Hope in L.A.

I blew into Los Angeles this week and hooked up with SEIU members at a number of events. What I really appreciated was Robert Greenwald and Rick Jacobs of Brave New Films - a company that produces socially responsible documentaries on topics like the Iraq War, Wal-Mart, and FOX television - hosting a lunch that combined SEIU members, bloggers (Firedoglake), progressive journalists, school reform advocates, and people from the entertainment industry. Our union and other progressives rarely meet together or eat together, and it is a great moment when we all unite our strength and find our common bonds.

American workers want a hand up, not a hand out. That's why in L.A. at this and other events, I told the story of Michael Johnson.

Michael has been a security officer for more than 16 years, and even though he is a post commander at the building he protects, he receives only $10 an hour and cannot afford health care for his family. His wife recently gave birth to their fifth child, a baby girl, and they all must share a one-and-a-half bedroom apartment.

Michael has to work two jobs just to get by. He leaves the house at six in the morning before the children are awake and comes home late at night after they've long gone to sleep. Because he can't afford the health care benefits that his security company offers, his family must depend on Medicaid.

"I protect multi-million dollar buildings, but I can't afford to protect my family. It's tough to work all the time and hardly ever see my kids, but like most security officers, that's what I have to do to get by," he said.

Michael is a hard-working, family-oriented American, and yet for all his hard work he is still poor. Your and my tax dollars have to subsidize the wealthy building owners who have made a fortune on the increased real estate values of their commercial properties, but don't provide affordable health care to the people who protect those investments.

But we are on the verge of turning things around. Thanks to the help of African-American clergy and an incredibly dynamic mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, L.A. security officers are very close to gaining a voice on the job in SEIU and a chance to raise standards for security in the community.

Last year in America, for the first time in a long time, more kids lost health care than gained it. Last year 7 of 10 middle class Americans said they were living paycheck-to-paycheck. In L.A. the great jobs that once raised families into the middle class - like driving 18-wheelers transporting goods from the ports - now pay $8 to $9 an hour, and the workers are classified independent contractors so they have no freedom to form a union.

Yet for L.A. home care workers, janitors, public workers, hospital workers, and school workers - their economic lives are improving. They had the courage and the opportunity to unite their strength in SEIU, a union that wants to build new relationships with employers, to add value to our jobs, to be modern and thoughtful, and to solve problems for both employees and employers.

Michael: For 16 years you worked hard and did what is expected of you. Help and hope are around the corner to make sure that for you and your family, America (as the title of my book says) is A Country that Works.