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SEIU Continues to Mobilize to Help Haitian Relief Efforts

By Kate Thomas

More than 1,000 individuals have already signed up to help the Haitian people recover from this tragedy via the Help Haiti Volunteer Effort that went live last week to collect information from potential SEIU volunteers. As SEIU members and locals across the country mobilize to bring relief and support to Haiti and our members affected by the disaster, we've widened the scope of these efforts in several ways. First, we're encouraging everyone (not just SEIU members) to sign up and join the mobilization to assist with Haiti relief. You can do so here.

We've already got medical personnel on the ground, many of whom are Kreyòl-fluent, working with allied organizations to provide immediate relief.

  • In the days after the disaster, at least three members and an alumna of SEIU's Committee on Interns and Residents were deployed to Port-au-Prince through their own efforts and concern for Haiti.

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  • On Tuesday, January 19, a group of 48 translators recruited by 1199SEIU in New York, including family, friends and members, boarded the USNS Comfort. The volunteers will serve one-month shifts on the hospital ship and we will continue to provide opportunities over the next 6 months to a year.

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  • On Wednesday, January 20, a group of 8 nurses (4 from SEIU Local 1991, 3 from SEIU Healthcare PA and 1 from SEIU Healthcare FL) deployed to serve as part of surgical team at St. Damian´s Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

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  • On Thursday, January 21, three nurses and a doctor deployed from Chicago on a donated United Airlines flight: 2 from HCPA, 1 from SEIU Doctors Council and 1 from Local 1991. This is an alliance with the International Medical Corps.


DONATIONS: We're currently recommending that people donate to Partners in Health, a premier operation on the ground in Haiti we're working with to identify Kreyòl-speaking nurses. Donate to Partners in Health here.

#4636: The Haitian Shortcode Saving Lives

SEIU is working in collaboration with our friends at MIT and Ushahidi to publicize and recruit translators for the emergency text message service. #4636 permits anyone in Haiti to text their needs to a central database, where the information is then routed to emergency personnel such as the Red Cross, FEMA, USAID and aid groups on the ground. The service also works to distribute information to the multiple people-finder bulletin boards that have appeared on the web. (More details on this initiative and how you can volunteer to be a translator on SEIU's Blog here).

More than 2,000 messages have been translated with our assistance and the success stories of survivors getting connected to services have been inspirational.

SEIU Texas Mourns the Loss of Union Brother Richard Martinez

Richard Martinez_medSEIU Texas mourns the loss of one of our union brothers, Richard Martinez, who lost his battle with cancer on November 21st, at the age of forty-three.

Richard began working for the City of San Antonio in 2001, most recently as a Senior Police Service Agent with the San Antonio Police Department.  Not only was Richard an exceptional city employee, he also served his country proudly in the United States Air Force.

As a leader in the city employees' union, SEIU Texas, he served as the Protective Service Representative on the Employee Management Committee, as well as being the SEIU Representative on the TMRS Advisory Board in Austin.

Richard was a loving husband and father, and is survived by his wife, Rose, and children, Cierra, Shae, Richard, and Derrick.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Richard's family in their time of loss.

To share your condolences with Richard's family, you can sign his guest book by clicking here.

Hidalgo County Promotoras talk about their jobs as community outreach workers



Hidalgo County Promotoras Nidia Torres and Edith Silva share their stories about what it's like to be community outreach workers, and why they're proud to be SEIU members.

As an Insured Employee, Why Should I Care About a Public Option?

[This article is an excerpt from the COSA November 2009 State of the Union newsletter.  For the entire newsletter, click here]

The fact is, there is little competition among those who provide health insurance plans, as only a small number of companies have an overwhelming number of participants in their plans. It is that lack of competition that is creating increases in health care costs at 3-4 times the rate of inflation, and the creation of another competitor-the public option-will hold down cost increases in the future.

Cost must be contained to the rate of inflation, or ultimately it will drive more and more families into the ranks of the uninsured who then end up requiring the most expensive care available-an emergency room.  We know who pays for that kind of health care: We all as taxpayers do!

If insurance costs continue to rise at this rate, families will become uninsured either because the employer can no longer afford to offer health care to their employees, or the employer will be forced to pass insurance premium increases onto their employees, which the individual employee won't be able to pay.

Increases in the cost of health care are out of control and soaking up funds that othe

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