Organizing Victories in 2007

SEIU 1021 Organizing won 11 campaigns & 1776 new members last year
Private/Non-Profit Sector CampaignsWorkers at nonprofits in the developmental disability (DD) community voted for industry power with 1021.
East Bay Innovations
This San Leandro-based provider of services to people with developmental disabilities embarked on a new partnership with SEIU 1021 in the fall as its 100 workers joined our union. The challenges faced by workers are common throughout the DD industry: a lack of retention, training, job security, living wages and benefits. EBI is the first developmental disabilities (DD) agency to agree to card-check neutrality, which also entitles it to assistance with human resources administration, recruitment and training through the Consumer Directed Services Network (CDSN). EBI and 1021 hope this will serve as a model to the rest of the industry. Instead of wasting scarce resources on fighting workers and hiring union-busting lawyers, employers can focus on improving services for consumers and raising standards for workers.

Native American Health Center
 Native American Health Center employees in Oakland, San Francisco and Alameda came together on November 15 and voted to become part of SEIU 1021 for a voice on the job. This was the first step in addressing low wages, poor benefits, high turnover, favoritism and the lack of respect they experience daily. NAHC employees of many ages, backgrounds and classifications were part of the organizing campaign, and all NAHC departments: WIC, Medical, Dental, Youth Services, Counseling, and Administration.

The workers who spoke up about injustices are dedicated employees who care about the services they provide to the community. Unfortunately the employer was not open to the union and the workers had a hard fight against their employer. They moved forward with the slogan—“Our Families, Our Communities, Our Union.”


La Familia
Within a day from NAHC, the 36 workers at La Familia Counseling Services in Hayward voted unanimously to be represented by SEIU 1021. Workers at LFCS provide counseling and other social services primarily to Latino families in the Hayward area.

Workers called SEIU 1021 because they were ready for change. For close to three months they stood strong and wore SEIU solidarity lanyards and stickers. They went as a delegation to the La Familia board of directors. By unanimously voting in favor of forming a union with SEIU 1021, they sent a clear message to the management of La Familia they were ready for real change to start.

AffiliationEmployee associations have long joined the union as new chapters. In our first year, we gained a county.
Del Norte County
County workers decided to affiliate with SEIU 1021 because they hadn’t had a pay raise or a contract in five years. And as soon as management found out that workers were talking to SEIU, they gave employees a 5% cost of living adjustment.
The workers saw that this was management’s way of trying to keep a strong union from representing them, so they didn’t buy into it and voted overwhelmingly for SEIU. By the start of 2008, the 400 new members in the state’s northwest corner were revving up for bargaining and posting updates on the union’s Web site.


LegislationWe continue the fight to create a more worker-friendly working world for temporary employees.



“Justice Can’t Be Temporary”
Over 650 employees in San Joaquin County are classified as “temporary” and “part time.” But a majority of them perform work that is ongoing and long-term in nature. Many have worked for the county for more than five years and some for 20 years, yet they are denied the rights and benefits of permanent employees.

A bill has been introduced in the California State Legislature to fix this problem. AB 1496 will close loopholes that allow cities and counties to hire temp workers for jobs that would otherwise be performed by permanent employees. AB 1496 will also ensure that temporary workers in cities and counties are hired only to do legitimate temporary work, and get the sick leave, health care, and vacation benefits they work for.

State Senator Machado, representing San Joaquin County, is not supporting this bill. From April through September 2007, Senator Machado repeatedly was unavailable when SEIU members came to his Sacramento office for lobby visits. In the fall, SEIU members requested a meeting with Machado in his Stockton office but once again, he was unavailable and offered his aide instead. Tired of evasion, SEIU 1021 part-time members and community leaders tracked down Senator Machado at a community event in Stockton and asked him to support AB 1496.


Agency Shop CampaignsWhere county workers already had 1021, we won greater representation, gaining strength in bargaining.
Mendocino County
Although most Mendocino County workers have been members of SEIU since 1996, extra help workers and others employed by the county before 1996 were not part of the union. The goal of the Mendocino agency shop campaign was to strengthen the union by bringing all county workers into the unit and organizing around health care increases, outsourcing of services, abusive supervisors, and the rights of extra help workers.

Through worksite meetings, petitions, meetings with individual supervisors, and speak-outs and pickets at the board of supervisors, Mendocino County workers were able to achieve important victories: Extra help workers were organized into the union, and more permanent positions were created in certain departments. Workers set up ongoing committees to get better healthcare and to hold managers accountable.

Sacramento County Supervisors
After a 63-63 tie in their last agency shop election in 2006, Sacramento County Welfare Supervisors came back with a bang this year to win agency shop 121-72 on December 10. For the workers, this was the first step in making their union a force to be reckoned with in Sacramento County.

Welfare Supervisors had an open shop for nearly 20 years under legacy Local 535, and won improvements over the years with a divided house. But the leadership knew they could gain much more if they united as one union. Last spring, the county board of supervisors unilaterally cut retiree medical benefits for all employees, a benefit they had approved for more than 30 years. With balloons, petitions, stickers, and an organized membership, SEIU 1021 members said “yes” to agency shop and are more ready than ever to fight back and win the benefits they deserve.

Calaveras County
With their contract due to expire in December 2007, 300 county workers were faced with low wages, expensive and inadequate health insurance, and turnover of experienced staff. Members launched an Agency Shop campaign so they could build power to negotiate a strong contract. Thanks to hard work by the officers and a strong organizing committee, they won the agency shop election by a 146–46 landslide.


In February, the bargaining team won major gains in the county contract, with the employer increasing its health care contribution, agreeing to a salary survey by mid-2008, and posting union bulletin boards at worksites.