New Union Plus Benefits Build SAFE Harbor

Union Privilege Vice President Jon Ross sends us the latest on initiatives by Union Plus to help union members survive the stormy economic seas that are threatening jobs, homes, health care and financial survival.

With many working families in financial distress as a result of the sharp downturn in the U.S. economy, Union Plus is launching a program of new and enhanced benefits to assist eligible union members facing hardships.

Union SAFE expands the Union Plus Safety Net by providing a wide array of benefits targeted to Union Plus program participants including help for those suffering from layoffs to soaring hospital costs to problems paying their mortgage to help saving for college.

Union SAFE will provide $1 million in assistance to help eligible members. Benefits include:

• Credit counseling services, budgeting advice and no—fee debt management and bankruptcy counseling benefits.
• Save My Home Hotline to help avoid mortgage foreclosure.
• Hospital Care Grants of $1,000 to help members who have been hit with large, unreimbursed hospital expenses who participate in the Union Plus Credit Card, Mortgage or UnionSecure Insurance programs.
• Job Loss Grants of $250 for Union Plus Credit Card holders who have been recently laid off for more than 90 days.
• Disability Grants of $1,000 to $2,000 for qualified Union Plus Credit Card holders who have significant income loss due to a recent long-term illness or disability.
• Mortgage Assistance to help Union Plus Mortgage holders, who become unemployed, disabled or go on strike, make their mortgage payments.

To help members finance their children’s college educations, Union SAFE offers College Savings Grants of $500 to members who open new 529 tax-free college savings accounts or prepaid tuition accounts of at least $1,000 by June 30, 2009.

This $1 million initiative offered by Union Plus to eligible union members demonstrates how the labor movement is answering President Obama’s call for a new era of responsibility to help those who have fallen on hard times, says Leslie Tolf, president of Union Privilege, provider of the Union Plus benefits.

We are all hopeful today because President Obama is working to help middle-class Americans struggling in this worsening recession. America’s unions and Union Plus are doing what we can right now to assist members in trouble-especially those who participate in a Union Plus program.

To learn more about all of the money-saving Union Plus benefits available to union members, visit Union Plus here.

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