Despite the recession, Express Scripts (one of the country's largest mail-order pharmacy companies) has raked in $550 million in profits since the beginning of 2010.

And yet Express Scripts is threatening to close its Bensalem facility and put 900 workers on the unemployment line unless they take huge pay cuts and give up the quality health care their families depend on. They would move the work in PA to MO or AZ.

Express Scripts makes millions off of union and employer health plans; contracts with state and federal agencies (including a $2.8B contract with the US Dept. of Defense); and the Medicare Part D prescription plan.

If our economy is ever going to recover, we have to stop giant corporations like Express Scripts from using the recession as an excuse to destroy good jobs.

The House of Representatives is on recess, and the hottest political topic for Congressmen & women during their summer vacation is going to be health care reform. The Senate will go on recess next week, and will be coming home to constituent events around the state.

The same folks who showed up to McCain/Palin events and made outrageous statements about our current president are out in full force to deny him a major political victory--and they don't seem to much care that doing that will actually hurt everyday working Americans.

I attended yesterday's Town Hall meeting with Secretary of Health Sebelius and Senator Specter, and I think that the other health care reform supporters who joined me there will agree that we underestimated the fervor with which the right is organizing to defeat health care reform. Among other conversations I had with the Tea Party crew, one woman told me that people who don't have health care "just don't work hard enough."

For the past six years, I've been a board member for the Pennsylvania Immigration & Citizenship Coalition (PICC). One of the reasons that I got involved with PICC was the ability to do electoral engagement with new citizens. Over the past couple of years, PICC has built a great relationship with the Department of Homeland Security locally, and has been able to register voters at citizenship ceremonies in Philadelphia. PICC is a non-partisan organization, and the fact that they aren't registering voters with a particular agenda has made it possible for them to do this important civic work.

I'm pasting in our press release, below, but also wanted to just say thanks to all those of you who have joined us in the fight to end mandatory overtime for health care workers in PA--the grassroots pressure that was provided by our progressive allies, along with the voices of thousands of health care workers--finally lifted our bill over the time, in the final days of this legislative session.

(HARRISBURG, PA) – Seven years after launching their campaign to end mandatory overtime for nurses and other direct patient caregivers, members of SEIU Healthcare are anxious to celebrate their victory.

The Pennsylvania Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to pass a House Bill 834, a bill restricting mandatory overtime for nurses and other caregivers. Forced overtime has been shown to increase medical errors and put patients at risk. It’s also a leading factor in many nurses’ decision to leave the bedside.

Earlier this year, I posted a couple of videos by SEIU Healthcare PA members, talking about why they wanted to see a ban on mandatory overtime enacted in their lifetimes.

I'm happy to report that after 8 years of struggle, including numerous rallies, thousands of phone calls, letters and lobby visits, the PA Legislature is finally poised to pass this bill. It was unanimously voted out of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee last Tuesday morning, and looks to be headed for a full vote in the senate early next week.

If you love a nurse (or a patient), it's time to call your senator one more time and let them know that you support HB 834! Alternately, you can participate in our e-action here.

Here's the second in our series of SEIU Healthcare PA members talking about the need to ban mandatory overtime.

Mandatory overtime affects hospital workers, nursing home workers, and state and county employees.

If you love seniors, call your state senator and tell them to vote for a ban on forced overtime. If you live in the district of a member of the Republican leadership, call and tell them to schedule a vote on the bill (HB 834).

On Tuesday, January 29, health care workers from around the state will be converging on the state capitol in Harrisburg to urge the Senate to ban forced overtime.

Click here to hear one nurse's story about why she's making the trip.

This is the first in a series of video emails we're sending the PA General Assembly, to let them know why health care workers all over the state need an end to mandatory overtime.

This morning, SEIU Healthcare PA brought four Manor Care nursing home workers and the family member of a resident at Manor Care's Easton facility to confront Carlyle CEO David Rubenstein. Carlyle, a private equity company, recently bought Manor Care, the the nation's largest nursing home chain, for $6.7 billion.

We dropped a banner inside the hotel and chanted while a nurse's aide attempted to talk to Rubenstein, who rudely suggested that she "take remedial English." The conference was disrupted for a good fifteen minutes.

Thanks to our friends at UNITE HERE!, ACORN, PUP, and our brothers and sisters from SEIU Childcare, SEIU 32BJ and the SEIU State Council for joining us at the event.

You can see coverage online here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080118_Union_hecklers_disr...

http://www.dealbreaker.com/2008/01/david_rubsteins_speech_at_whar.php#mo...

http://www.pehub.com/?gclid=CK7E6ZaQgJECFRuhFQodsVWjGg

Last week, Total Health Home Care was forced to settle a lawsuit for failure to pay home caregivers for time spent traveling between their clients. Total will be required to pay $2.2 million dollars in back wages covering approximately 3,000 workers. Several home caregivers and seniors held a press conference on Wednesday, 11/21, to announce the settlement and to call for greater accountability for law breaking home care agencies.

Three thousand workers were eligible to participate in the lawsuit, based on their having worked for Total sometime in the prior three years. (The agency's turnover rate is in the neighborhood of 300% annually.) For more information on the campaign to win justice for Philadelphia's home care workers, or to contact the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (which contracts with Total to provide home care to our seniors), visit homecarealert.org.

