Constitutional Amendments and Resolutions Adopted at the SEIU Convention

Constitutional Amendments and Resolutions Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention 1 2 Table of Contents Resolution Number 101 102a 103b 104 105b 106a 107 108b 109 110 115a 116a 117 118 119a 120 121 122 123 201 202 203 204a 205a 206a 300a 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314a 315 316 317 318 319 320 330b 330c Resolution Name Building Our Strength Through Lifelong Unionism and a Secure Retirement Building Workers’ Strength with Comprehensive Immigration Reform Iraq and the Economy Jobs and the Environment Justice for All: Reforming our National Healthcare System Quality Public Education for All Rebuilding the Middle Class Secure Retirement for Workers in the 21st Century Valuing All Families Workers Rights in Burma Solidarity w/Latin America and the Caribbean Uniting All labor Prevent Offshoring of Civil Service Jobs Role of Nurses in Policy Making Good Union Jobs for persons with Disabilities Fighting Hunger and Promoting Health and Wellness for America’s Children Puerto Rico’s Workers - Leading the Way to a Brighter Future Campaign for the New American Dream Resolution Unity Resolution Building Our Political Strength to Change Workers’ Lives Community Strength to Improve Workers’ Lives Justice for All: Final Implementing Resolution Member Action and Leadership to Win for Working People Uniting Working People to Change our Lives Unify All Long Term Care Workers in the Same Local Union in Every State in the United States SEIU Mission Statement Article I: Name Article Ii: Objects And Purposes Article Iv, Section 7(B): Convention Representation Article Iv, Sections 8 & 9: Convention Representation Article Iv, Section 12: Convention Representation Article V, Sections 3 & 4: Election Of Officers Article Vi, Section 1: Officers Article Viii, Section 1(F): International President - Duties And Powers Article Viii, Section 1(G): International President - Duties And Powers Article Xi, Section 1: Duties Of The International Executive Board Article Xiii, Section 1(A): Revenue Article Xiii, Section 1(C): Revenue Article Xiii, Sections 3 And 5(B): Revenue Article Xv, Sections 6(B) Through 6(F): Dues Provisions Article Xv, Section 7(A): Dues Provisions Article Xv, Section 16: Duties Of Local Unions Article Xv, Section 18: Duties Of Local Unions Article XVII, Section 1(7): Trials And Appeals Article XX, Section 5(a): Pension Fund For Officers And Employees Of Local Unions And Affiliated Bodies Article XXV: Dissolution Article XV, Section 17: Duties of Local Unions Article XVII, Section 1(8): Trials and Appeals 4 6 8 10 12 16 18 20 22 23 24 25 26 27 29 31 32 34 36 37 40 42 44 47 61 64 67 68 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 81 82 84 85 86 87 88 90 91 92 94 3 Resolution # 101 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Building Our Strength Through Lifelong Unionism and a Secure Retirement Members of our union today stand on the shoulders of our retired members who fought for the rights and living standards we enjoy. Now, it is crucial that we encourage lifelong unionism and make sure that retiring from the job does not mean retiring from the union. Retirees have vital experience and talent to contribute and can play an important role in supporting our campaigns to build workers’ strength in our key industries and sectors. They help make the difference in winning legislative and political campaigns, in voter registration and getout-the-vote drives, and in raising political action funds. They also are important in reaching out to community allies and building the strength and resources of our local unions. Retirees also can be great assets in building national strength by helping workers organize to join us in the South and Southwest, where many union retirees have relocated. In addition, retirees play a special part in defending and improving retirement security for all of us through Social Security, Medicare, and other programs. Retirees are going to play an even more important role in the U.S. in years to come. Every 7 1/2 seconds, a “baby boomer” turns 50, and it is projected that by 2023, one in five Americans will be over age 65 -- the same as the current percentage of seniors in Florida. There are roughly over 700,000 SEIU members that are projected to retire within the next 15 years. SEIU recognizes that when individuals retire they no longer have the work place to operate as the dominant community in their lives. Creating the opportunity for retirees to stay active with fellow union members, both socially and through political and union activism is important not only to the union but to our retired members. These activities provide an opportunity to tie their social life into increased engagement in the union and the political work the union does to benefit its members. While some local unions have formed and maintained retiree chapters and programs, existing retiree programs for the most part have not found the ideal balance between social activities and political and membership organizing opportunities. Other local unions have not yet established programs to encourage lifelong unionism and seek guidance from experienced locals. Be it further resolved that… This convention affirms SEIU’s commitment to lifelong unionism and charges the Retiree Advisory Council with establishing and implementing recommendations for building and strengthening our SEIU retiree chapters. Local Unions, State Council’s and SEIU International shall work together to implement these recommendations and commit to the following: Local Unions and State Councils shall commit resources for organizing and maintaining their retiree chapters or creating chapters where none exist; SEIU International will provide assistance to local unions committed to active participation in SEIU 4 International’s Retiree Advisory Council. Locals shall maintain an electronic database of members who are retired from active employment and work to obtain rights from employers and retirement systems to collect contact information of members who will soon retire. Local Union’s shall submit their retiree membership lists to the international on a monthly basis along with their standard membership lists – thereby committing to the development of a national retiree database. Local Unions acknowledge that frequently upon retirement their members relocate to other regions and states. Thus Local Unions commit to working with each other to facilitate and provide opportunities for relocated retired members to be active in the Locals in their new community. 