SEIU President To Obama: "Our challenge to you, is to FIGHT"

[kpete]

Letter from President Andy Stern to SEIU Members:

Where Do We Go From Here?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
..........

We know we will fight. We will continue to fight for everything we know is important. We will fight to make care affordable. We will fight for real health insurance reforms. We will fight for employers to provide their employees with coverage. And, we will fight to pay for all of it responsibly without a tax on your benefits.

But we aren’t the only ones who must fight.

President Obama must remember his own words from the campaign. His call of “Yes We Can” was not just to us, not just to the millions of people who voted for him, but to himself. We all stood shoulder to shoulder with the President during his hard fought campaign. And, we will continue to stand with him but he must fight for the reform we all know is possible. He must fight for Cynthia, Maria, and Gerry – for every American.

Our challenge to you, to the President, to the Senate and to the House of Representatives is to fight. Now, more than ever, all of us must stand up, remember what health insurance reform is all about, and fight like hell to deliver real and meaningful reform to the American people.


In Solidarity,
Andy Stern

more:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Letter-from-President-Andy-Stern-to-SEIU-Members.pdf

[pinto]

1. Thanks for the post. Well written letter to SEIU's 2.1 million members. Another snip -

Last night, we held a meeting with your (SEIU's) International Executive Board - leaders from across the country. Leaders who know you, who understand what you are going through, and above all else, who believe that every one of you deserves a chance to weigh in on our next steps.

We talked about everything that makes this reform meaningful:

> The 30 million more people who will have healthcare they can count on;
> The people who will no longer lose their coverage if they get sick;
> All of us who no longer have to worry about being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions;
> Women who will no longer be discriminated against just because of their gender.

But we also recognized, that like you, we have concerns. And while it is not entirely clear what the Senate bill will look like, it is becoming clearer that:

> For many people, care will still be too expensive to afford.
> Some of you would face an additional burden because your health insurance benefits would be taxed.
> And the best way we saw possible to hold insurance companies accountable was no longer an option.

So we asked ourselves - and we are asking you - the most critical question we have of this entire debate: where do we go from here?

We know we will fight. We will continue to fight for everything we know is important. We will fight to make care affordable. We will fight for real health insurance reforms. We will fight for employers to provide their employees with coverage. And, we will fight to pay for all of it responsibly without a tax on your benefits.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Letter-from-President-Andy-Stern-to-SEIU-Members.pdf

[SemiCharmedQuark]

2. K&R