Legislative Report

SEIU Florida and our local union have much to celebrate.  We've had a successful session under very difficult circumstances.  The foundation for our success was laid by our members' hard work during the election of President Obama and our support for his Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  Without the billions of economic stimulus dollars brought to Florida, the session would have been a complete disaster for us and all of Florida's working families.
Special thanks to all of our member political organizers (MPO's) who lobbied in Tallahassee, lobbied in districts, made phone calls, emailed legislators and educated fellow members on the importance of participating in COPE.  On one of our priority issues, defeating the so-called Save our Secret Ballot, anti-worker/anti-democracy ballot initiative, we waged a field effort that included:

2,600 calls
1,000 post cards
28 member lobbyists visiting Tallahassee

Victories: 2009 Legislative Session

SEIU Florida worked to insure that state government fulfills its obligations to fund health care and education.  We focused on defending against further cuts to health care.  Even with the huge infusion of Obama stimulus dollars, we weren't able to defeat all cuts to health care.  The needs were so great in other areas that some of the health care dollars were used to fund them.  However, we were able to avoid the massive health care cuts which were anticipated pre-session.
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