5 Resolution # 102a Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Building Workers’ Strength with Comprehensive Immigration Reform SEIU members have many reasons to stand united for comprehensive immigration reform. All working people face lower pay and benefits when some hard-working, taxpaying workers are driven into an underground economy because they are denied legal status. The political strength of working people is seriously undermined when millions of workers are denied the right to vote because they have no real path to citizenship. Our primary mission – to unite all working people for a better future – cannot be achieved as long as many workers face exploitation and discrimination. Our communities are weakened when politicians eager to exploit divisions pass laws that result in workers being denied access to drivers’ licenses and insurance or qualified high school graduates being denied a college education. As a result of the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform last year, we have seen an alarming increase in local laws that target immigrant workers and their families, along with costly deportation raids that make headlines but do not realistically fix a broken system. Deportation threats without reform have pushed undocumented immigrants further into the underground economy, dividing the workforce and driving down wages and benefits for all working people. As working people’s leading voice for immigration reform, SEIU members must take a stand. SEIU Locals, working with community-based and national immigration rights groups, were fundamental in pushing for the comprehensive immigration reforms debated in the Senate last spring. Today, we continue our immigration advocacy work, tracking anti-immigrant federal, state and local legislation, and looking for opportunities to support positive, comprehensive and practical immigration reforms. When the Bush administration announced a federal attack on undocumented immigrant workers, including a new policy on “no match” Social Security cases, SEIU developed a tool kit and held legal trainings to educate employers and workers on their rights in the event of a worksite raid and/or “no match” letter. We have also continued our work to win contract protections to prevent racial discrimination and other unfair treatment of immigrant property service workers. Despite our efforts, however, we still face many challenges. Currently, Congress is looking to extend its guestworker program, which provides employers with a revolving door of cheap, temporary labor without living wages and benefits or a clear path to permanent residency and citizenship. Social Security “no match” and other federal employment verification provisions threaten massive worksite disruptions for all workers, government sponsored discrimination, and a collapse of the Social Security Administration’s infrastructure. We also continue to face more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in worksites and communities throughout the country. These attacks—some of which have already impacted SEIU members— involve discrimination, civil rights violations and cruel misuse of power by amateur ICE agents. As the federal crackdowns increase, so do state and local laws that target immigrant workers and fuel fear, hate, and division in communities across the country. Legislation in states such as Arizona, Oklahoma, and Virginia 6 that deputizes local law enforcement and empower them to persecute undocumented immigrants will cost billions in taxpayer dollars, but solve nothing. If this “misery strategy” is left unchecked, a year from now we will have a deeply marginalized low-wage workforce, a battered immigrant population, and a resurgence of the kind of racial hate and resentment this country should have left behind years ago. Therefore be it resolved that: SEIU will continue to work for practical immigration reforms that will provide a clear path to citizenship for hard-working, taxpaying immigrants, build the strength and unity of working people, keep families together; and guarantee civil rights and basic fairness for all workers, no matter where they come from. We will oppose initiatives including guest worker programs if they do not provide future immigrant workers with a safe, orderly, and legal process that includes full protection of U.S. laws and a pathway to citizenship. SEIU members will continue to help immigrant workers organize to unite their strength with us. Local unions, state councils, and the International Union will work together to develop our legal, political, and communications capacities to respond to attacks on immigrant workers and their families and legislation at the local, state, and national levels. We will work with our community and labor allies—through legal and advocacy channels—to pressure Congress and the Bush administration to condemn and put an end to the escalated worksite and community raids and employment verification programs that threaten the civil rights of all workers. We will also work together to discuss the immigration issue with our diverse membership and promote a common understanding of how our broken-immigration system divides workers and benefits unscrupulous employers and how we can build a united movement to overhaul our immigration system so that it benefits all working people. In all its work, SEIU will strengthen its alliances with coalition partners who share our social and economic justice goals and build a broad movement for immigration reform that is practical, fair, and lasting. 