Earlier today, workers at two nursing homes in Pennsylvania voted to organize with SEIU Healthcare PA. Over 340 workers--RNs, LPNs, CNAs, dietary aides and housekeepers--will be represented by a union. While it's an exciting day for our union, you might wonder why I'm blogging about it on YPP.

The answer is that there was a big difference in these two elections, and the difference was directly attributable to politics.

The first nursing home, in Northeast Philadelphia, is run by a national, private, for-profit company. Workers at that home were subjected to an active fight against the union, orchestrated by their employer. They were subjected to captive audience meetings, misinformation, and subterfuge while on paid work time. The workers who supported the union were not allowed to conduct meetings with their co-workers while on work time, leading most rational people to the conclusion that the company strongly opposed unionization. The workers prevailed in this vote, but with only 56%--a margin that, while a blowout by electoral standards, means they will continue to struggle to get a first contract. (Thanks to Senator Bob Casey for writing an open letter of support.)

At the second nursing home, the county nursing home in Lehigh, the yes side of the equation got 83% of the vote. In that case, the county executive, Don Cunningham, agreed to employer neutrality and an expedited election. The nurses in that home were free to make up their own minds about whether to form a union, and overwhelmingly, they chose to do so. This wasn't the first organizing drive these workers had ever attempted, but it was the first one that ever succeeded.

I worked getting out the vote today in the first home, and we were nervous all day about whether the workers would be able to overcome their fears and stand together. It gave me an important reminder of just what it is that we're fighting for, in working to elect Ruth Damsker and Joe Hoeffel in Montgomery County. We're fighting to make sure that more workers can have the experience of choosing a union--or not--in an environment free of harassment and scare tactics.

So this is my first video post--Ray told me how to do it, so if it doesn't work, blame him. (Kidding! Ray, thanks so much for your help.)

As you may know, home care workers in Philadelphia have been fighting for justice, alongside other members of SEIU Healthcare PA (formerly District 1199P). Most home care workers are women. They care for some of our society's most vulnerable individuals--elderly Philadelphians--and they do so for little money, and often no benefits. Here's a video about our campaign to win justice for home care workers at two agencies in the City.

I should say, too, thanks to Lance Haver, who has been a stalwart ally of the homecare workers, and is committed to protecting seniors.

Are you curious about what life is like in Iraq for working people now? Tired of the mainstream media's slanted coverage?

On Tuesday, June 19 at 5:30, two members of the Iraqi Trade Union movement will be speaking at Friends Center (1501 Cherry St.). Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Workers, and Hashmeya Mohsen al Hussein, President of the Electrical Utility Workers' Union, are on a national tour sponsored by US Labor Against the War.

Local sponsors of this event include the Philadelphia Labor Council, AFL-CIO; the American Friends Service Committee; AFSCME District Council 47; SEIU District 1199P; the Philadelphia Coalition of Labor Union Women; the National Organization for Women, Philadelphia Chapter; Temple University Association of University Professionals, AFT Local 4531; AFT Local 2026 at CCP; Veterans for Peace Chapter 31; Temple University Hospital Nurses Assocation/PASNAP and Veterans for America.

Tickets are $20 per person--for more info, email kblack at dc47 dot org or morbraxton at aol dot com.

Last year, I blogged about SEIU's efforts to ban mandatory overtime for health care workers. Our bill passed in the house, but we ran out of time to pass it in the Senate.

Responding to the comment about needing to know the arguments. The main issue at stake here is that if you are a direct care giver (RN, LPN, CNA), the boss has the ability to 'mandate' you to work an extra shift. Workers are often threatened with being charged with 'patient abandonment' (a charge that the state Board of Nursing takes very seriously) if they refuse to work a second shift. Hospital RNs commonly work a 12-hour shift, so mandation means that they are at work for 24 straight hours.

Friday, Oct. 27th
4:30 PM
Opera Company of Philadelphia
1420 Locust St.

SEIU is inviting you to join us in “welcoming” the anti-union CEO Alan Miller of Universal Health Services as he attends a black tie gala dinner and opening night at the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

This opera lover has hired a top anti-union law firm to keep the nurses from raising patient care standards at their hospital in Las Vegas. With HDQ in King of Prussia, Mr. Miller refuses to meet with union nurses in Las Vegas. The nurses have been fighting for more than 6 months to improve patient care at their hospitals. Even though nurse leaders have been fired, they refuse to give up.

JOIN SEIU as we stand with our nurses from Las Vegas to deliver our message and shame this CEO. We will meet at 4:30 at the southwest corner of Broad and Locust.

I posted last week (http://youngphillypolitics.com/node/1542) about the PA House passage of a bill that would ban mandatory overtime for health care workers. We're announcing a day of action next week on Tuesday, October 17th. Please call your senator and tell them to vote on HB957* before the end of the session. If you need more info, see www.protectpatientcare.org (and to the person who let me know the site was down temporarily, thanks!).

*Yes, it's a house bill number--we need them to vote on the exact house bill, so that it doesn't have to be sent back to the house for concurrence.