The Service Employees International Union is different than many other unions. The most obvious difference is that the SEIU is growing in membership, when most unions have dwindling memberships.
SEIU's membership has grown from 625,000 in 1980 to more than 1.9 million as of early 2008. At a time when the majority of organized labor was shrinking, SEIU was getting new members mostly in the growing service industries. As of early 2008, the SEIU claims it’s “the fastest-growing union in North America”. It says it’s the:
- Largest health care union, with 900,000 members, including nurses, LPNs, doctors, lab technicians, nursing home workers and home care workers. SEIU’s members include 110,000 nurses and 40,000 doctors. SEIU is the largest union of long-term care workers in the United States. Its members include 440,000 home care and 160,000 nursing home workers.
- The largest property services union, with 225,000 members in the building cleaning and security industries, including janitors, door men and women. Its members also include 50,000 private security officers and public safety personnel.
- The second largest public services union, with 850,000 local and state government workers, public school employees, bus drivers, and child care providers.
It also represents workers in diverse sectors – from highly skilled occupations such as doctors and nurses to less skilled fields such as building cleaners. The union itself says “its membership is among the most diverse in the labor movement.”
History
The union traces its roots to 1921, when members of seven small janitor unions formed the Building Service Employees International Union. The BSEIU was mostly made up of immigrant workers. They received a charter from the American Federation of Labor.
During the 1930s, the union was the first in the country to help other service workers like hospital workers and public employees join a union.
The union changed its name to Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in 1968 to reflect its membership and key sectors.
SEIU President Andy Stern took office in 1996. Stern was a social services worker and member of SEIU Local 668 who rose through the union ranks before his election as the national president.
In 1996, SEIU officers also committed to diversify the union’s leadership to reflect the membership, and as of 2008 more than 50 percent of SEIU members are in local unions led by a woman or person of color.
In 2005, SEIU was one of five national unions that broke away from the AFL-CIO and formed Change to Win , a labor federation representing nearly six million members. The federation and the SEIU are trying to unite the nine out of 10 non-union workers in America.
Initiatives
SEIU is utilizing the Internet to activate thousands of Americans through PurpleOcean.org, and its online campaign Since Sliced Bread. The first-ever Internet-based union affiliate, PurpleOcean.org combines technology with the power of the grassroots to transform members of the general public into activists for social and economic justice and workers’ rights.
Representing more immigrants than any other union, SEIU has been instrumental in leading the way for immigration reform. SEIU was the driving force behind the American labor movement’s shift toward supporting legalization for hard-working, tax-paying immigrants.
SEIU is fighting for quality, affordable health care for all Americans through its Americans for Health Care project.
In 2008, the SEIU, was one of a handful of national unions, which came out early for the endorsement of Barack Obama for president.
Criticism
According to the Center for Union Facts http://www.unionfacts.com/unions/unionProfile.cfm?id=137 The SEIU seeks to unionize just about anyone. In 1997 Local 790 organized strippers from the Lusty Lady peep show in San Francisco. There have also been hundred of decertification requests field by workers who no longer want the SEIU to represent them. In 2004, the union spent at least $65 million of his members' money on political candidates.
There were charges of secrecy leveled at the SEIU and Unite Here in recent days after The Wall Street Journal reported that the two major unions reached confidential agreements with two large businesses about methods used to organize employees. The agreements – which remain secret – allow the companies to say which locations and the number of workers the unions can try to organize, the newspaper reported.