7 Resolution # 103b Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Iraq and the Economy There is no more shameful failure on the part of politicians than to send our young people to die bravely trying to carry out a counterproductive and unachievable mission. With that in mind, SEIU President Andy Stern sent a letter to President Bush in January, 2003, with the approval of the elected local union leaders who make up the SEIU International Executive Board. The letter questioned President Bush’s plans to invade Iraq because they were not consistent with four principles that should guide U.S. policy: War involves enormous risks to our families and our communities and must be a last option, not the first. The goal of our foreign policy must be to promote a safer and more just world – promoting peaceful, multilateral solutions for disputes. U.S. foreign policy must give high priority to improving the lives of people around the world. The rights and freedoms our government says it is fighting for abroad must be protected at home. More than five years later, the invasion of Iraq has proven to be the worst policy disaster of our time. Even by the Pentagon’s own official figures, 30,000 Americans have been wounded and more than 4,000 killed. Iraqi deaths and casualties are hard to document but number in the hundreds of thousands. This war that has lined the pockets of major corporate campaign contributors has drained the U.S. economy and local communities of resources urgently needed for health care, education, housing, and other needs. The annual cost of the war is estimated at twice what it would take to ensure access to affordable, quality healthcare for everyone in America. Meanwhile, the war has made us less safe, not more. It has turned public opinion around the world against the United States, squandering the opportunity to unite people of goodwill after the September 11th attacks. As far back as November 5, 2003, Senator McCain urged President Bush to send at least 15,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq, calling it “irresponsible” to suggest “it is up to Iraqis to win this war.” He said at that time that “it will require a commitment to do what is necessary militarily, to deploy as many American forces for as long as it takes.” (USA Today, 11/6/2003) On November 19, 2006, just days after the American people voted for major changes in Congress, in large part to signal to officials in Washington that it was time to bring the troops home, McCain renewed his call for President Bush to send an “overwhelming” number of troops. (Associated Press, 11/19/06) Two months later, President Bush implemented the escalation McCain had long called for. The Bush-McCain escalation has cost thousands more casualties and billions more dollars, but, predictably, has failed to achieve the objective of establishing peace and security in that country. Senator McCain said at a videotaped town hall meeting with voters in New Hampshire early this year that he could foresee U.S. troops continuing to occupy Iraq for “a hundred” years, a sign that working families could be suffering from the effects of this failed policy for many more years to come if a dramatic change in direction is not made. (YouTube, 1/3/08) Therefore be it resolved: SEIU should continue to support our troops by leading and supporting coalitions of union members, veterans, and others (such as USLAW) who share our goals of… 8 Bringing the troops home. Ensuring that they have the healthcare and other services they need. Shifting the billions now being spent on the war to strengthen our economy and meet the urgent needs of communities here at home. Establishing a new foreign policy that promotes justice and basic rights for working people at home and abroad and that sees global alliances and problem solving, not unilateral military action, as the preferred option. 9 Resolution # 104 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Jobs and the Environment Our planet is at an environmental crossroad. If we take immediate and decisive action, the worst impacts of global climate change can be avoided. If we heed the warnings and advice of a unified scientific community, we can take action that will benefit all generations to come. Working people already suffer disproportionate effects from bad environmental conditions—from high asthma rates among our children, to contaminated air, land and water in our neighborhoods, to the increasingly high prices that we pay to heat our homes and fuel our cars. We must reduce the emissions that poison our communities and contribute to climate change. Continued inaction will add to deepening economic crisis and to the degradation of the environment and food supplies, and will intensify conflict for resources around the world. As by far the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases, the United States has a special responsibility to lead the way on emission controls and new investment in green technologies that can be adopted worldwide. With prompt, effective action, we can create hundreds of thousands of quality green jobs, shift reliance to sustainable energy sources, and maintain and improve air and water quality. Public policy must ensure that polluters pay to emit carbon, thereby creating an incentive to pollute less. The money paid for emission permits must create a “climate dividend” that is spent to create quality green jobs, offset energy costs for low-income people, and invest in the development of green technologies. As healthcare, public service, and property service workers, SEIU members have an opportunity to make a direct contribution to promoting quality green jobs by working with management to make changes that address climate change and environmental health. Therefore be it resolved: SEIU members recognize that we cannot build a more just and humane society without prompt and effective action on the environment. We stand ready to do our part to