Service Employees International Union

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CNN report on SEIU's lobbying for Obama's health care proposals

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Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing 1.9 million workers in about 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. The main divisions are health care (around 50% of the union's membership), including hospital, home care and nursing home workers, public services (government employees), and property services (including janitors and security officers).

SEIU is based in Washington, D.C., and is structured into seven internal departments: Communications, Education, Human Rights, International Affairs, Organization, Political, and Research.

History

The SEIU was founded in 1921 in Chicago; its first members were janitors, elevator operators, and window washers. Membership increased significantly with a strike in New York City's Garment District in 1934. Formerly known as the Building Service Employees' International Union, it absorbed the International Jewelry Workers Union in 1980 and later the Drug, Hospital, and Health Care Employees Union (Local 1199), Health & Human Services Workers.

In 1995, SEIU President John Sweeney was elected president of the AFL-CIO, the labor federation that serves as an umbrella organization for unions. After Sweeney's departure, former social worker Andrew Stern was elected president of SEIU. In the first ten years of Stern's administration, the union's membership grew rapidly, making SEIU the largest union in the AFL-CIO by 2000.

Election involvement

Secretary of State Project

SEIU is a core member of the Secretary of State Project. The purpose of the project, according to founder Becky Bond, is to elect Democrats to positions as Secretaries of State because "Any serious commitment to wrestling control of the country from the Republican Party must include removing their political operatives from deciding who can vote and whose votes will count.”[1]

Coakley/Brown campaign

U.S. Senate special election, Massachusetts, 2010

In the last week of the January 2010 contest between Scott P. Brown and Martha Coakley in Massachusetts to fill the seat in the United States Senate made vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy, At around the same time, SEIU took out a television ad buy worth "$685,000, one of the largest of the election" on behalf of Coakley.[2]

Jeff Denham recall

See also: Jeff Denham recall (2008)

The SEIU spent $450,000 in 2008 in a vain attempt to recall California State Senator Jeff Denham, a Republican they sought to punish because he did not vote for their preferred version of the California state budget that year.[3]

Petition blocking lawsuit

See also: Petition blocking

On October 30, 2007, Ralph Nader named SEIU as a co-defendant in Nader v. DNC. In the ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit, 2004 Reform Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader accused the Democratic National Committee of "groundless and abusive litigation" to bankrupt Ralph Nader's campaign and force him off the ballot in 18 states.[4]

Ballot measure activism

SEIU affiliates are significant donors to political committees that both oppose and support ballot measures in states throughout the country.

2010

Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
Congressional Redistricting (Florida) Approved $225,000
Legislative Redistricting (Florida) Approved $225,000

2009

Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
Proposition 1A (California) $16 billion tax increase, spending caps Defeated $1.3 million Defeated
Question 4 (Maine) Tax relief proposal Defeated $100,000 Defeated
Initiative 1033 (Washington) Property tax limits Defeated $297,500 Defeated

2008

See also: 2008 ballot measures
Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
Proposition 98 (California) Protect homes from government seizure Defeated $900,000 Defeated
Proposition 93 (California) Softening of Term limits Approved $100,000 Defeated
Amendment 47 (Colorado) Right to work Defeated $2.45 million Defeated
Proposition B (Missouri) Health care unions for home workers Approved $936,000 Approved
Measures 58, 58 (Oregon) English immersion, state income tax deductions Defeated $1.2 million Defeated
Initiative 1029 (Washington) Training for health care workers Approved $955,000 Approved

2007

See also: 2007 ballot measures
Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
Measure 50 (Oregon) Cigarette tax hike Approved $142,460 Defeated
Initiative 960 (Washington) Limits on taxes Defeated Approved

2006

See also: 2006 ballot measures
Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
Proposition 202 (Arizona) Minimum wage increase Approved $615,976 Approved
Proposition 82 (California) Free half-day of pre-school for 4-year-olds Approved $1.5 million Defeated
Amendment 42 (Colorado) Minimum wage increase Approved $21,375 Approved
Amendment 43 (Colorado) Definition of marriage Defeated $150,000 Approved
Proposition B (Missouri) Minimum wage increase Approved $210,000 Approved
Measures 41 and 48 (Oregon) Income tax deductions, spending cap Defeated $516,632 Defeated
Measure 45 (Oregon) Term limits Defeated $120,167 Defeated
Measure 46 (Oregon) Campaign finance Defeated $145,167 Approved

2005

See also: 2005 ballot measures
Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
State Spending Act, Referendum C (Colorado) Temporary suspension of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Approved $130,000 Approved

2004

See also: 2004 ballot measures
Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
Prop 200 (Arizona) Proof of citizenship for voting/benefits Defeated $660,000 Approved
Prop 56 (California) Reduce vote threshold needed for state legislature to raise taxes Approved $9 million Defeated
Prop 72 (California) Health care Approved $4 million Defeated
Amendment 5 (Florida) Minimum wage increase Approved $125,000 Approved
Measure 36 (Oregon) No same-sex marriage Defeated $10,962 Approved

2002

See also: 2002 ballot measures
Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
Proposition 42 (California) Funding for transportation Approved $950,000 Approved

2000

See also: 2000 ballot measures
Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
Proposition 38 (California) School vouchers Defeated $200,000 Defeated

1998

See also: 1998 ballot measures
Measure Subject SEIU position SEIU donations Result
Proposition 223 (California) Limit on how much a school district can spend on administrative costs Defeated $100,880 Defeated

External links

References

  1. ↑ Discover the Networks - Secretary of State Project (SOSP)
  2. ↑ Boston Globe "Union plans major ad buy for Coakley" 12 Jan. 2010
  3. ↑ Hank Shaw's blog, Denham Recall: Labor adds another $450k, April 30, 2008
  4. ↑ "Nader sues, claims Democrats sabotaged his 2004 campaign", October 31, 2007

Parts of the original version of this article were taken from Wikipedia's article on the Service Employees International Union, under the GDFL license, when Wikipedia still used the GDFL license.

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