SEIU Represents at Legislators' First Committee Day
At the State Legislature in Olympia, lawmakers attending the year’s first Committee Day session were overwhelmed by the presence of long-term care workers with SEIU Healthcare 775NW.
In all, 24 SEIU Healthcare caregivers came to the Capitol to meet with our elected officials and promote the interests of long-term caregivers and our clients and residents. We got off to a great start:
- We spoke with 25 Legislators face to face about the issues facing Nursing Home Workers in Washington State;
- We began collecting letters of support from Legislators to Governor Gregoire urging her to include funding for Nursing Home Worker wages and benefits in the budget;
- We delivered books of personal letters to the Governor to ALL 49 State Senators and 98 members of the House Representatives; and
- We secured commitments from 23 Legislators to visit a nursing home in their district so they can personally experience the challenges nursing home workers face daily.
Our first Committee Day was a successful first step towards ensuring increased funding for nursing home workers in the 2008 budget. Now that we've gotten their attention, we need to continue to remind our legislators of the importance of increased wages and benefits for nursing home workers.
Please join us in the next steps for the fight for nursing home workers in October at the
Governor's Town Hall Meetings in Seattle, Bellingham, Grays Harbor, Yakima, Tacoma and Spokane.
The next Committee Day before the legislative session begins will be November 29/ 30.
Nursing Home Worker Lobby Day will be on January 28th in Olympia. Save the Date!