address the global climate crisis, including supporting emission reduction targets based on sound science. SEIU and its local unions will involve members in developing and achieving new goals for contract negotiations and union-management partnerships that will improve jobs and address climate change. These goals will require public transportation benefits, adoption of more energy efficient equipment, reduced use and improved disposal of hazardous substances, schedule changes (such as day cleaning that will reduce energy use), and more. SEIU will strongly support and press for policies that promote major new investment in quality “green jobs,” putting hundreds of thousands to work producing more energy efficient buildings, appliances, vehicles, and other technology, and making far more use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. These jobs should be quality, union jobs that pay enough to support families. As health care providers, we will advocate for the elimination of toxins in our workplaces and the appropriate disposal of hazardous medical wastes. We will also advocate for cleaner energy production to reduce the incidence of asthma and other health problems in our communities. As property service workers, we will support increased development of and training for green building maintenance practices. We will also advocate for job development that will ensure that these practices are effective. 10 As childcare providers and homecare workers whose workplaces are homes, we will redouble our efforts to make our homes more energy efficient. SEIU will pilot programs to reduce the energy bills and the carbon footprint, or amount of greenhouse gases given off, for member homes that are also workplaces. We will work for training and transition programs and other protections for workers whose jobs are affected or eliminated by efforts to stem climate change. We will work closely with unions, environmental groups, community organizations, elected officials, and other allies around the world to address this crisis in a way that improves the quality of life for working people and provides protections for workers and their communities. 11 Resolution # 105b Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Justice for All: Reforming Our National Healthcare System This Moment Calls for Our Leadership Our nation’s healthcare crisis has touched every kitchen table, every worker, every boardroom, and every patient and continues to grow worse each day. 48 million people in the United States have no health insurance and hundreds of millions more are underinsured, making it difficult or impossible for them to access quality health care; 20-30% of every dollar spent on health care in the U.S. goes to insurance companies for profits and administrative fees rather than to health care providers and institutions that provide health care; Our current system forces many seniors and people with disabilities, who could thrive in their homes and communities, to move into institutions. Many states have significant levels of unmet need amongst their elderly and physically disabled because of a lack of well-funded, accessible home and community based care. Up to 30% of seniors have unmet needs. The time for healthcare reform is now: In this landmark 2008 presidential election cycle, healthcare reform is a leading issue in every debate, and among the most pressing concerns of voters throughout the country. If we are to recognize our shared dream of a national healthcare system that works for everyone, we must own this moment as a Union, and work to make national healthcare reform a reality within the first six months of the new administration in 2009. As a result of our work for more than the last decade, SEIU members are uniquely positioned to lead the fight for real and lasting healthcare reform. No one can speak with more authority or conviction about the current failures of our healthcare system, or the tremendous financial, emotional and social costs born by our patients, our families and our communities. We supported Congressman Conyer’s bill for universal healthcare early on. We were on the front lines when Congress first created the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan in 1997, and we took the lead on this issue again last fall in the fight to expand SCHIP to more children. We know that the national healthcare reform fight before us is a fight America cannot afford to lose and we will take on any enemy – especially drug and insurance companies that put profits before patients. Our voices continue to shape the presidential election: This election cycle, SEIU insisted that every presidential candidate interested in our support must offer a comprehensive healthcare plan to ensure that everyone has access to quality health care they can afford. All of them did. We asked that they “walk a day in our shoes” to learn what it was like to work inside a system so utterly broken and care for our patients. When SEIU members speak, candidates listen; we must continue to raise our voices to agitate for change and mobilize our members as well as voters throughout America. We’ve taken it to the streets and state houses alike: In the streets of Houston and other communities SEIU members fought and won healthcare coverage in their contracts. At the state house in Massachusetts, SEIU helped lead the fight for real reform for everyone. And in the snowstorms of Iowa and New Hampshire, our national healthcare initiative, Americans for Health Care, helped make healthcare issue number one. 12 SEIU has also worked to build effective and committed coalitions with strange bedfellows like Fortune 500 companies, the Business Roundtable, our employers and allies to identify common ground and create the urgency for real change. We have earned the right and responsibility to lead. As a result of our collective work, SEIU members bring a special understanding of the urgency and necessity of healthcare reform and recognize that: Nurses and healthcare workers, both union and non-union, must