In a formal vote on Friday, May 2nd the House voted 144 to 10 to reject a proposal in the House budget that would have raised state employee health insurance contribution rates by 55 to 10%. The result of out-of-pocket increases to these employees would have from 335 to 675%.

The proposal was defeated through an amendment originally sponsored by Representative Marty Walsh, which ended up co-sponsored by 106 out of 160 members of the House.

SUMMUP and AFSCME members did a great job of contacting their representatives to gain support for the amendment. The budget process now moves to the Senate where another great job will need to be done to fight any effort  there to increase the health insurance costs to state employees.Stay Tuned !!!!!

The annual SUMMUP convention was held April 4-6th at the Radisson Hyannis.

The entire weekend focused on the importance of members getting involved in politics and working to elect candidates who share our values and who will stand up and support the issues important to working families and the cities and towns in which they live.

Also at the heart of SUMMUP members is the issue of assuring there are good programs in place to assist those clients in their care and custody. Those clients are from the Departments of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Public Health, Youth Services and Corrections.

On Friday the attendees heard from Bob Haynes, president of the Mass AFL/CIO and Mike Foster, Staff Representative from Council 93.

 Staurday was a day long interactive workshop co lead by Tess Ewing and Susan Winning from the U Mass Labor Extension program.

Also, Morgan Purcell from Local 646 was elected to fill a three year Trustee seat.

The delegates of SUMMUP Heard from candidate Doug Belanger on Wednesday, March 19^th at their monthly meeting at the Tuttle Post in Auburn, MA. Doug is running for the 2^nd Worcester Senate seat that will be vacated by Senator Ed Augustus who will not seek re-election.

Doug spoke highly of Senator Augustus thanking him for a job well done. He has decided to run because like the Senator, Doug has a passion for helping working families with their issues and those of the cities and towns in which they live.

There was much discussion during the Mass AFL/CIO State of the Union Conference and a unanomous concenses that how  the buisness of endorsing State Representatives and Senators needs to change drastically.

Attendee's were shown a list of legislator's who hold 100 % Labor Voting Records but were informed that some are still signing on to legislation that has the potential to harm workers.

Many possible changes were discussed including points earned for stading with labor on our issues including picket lines, and points that would be taken away when a legislator does something such as signing onto bills that would be harmfull for labor.

The conference ended with the decision to form a committee to review all of the ideas suggested, research the issue further and put a proposal togeather for a new endorsement program that would be presented at a later date.