Washington, DC - Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Secretary-Treasurer and Change to Win (CTW) Chair Anna Burger released the following statement on today's introduction of the Disclose Act of 2010:

Today, Senators Schumer, Feingold, Wyden and Bayh and Congressmen Van Hollen, Brady, Castle and Jones took an important bipartisan step to ensure that the voices of the voters will remain at the center of our electoral process. Because of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Citizens United, that voice - the voters' voice - was at risk of being further marginalized by corporate special interests.

"The DISCLOSE Act strikes a balance between protecting free speech and ensuring that no single interest can distort and ultimately delegitimize our democracy. It recognizes that transparency and disclosure of corporate political spending is an essential safeguard to our political process. Most significantly, the Act requires corporate CEOs to disclose political spending to their shareholders and requires the true funders of political ads to identify themselves to the voters. After this Act becomes law, corporations will no longer be able to hide behind the Chamber of Commerce or shell entities like 'Citizens United.'

"But this legislation does fall short. It falls short in protecting the free speech rights of workers on the job. It falls short in protecting the free speech rights of small investors who place their savings in mutual funds. And it falls short in protecting the retirement savings of retirees and the American middle class from becoming political pawns in the games played in corporate board rooms.

"Workers are intimidated, harassed and even fired when they speak up for safe working conditions, benefits or better pay. Corporations may see Citizens United as giving a green light to similarly punishing employees when they do not advance the CEO's political agenda. Yet this bill has no protections for workers who don't hold the same political views as their boss. Can they say 'no,' without fear of reprisal, when their boss tells them to hand out campaign flyers in front of the office? Or to spend their work day calling voters on behalf of their employer-endorsed candidate?

"And, it does not give anyone - not retirees, not Main Street investors - any say in how their mutual fund, pension and 401K investments are spent by corporations on politics. That just isn't right. Without the freedom to sell their shares in individual companies or the ability to vote against that political spending, workers and retirees will see CEOs treat their nest eggs as little more than their own political piggy banks. The bill should be amended to prevent CEOs from using workers' hard-earned retirement savings to advance the political interests of their bosses.

"Few issues are as important for our democracy as the legitimacy and fairness of our political process. Voters, not corporations, must be the ones to decide the direction and future of our country. The DISCLOSE Act is a good start but Congress must put political division aside and pass legislation that guarantees corporate political spending is transparent and that corporate CEOs are held accountable for spending other peoples' money on politics.

With 2.2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers -- not just corporations and CEOs -- benefit from today's global economy.

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