play a leading role in this national effort, using their practical and moral authority to represent the interests of their patients, and of their fellow caregivers. SEIU members will raise our collective voices to share with all of America the real challenges and heartbreak of working families when it comes to our national healthcare system. SEIU will bring its full resources to this fight in the form of national membership mobilization, political action, and local resources to amplify our voice on this issue and be prepared for the real healthcare reform work that begins on November 5, 2008 with a newly elected President and Congress. Therefore be it resolved: In 2008, SEIU will help elect a President and Congress with a mandate to pass healthcare reform and prepare to launch an unprecedented campaign on November 5th to win this historic reform in 2009. Our vision for healthcare reform is based upon these principles: 1. It is time for our nation to guarantee affordable healthcare coverage for all Americans and it is time for SEIU members to lead the way forward to realize this dream. Piecemeal, state-by-state reform is not a solution. 2. Nurses and healthcare workers have a unique and respected voice as frontline caregivers for our patients and residents. Our voices should be respected, and incorporated into a national vision for healthcare reform. 3. While we continue to defend employer-based plans that provide quality healthcare for our members, the current employer-based health care system is not a realistic foundation for 21st century health care reform, particularly given the competitive challenges of a global economy. 4. A universal healthcare system must ensure a choice of doctors and health care plans without gaps in coverage or access, and the delivery system must meet the needs of at-risk populations. 5. A universal health care system must include a core health care benefit similar to one that is available to federal employees. 6. Preventive care must be a part of any basic benefit plan to promote health, control costs, and eliminate economic and racial disparities. Our public health and hospitals systems are key elements in providing care within this new universal access network. 7. Any plan for health care reform must control costs by providing care that is cost efficient and medically effective. 8. Secure electronic medical records that consumers control are necessary to increase quality and reduce costs. 9. All consumers should have access to individual hospital and physician quality, performance, and outcomes. 10. We will actively support federal and state initiatives to re-balance our nation’s long-term care system to 13 reallocate resources toward home and community based services, particularly consumer-directed care and establish the structures of employment, workforce development programs, and stable and adequate financing necessary for workers to achieve decent wages, benefits and working conditions. Successful state rebalancing efforts will be good for union growth, good for consumers’ quality care, and good for the health of state Medicaid programs. 11. A universal healthcare system must integrate long term care services, reduce out-of-pocket costs, and maximize opportunities for individuals to receive assistance in home- and community-based settings, rather than in hospitals and nursing homes 12. SEIU shall continue to support HR 676 (single payer/Medicare for All) as one of many ideas that would bring change to the US health care system and will urge the support of similar legislation in the states. 13. Employers, individuals, and government alike must share responsibility for financing the system. Further be it resolved: To win national healthcare reform SEIU members pledge to: Act as a catalyst for national healthcare reform by unleashing the power of their collective voice on behalf of both union and non-union workers – within our communities, in the workplace, and in Washington, DC. Participate in a nationwide bus tour –The Road to American Health Care -- and National Days of Action to increase the drumbeat for reform. Help to build and grow Healthcare United, an organization of both union and non-union nurses and healthcare workers, and support the work of Americans for Health Care -- to speak out with healthcare consumers to help lead the fight. Build an active army of at least one million people with contact information so we can quickly mobilize action in support of affordable healthcare for all. Secure pledges and commitments from key members of Congress in support of our healthcare reform principles. Take on the Enemies of Health Care, including John McCain. Help to identify 1,000 healthcare reform leaders among our member political organizers, leaders and activists. Bring together the full force of our healthcare coalitions and strategic alliances with allies for the second phase of our campaign – the push to victory that begins on November 5, 2008. Finally be it resolved: Starting on November 5, 2008, SEIU members will make national healthcare reform and the Employee Free Choice Act the first priorities of our newly elected President and Congress by: Making 10 million phone calls to members of Congress to urge passage of Health Care Reform and the Employee Free Choice Act. 14 Raising $10 million for our 2009 post-election political accountability work. Committing 50% of growth budgets and 50% of non-growth staff during the first 100 days of the 111th Congress towards the passage of National Healthcare reform and the Employee Free Choice Act. 15 Resolution # 106a Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Quality Public Education for All A high quality, universal public education system is crucial to ensuring equal opportunity for our children. But our nation’s children do not have equal access to a quality public education. The opportunities provided by public schools have been selective and have excluded too many of our children. Millions of children of working families, particularly in lower income