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Brain -> Congress.org - News : Inside the SEIU war room (3/16/2010 12:08:02 AM)
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The nation's largest union group said Thursday that it will not support the Democratic health-care bill unless "substantial changes" are made to the current Senate version.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement to reporters that without a public option for insurance coverage or an employer mandate - and with a tax on high-end insurance plans that some union members get - the health care legislation supported by Senate Democrats falls far short of meeting his group's standards.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/17/seiu-urge...
Hum, seems SEIU has lots of power and say so with this bill. Guess that’s why Andy Stern is the most frequent visitor at the White House.
Congress.org - News : Inside the SEIU war room
Some of the most influential strategy on health care was developed not on Capitol Hill, but two miles away in what looks like an ordinary office building.
On the first floor of its D.C. headquarters, Service Employees International United has created a war room to lead labor's fight for an overhaul of the nation's health system. At its crux, the space combines SEIU's grassroots and national efforts into a unified voice for passing the bill.
A handful of televisions adorn the walls, providing round-the-clock coverage of what politicians and lobby groups are saying on health care. Researchers diligently take notes, shuffling fact-check notices to a team of communicators that is in constant contact with media and local labor activists.
If the setting seems familiar, it's because the same space was recently ground zero of SEIU's campaign for then-candidate Barack Obama. The union is using its election headquarters — and tactics — to get a health care bill passed.
"We decided that health care was our candidate," said Lori Lodes, an SEIU press handler who works in the war room.
The SEIU is already looking past health care at the next battle in Congress. Whether it is jobs, energy, or immigration, it appears the war room will play a part.
http://www.congress.org/news/2010/03/09/inside_the_seiu_war_room
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