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Staff & Member Update 3-28-2008

 
  1. FIRED UP…READY TO GO! I was incredibly honored to spend the day with Barack Obama on March 18, 2008. Not only was I there for his historical speech at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, but I also got to spend some private time with the Senator and his wife, Michelle. I found them both to be REAL, down-to-earth people with an understanding of the need to fund the vital public services that we provide. I got to touch on caseload issues in Corrections, CAO’s and other agencies, flat funding, and even a little on CAP. I then met up with Roxanne Hoag and Cheryl Reaves from Elwyn as we got to be a part of the filming of an upcoming video and/or Obama commercial at a town hall meeting. It was such a wonderful reward to our hard working members from Elwyn to be a part of making history!

  1. FORENSIC UNITS – The various unions representing members in the Forensic Units worked together to hammer out an agreement with the Commonwealth to NOT privatize the Forensic Units in Pennsylvania. Mayview Forensic Unit will move to the grounds of Torrance State Hospital, the other two remaining Forensic Units will stay put in Norristown and Warren. They will all remain state run. SEIU 668 was able to maintain the 2-step bump for our members currently in Forensic and those that transfer or are hired prior to January 1, 2009. After that, anyone moving into Forensic will not get the bump.

  1. GET REGISTERED TO VOTE! State Council held voter registration in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia last week and registered 2,067 voters in seven days – 1,500 in Philadelphia alone! Some voter statistics:

There are currently 4,044,952 registered Democrats in Pennsylvania;

There are currently 3,215,478 registered Republicans in Pennsylvania;

As of the week of March 17, 2008:
    29,060 changed registration form Republican or Independent to Democrat;
    The Obama Campaign registered 22,000 new voters in Pennsylvania;
    There were 120,000 new registered voters overall.

  1. Hatched members CAN attend rallies, town hall meetings, etc. for a candidate but CANNOT wear a shirt or button with a candidates name or party on it.