communities, do not have access to schools in which all students can thrive. Tens of thousands of SEIU members are the parents of children in large, struggling, urban school systems. On a daily basis, children confront violence on their way to and in school, children fail courses and subjects we know they could master, and children drop out from schools that should have been their pathway to success. Our members also send their children to suburban and rural school districts that are struggling with changing demographics, declining enrollment, and the accompanying funding cuts that limit our children’s educational options. More than 150,000 SEIU members work in our nation’s schools. We are teacher’s aides and librarians, clerical and security staff, custodians, bus drivers and food service workers. Every day, in those roles, we help shape our children’s learning environments. We know our children’s potential not just as parents and grandparents, but as employees of public schools. One growing trend to address the needs of primarily inner-city children is through new public charter schools that operate independently of many school district regulations. While some of these charter schools improve educational quality for the children of working families, too often they do so while creating substandard jobs in a non-union environment for the people who work in the schools. The education reform our children require should not be built on a foundation of bad jobs. Nor should any public institution ever deny workers the right to a collective voice—a voice that can be used not just for quality jobs, but for quality schools. Independent, quality schools can operate with modern-day union contracts that emphasize education first and allow for innovative labor-management cooperation SEIU members believe that each generation should create new opportunities for the children who follow behind us. Nothing should stand in the way of our children doing better and achieving more than we have. Educational inequality, however, can and does stand in the way of achieving that most fundamental American dream. Therefore be it resolved: This convention affirms SEIU’s commitment to a quality public education for all of our children. Our support for education reform will be guided by fundamental principles that include high expectations for all students; smaller schools that meet the needs of the community; smaller class sizes; the resources and training needed to produce an effective learning environment; and the allocation of resources where there is greatest need. SEIU will support and promote efforts by members as parents and as school workers to ensure all children have access to a quality public education including higher education. SEIU will seek ways in which our members who work in schools can more actively contribute to the educational environment, and unite our members to create and share best practices for providing the highest quality public service. 16 SEIU supports the funding of public education at a level that will effectively ensure equality of educational opportunity for all of our nations’ children. We will stand for reform that provides all staff with what they need to contribute to quality education, including respect as professionals, training, a paycheck that supports a family, affordable health care, retirement with dignity, and union representation. To achieve access to quality public education for all, we will work with everyone who shares our goals and principles, including elected public officials, teacher unions, charter schools, superintendents, parents, community organizations, religious leaders and foundations. 17 Resolution # 107 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Rebuilding the Middle Class Millions of people are struggling to make ends meet in today’s economy. Despite working harder with longer hours and second jobs, the American Dream is not becoming a reality for many working people. In fact, while big corporations and the rich enjoy the greatest wealth in the history of the world, the middle class is shrinking. America’s middle class -- once the embodiment of the American Dream and the backbone of our economy - was built by working people who came together with their coworkers and transformed low-wage industrial jobs into good jobs that could support a family. Restoring the middle class depends on the ability of working people in today’s economy to unite with their coworkers to gain improvements in pay, health care, retirement security, and the resources and training they need to provide quality services to the communities they serve. National polls show that about 50 percent of workers in the U.S. would choose to have a union where they work if they had the opportunity. Yet, employer intimidation and interference stands in their way. Studies show that 91% of employers facing union organizing by their employees require them to attend antiunion meetings; 80% train supervisors who control workers’ schedules, workloads, and chances of promotion to intimidate the very people they supervise; 50% threaten to shut down entirely if employees unionize; and 31% fire some union supporters in order to frighten others into dropping their desire to have a union. The Employee Free Choice Act will protect the freedom of all working people to choose to have a union and achieve the American Dream. It provides for... • The right of workers to form a union simply by getting a majority to sign that they want one, instead of being forced to go through months or years of intimidation during the current process overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. • Stiffer penalties for employers who don’t respect workers’ rights. • Mediation and arbitration if an employer refuses to negotiate a first contract with employees who have chosen to form a union. Therefore be it resolved: SEIU will make the passing of the Employee Free Choice Act a top priority, using our collective strength and resources to pass the legislation in 2009. To ensure workers have