SEIU: Becoming a Watchdog for All Workers


WADIMS%20Upload96_to_Today_03.jpgSEIU members decided more than a decade ago the best way to win results for workers was to be a watchdog for both political parties.

But it didn’t happen over night. Over the years, thousands of SEIU members built our political strength in thousands of ways. In 2008, SEIU members are using this strength to elect Barack Obama and a pro-working-family majority in Congress.

1996

  • Politics as usual ends.
  • SEIU members begin switch to member-oriented, issues-based political program.
  • SEIU members set a goal of 10,000 Member Political Organizers (MPOs) by 2000.
  • Members donate an average of $.60 per year to SEIU’s political program.
  • SEIU is ranked the 35th largest political action fund in the country.

WADIMS%20Upload96_to_Today_02.jpg1997

  • States pledge one percent of members to become MPOs.
  • 700 of SEIU’s most politically active members attend SEIU’s Member Political Action Conference.

1998

  • Candidates must meet with SEIU members, not leaders, to win the support of SEIU.
  • Locals recruit and train more SEIU members for political action than any other union in the AFL-CIO.
  • Members begin to receive more political communication, 57 percent say they receive mail and nearly 20 percent receive phone calls and fliers at work.

96_to_Today_01.JPG2000

  • SEIU members launch the biggest single-union mobilization to date to elect a pro-worker president.
  • SEIU members raise and spend four times the amount spent on 1996’s election.
  • Locals recruit 20,000 MPOs, doubling our 1996 goal.
  • SEIU members knock on 4 million doors, make 1.5 million phone calls, hand out 2.1 million fliers at work and turn out more than 750,000 voters from SEIU households.

WADIMS%20Upload96_to_Today_01.jpg2002

  • 500 members take time off the job to work full-time electing pro-worker candidates.
  • Locals recruit 15,000 MPOs.
  • SEIU members make 2.5 million phone calls and hand out 500,000 worksite fliers.
  • Members report hearing more about politics, 74 percent say they received mail, 45 percent receive phone calls, and 32 percent receive worksite fliers.
  • Members launch Americans for Health Care. In just four years, AHC signs up 500,000 health care voters, and passes major reform bills in eight states.

96_to_Today_04.JPG2004

  • SEIU now has the second largest political action fund in the country.
  • Set a goal of registering 80 percent of SEIU members to vote.
  • Set a goal to recruit 20 percent of members to donate as little as $3/month to SEIU’s political program.
  • Locals recruit 50,000 MPOs, more than double 2000’s record.
  • SEIU members create the Heroes program, recruiting and training nearly 2004 members to work on politics full-time in battleground states.
  • Members knock on 10 million doors, make 19 million phone calls, hand out 6 million fliers at work, and register nearly 400,000 new voters.

96_to_Today_03.JPG2006

  • Locals recruit more than 50,000 MPOs.
  • SEIU members knock on 2 million doors, make 1 million phone calls, send 3 million pieces of mail, and hand out 2 million fliers at work.
  • SEIU members contribute 20 times more money to politics than in 1996.
  • SEIU members help elect first pro-worker Congress in a decade, pass minimum wage increases in five states, and elect pro-worker Governors in ten states.
  • The National Journal rates SEIU’s political program as the most effective in the entire country.

96_to_Today_02.JPG2007-2008

  • SEIU members are out front this campaign like never before and presidential candidates responded like never before because of the work members have done over the past decade.
  • Members ask presidential candidates to “Walk a Day in My Shoes” and Senators Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Obama and Governor Richardson participate.
  • Members talk one-on-one with all Democratic candidates to get their plans for health care, protecting their voice at work, and creating a new American Dream. 
  • 96_to_Today_05.JPGSEIU members challenge candidates to release detailed health care plans and Senators Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Obama, Representative Kucinich, and Governor Richardson respond. Senator Biden released a partial plan.
  • SEIU’s nearly 300,000 Republican members push Republican candidates to participate in all political programs.
  • Record contributions by SEIU members make SEIU’s political action fund the largest in the country.
  • 1,500 members attend SEIU’s Member Political Action Conference; more than double the attendance of 1997.
  • Thousands of SEIU members and health care voters turn out their coworkers, families, and friends to vote for pro-worker candidates in the early primary and caucus states.
  • SEIU members unite behind Senator Barack Obama as the best candidate to create the change working people need and launch the most aggressive primary campaign by workers in history to help him win the nomination.