for their actions. In order to prevent revolts from the increased burden to the unrepresented in this country, the Super Rich have set up a bogus political party to siphon off and redirect the anger of the masses (The Republicans) and an ineffectual party (The Democrats) to cave to “Republican pressure” while pretending to care about the masses.
In addition, they have co-opted and bought out nearly all of the mainstream media in order to filter out any info that would lay the blame on the true culprit, instead leaving the majority of America divided and focusing their energies on decoy scapegoats and partisan nonsense. The super rich and those they pay for care not one bit about jobs or the welfare of the country they grew from. They merely care about having as many digits as possible for their bank statement balance. And if that means the middle/working class will eventually need to vanish, then so be it. The entire system is broken.
If you really want to end Wall Street greed, you have to FIX CONGRESS FIRST. http://www.rootstrikers.org
Increase the House of Representatives: better representation for us citizens. With smaller districts there is less reliance on lobbyists and special interest groups for campaigns.
The House was designed to grow proportionately with our population but the number hasn’t changed since 1910.
Those in power were threatened by the growing immigrant populations in cities. So in an effort to marginalize and neutralize our new american citizens the House stopped expanding–sad
There is a persuasive argument on Talk of the Nation earlier this year:
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/24/133184399/Op-Ed-America-Needs-A-Larger-Congress
As unions continue to sign on to this protest we will have to figure out how to deal with some of the problematic internal politics of the union movement as well as the generally reformist and even reactionary positions of many unions. SEIU for instance has, in recent years, been involved in numerous high-profile raiding of other unions (that is, stealing locals from other unions), a practice which is un-ethical, often illegal, and completely counter to the fight for working class power and the establishment of working class solidarity. The leadership of SEIU is also tightly enmeshed with the Obama administration, an administration which has done absolutely horrible things to the working class in this country and around the world. In my opinion, SEIU is a very dangerous ally. This is not to say that the individual members of SEIU are not worth building alliances with or incorporating into the movement. But SEIU as an organization is a very problematic ally. Be wary.
I agree with Kap and Paul… co-opting movements is the practice of the Establishment either by political populists or Madison Avenue. Numbers are great to have, but freedom from commitment to Unions, Political parties or dubious backers is even greater. Why lobby for the Jobs Act in their support statement? Add the Unions to the Moveon.org and Adbusters who will very soon link this movement to re-electing an administration who offers no hope for change.
The thing to do is beat them at their own game and become as independent as possible. I suggest we finance the movement through entrepreneurial activism.
Good points Henry… What is entrepreneurial activism? Never heard that term before…
on October 8th, 2011 at 9:45 am #
[…] support for the movement is growing daily, with unions, (more unions), ice cream manufacturers, and general folk of all stripes joining up. And with a […]
I hope I’m not throwing an unwelcome wrench into the works of a process I deeply repect, but I want to bring up an issue that I think needs consideration and that is the idea of ending the United States of America as a single political entity. A federal system made up of 50 very diverse states is unwieldy in the extreme. Washington DC is so far gone now, so swamped in corruption, that I strongly doubt it is can be returned to something that actually represents ordinary citizens. We have very strong regions in this country, regions with distinct identities like New England, the Pacific Northwest, California itself, Texas itself or maybe with Oklahoma and Lousiana added, the Mountain States, the Plain States, the Mid-Atlantic States, the deep South States, etc. We could have seven or more very dynamic small countries with a very loose federal association, and in the process we could disassemble the military, health, prison and other complexes that now have us in their thrall.
BenjaminFlex… Entrepreneurial activism is just something I came up with… It’s simply based on the idea of a movement supporting itself through exercising it’s ingenuity to make money. Funds are needed and you can either solicit funds from others and / or, basically, go into business for yourself. Short or long-term ventures that will finance the movement are needed. The only way to remain independent, politically,is not to be beholden to anyone financially.
I’m not opposed to capitalism by any means. I am opposed to exploitation. Gerald Celente has mentioned that entrepreneurship is the way to go, that we shouldn’t depend on anyone creating jobs for us. So many movements have failed because of lack of funds, lack of organization, lack of a coherent message, and just sheer laziness…
You peopel are a bunch of TOOLS!! HAHAHAAAA I WIN! You LOOOOOOOOSSSSEE…again! Now go back to mommy’s house you PANTLOADS!!!!! HHHAAAA I WIN!
…win what, exactly?
I WIN!
I’m in agreement with some of the concerns raised here.
I personally like and appreciate moral support from unions and other groups that are mostly made up of the 99%.
However, I’m fairly suspicious of their offers of “resources.” That is potentially a path to dependence, or to a tit-for-tat relationship where we end up getting roped into their agenda.
People are already accusing the movement of being in labor’s pocket: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/occupy-wall-street-movement-hijacked-newcomers/story?id=14691330
That’s not to say we need to react to every anti-union troll out there (like the one from the “Labor Relations Institute” quoted in this article [see: http://lrionline.com/the-revolution-is-a-made-for-tv-movie ]). But we should be aware of the potential for co-opting at all times.
I do not support Obama’s American Jobs Act and don’t want to see this movement co-opted. The unions need to stop making it sound like their political agendas are paramount to this movement. Our shared goal is to enforce accountability on our leaders, not to press a $450 billion bill through Congress which gives money to pre-determined institutions selected by a corrupt president and administration.
This amounts to spending even more money we don’t have, is primarily political in nature as was the last “stimulus” that provided us nothing but more debt, and exemplifies perfectly just the exorbitant corruption we are protesting against.
Huzzah!
You are wrong about the American Jobs Act! Do you even know what is in it? Have you read it? Not only that President Obama proposed ways that it would be funded without costing any more in spending…. as opposed to the non-funding of two wars and the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program passed during the Bush Administration and incredibly cutting taxes that got us into this economic mess. The Stimulus Payment was a God Send for many states and created 2.5 million jobs. Unfortunately, too many bought into the propaganda of those that are corrupt in Congress and which wound up rejecting a bill that was for the 99% and succeeded once again in keeping us struggling