521 Members Tell Congress to Vote for Healthcare Reform
Breaking: Victory in U.S. House
Photo above: Members at the health care rally prepare to march through downtown Fresno.
Photo above: Marchers occupied both side of the street outside Rep. Jim Costa's office, and their voices could be heard in Costa's office many floors above.
Members of SEIU 521 joined other union members and community coalition partners in a march and rally for health care reform on Wednesday, Nov. 4, encouraging members of Congress to vote for the House bill that will bring affordable, quality health care to millions of uninsured working Americans.
The march through downtown Fresno began at the offices of Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and ended at the office of Rep. Jim Costa, a Democrat who said he hadn't decided how to vote on the healthcare bill.
Passersby honked in support of the members. Even a Fresno fire truck blared its horn as it passed the march, bringing cheers from members spread across the four corners of a busy intersection.
The 250 marchers, carrying signs and led by a few people with bullhorns, got the attention of Costa's staff, who came downstairs to collect comment cards.
SEIU workers are fighting for a health care plan where:
- Everyone would have a choice of public or private plans;
- Insurance and drug companies would face new rules to make them put people over profits;
- New rules for coverage that guarantee, at a minimum, a standard package of benefits.
"I've been hoping and praying for health care reform for the past decade. If we're ever going to achieve it, now is the time," said James Hackett, an SEIU 521 Executive Board member. "I hope Rep. Costa will do the right thing. I hope he looks past the rhetoric. I have confidence that he will support this in the end."
"My mother has to cut her pills in half, or take her pills every other day, because she can't afford to take them as prescribed. It shouldn't be that way. Everyone should be able to afford their health care."
-- Francis Coronado, Fresno County probation department
"We need to show these older people that we care. The government spends lots of money on things for ritzy people, now it should spend money on its people. We're never going to win unless the people combine."
-- Carlos Rodriguez Sr., elegibility worker for Fresno County Employment and Temporary Assistance
Breaking: Victory in U.S. House
Click here for more information about the healthcare reform.