By CHRISTOPHER MAAG, The New York Times - -

CLEVELAND — Cleveland is suing 21 of the nation’s largest banks and financial institutions, accusing them of knowingly plunging the city into a financial crisis by flooding the local housing market with subprime mortgage loans to people who could never repay.

The city is seeking “at least” hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, Cleveland’s law director, Robert J. Triozzi, said Friday. The list of defendants includes some of the most prominent firms on Wall Street, like Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Countrywide Financial.

Mayor Frank G. Jackson said in an interview on Friday that the companies would be “held accountable for what they’ve done.”

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NEW YORK, /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- It might be all the eggnog we have been drinking this week, or just the unbelievable irony of it all, but SEIU's folks at BehindtheBuyouts.org couldn't resist some idle speculation about what may have been going through David Rubenstein's head this week when he plunked down $21.3 million to buy the Magna Carta, one of the foundational documents of Western freedoms, human rights, and civil liberties. So, with all due respect to our striking brothers and sisters at the David Letterman Show, here are:

    SEIU's Top Ten Reasons Why Carlyle Group Co-Founder David Rubenstein
Purchased the Magna Carta
    1. That $21 mil was burning a hole in his pocket.

    2. 13th century feudalism provides blueprint for personnel policies at
Manor Care and other Carlyle-owned companies.

    3. After executing the expected dividend recapitalization at $1 million
per section he could triple his investment within the first six months.

    4. Being called a nouveau billionaire doesn't carry same cache as the
term "medieval baron."

    5. Prop to hold up at next Congressional hearing on tax breaks for
buyout billionaires.

    6. Only way he can legally take an eraser to those pesky sections about
due process (while attempting to steamroll regulations designed to protect
nursing home residents).

    7. Finding that perfect holiday gift is a *** when you are worth a
gazillion dollars.

    8. Human rights charter is the perfect white elephant gift at the Abu
Dhabi Government's holiday party.

    9. Can't wait to show his buyout industry buddies the part about how
all citizens should be subject equally to the laws of the land.

    10. The Magna Carta's Return On Investment
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119801881068437867.html )is better than
Carlyle's (these days).

    Bonus Reason:

    Rubenstein's public statements to the contrary, freedom today does actually have a price. And just in case you were wondering, most of us can't afford it.



    With 1.9 million members, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in North
America. Focused on uniting workers in three sectors to improve their lives
and the services they provide, SEIU is the largest health care union,
including hospitals, nursing homes, and home care; the largest property
services union, including building cleaning and security; and the second
largest public employee union.

Andrew Stern, head of SEIU, says foreign as well as U.S. workers should share in employers' success. - By Molly Selvin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Andrew Stern, maybe the most powerful union boss in the country, doesn't always act the part.

As president of the Washington-based Service Employees International Union, Stern, 57, has attracted attention for standing with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Chief Executive H. Lee Scott Jr. and other corporate leaders, some of them decidedly anti-union, to push for a healthcare overhaul and for meeting with government officials in China in an effort to help improve working conditions there.

In Los Angeles and across the country, Stern has helped negotiate significant wage increases and benefits for janitors, nurses, security guards and others in the fast-growing service sector. Unlike most other unions, SEIU has grown -- to 1.9 million nationally -- in part by reaching out to low-wage and immigrant workers and with in-your-face tactics, including the Justice for Janitors walkout in Los Angeles 17 years ago.

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SEIU COUNSEL, HOME CARE WORKERS, DISABILITY COMMUNITY ADVOCATES URGE CONGRESS TO SUPPORT FAIR HOME HEALTH CARE ACT

Supporters Say Basic Protections for Home Care Workers Will Ensure Care for America’s Elderly and Disabled

WASHINGTON, DC — Today (Oct. 25, 2007), lead counsel for The Service Employees International Union, the nation’s largest healthcare union, joined a home care worker and disability community advocates to testify before Congress in support of legislation that would close a loophole that denies home care workers overtime and minimum wage protections.

The Fair Home Health Care Act, introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) in the Senate and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) in the House, was inspired by the plight of 73 year-old home care worker Evelyn Coke. After more than 20 years of work that sometimes entailed four 24-hour days a week, sleeping at a client’s home, and rarely receiving time-and-a-half compensation for the overtime work hours, Ms. Coke sued her employer. In June of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Coke, and one million caregivers like her, could be denied overtime pay and minimum wage under the “companionship exemption” of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which categorizes home care workers as casual helpers, like babysitters.

“Excluding these workers from the minimum standards contained in the FLSA is both unsound labor and employment policy and unsound long term care policy as we face a growing shortage of workers willing and able to perform these essential services,” testified Craig Becker, SEIU lead counsel in Ms. Coke’s Supreme Court case. “Today’s home care workers can no longer be compared to the neighborhood teenager who babysits on Friday night.”

When the FLSA was extended to domestic employees in 1974, home care was largely provided by neighbors and friends. Since then the home care industry has experienced explosive growth – with more than one million home care workers in the United States provide care for the elderly and people with disabilities in their homes, and help with daily emotionally and physically demanding activities such as dressing, bathing, cooking, cleaning and transferring--yet they are still excluded from basic protections of the FLSA.

The Department of Labor lists home care work as the nation’s fastest growing occupation in the U.S. But low wages, poor hours, and lack of health insurance, sick, and vacation time have led to high turnover in the industry.

“As the baby boom generation ages, the number of people needing care at home is expected to double,” said Gerry Hudson, SEIU Healthcare Executive Vice President. “If we hope to meet the needs of this growing elderly population, we must invest in a living wage and health care coverage for home care workers. This legislation is a critical first step in that direction, and I urge our leaders in Congress to pass it as quickly as possible.”