greater opportunity to improve their lives: • SEIU will help elect a U.S. president who is committed to leading the movement for worker’s freedom to form unions and who will make it a priority to get the Employee Free Choice Act passed by Congress. • SEIU will commit to expanding the existing majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in support of the Employee Free Choice Act by: o Asking candidates for Congress, regardless of party, to sign a pledge to vote for Employee Free Choice and holding them accountable to their pledge. o Championing and protecting incumbents and challengers in the 2008 elections who have demonstrated their commitment to workers’ freedom to choose a union. o Working with other unions to demonstrate the support of more than a million workers in support of the Employee Free Choice Act o Gathering 400,000 signatures of SEIU workers across America who support Employee Free Choice by Labor Day 2008. o Working with allied organizations to secure their support for the Employee Free Choice Act. SEIU locals will meet with local allies 18 to educate them about the legislation and to ask them to sign a pledge in support of Employee Free Choice. Once a worker friendly majority and U.S. President have been elected, SEIU and its locals will: • Make 10 million phone calls to members of Congress to urge passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and healthcare reform. • Raise $10 million to hold elected representatives accountable for the promises they made during their campaigns. • Commit 50% of the growth budgets and 50% of non-growth staff during the first 100 days of the 111th Congress toward the passage of Employee Free Choice and healthcare reform. 19 Resolution # 108b Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Secure Retirement for Workers in the 21st Century One of the landmark accomplishments of the union movement during the last century was making access to a secure retirement possible for ordinary working men and women. The union movement fought to establish a “three-legged” stool of retirement income: Social Security, unionnegotiated pension benefits, and savings set aside by individual workers. In our new century, this system is seriously endangered. More than half of American workers have no retirement income or savings to look forward to other than Social Security. Employers have aggressively pushed to eliminate secure, defined benefit pensions that guarantee long-term employees with one employer a life-time income they can count on once they stop working. Younger workers who expect to change jobs several times over their careers are looking for greater portability of their benefits. Yet, too many of them are forced to rely solely on their own savings or on flawed 401(k) style defined contribution plans. These plans provide no real security. Employer contributions are too low. Workers’ assets can be reduced by excessive fees or inadequate investment planning. A slowdown or reversal in investment markets can wipe out a worker’s retirement savings altogether. While President Bush failed in his attempt to privatize Social Security in 2005, further attacks on national income insurance for disabled and retired Americans are likely. As the union movement has been weakened, corporate special interests have attempted to convince most Americans that it is acceptable to leave workers to fend for themselves after a lifetime of work and service. SEIU members reject this view. We believe that it is time for working people to protect secure retirement benefits and also build a new model for those without retirement security. Together we can renew respect for retired workers and restore the hope that every working person can expect a decent, secure life after he or she has completed their career. Therefore be it resolved: SEIU members are committed to protecting and maintaining secure defined benefit pensions that previous and current generations of SEIU members have won and that help recruit and retain workers who are willing to dedicate their working lives to providing quality services. SEIU and its locals will work through politics, bargaining and organizing to extend the protection of defined benefit pensions to greater numbers of workers. SEIU and its locals will work to defend defined benefit pensions against attacks from employers. A defined benefit pension should be the essential element of a secure retirement for all workers. As a fallback for workers for whom a defined benefit pension is not an immediate possibility, SEIU will also work to create new tools that expand access to retirement for more workers and allow them to prepare for a secure retirement in this century. This system should be designed to include: Guaranteed and predictable employer contributions. Employers should be required to contribute to their employees’ retirement coverage and the contribution rate must be predictable and stable. Portable accounts. An individual worker’s retirement account should be portable across all employers during 20 his/her work life. Individuals should vest on the first day of work and be able to know the value of their retirement account on a regular basis. Pooled investment risk. Any new system should pool and professionally manage the assets in order to control investment risk across a large number participants and employers. Cost effectiveness. Administrative costs and investment management expenses should be minimized. Accountable governance. Those who make investment and management decisions should be held accountable to the participants in the system. Participants, or their representatives, should have the right to appoint or elect the fiduciaries who make administrative and investment decisions. 21 Resolution # 109 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Valuing All Families Members of SEIU work hard every day to provide for their families and build for them a better future. Our members’ love of and commitment to their families reflect true family values. Members of SEIU live in a broad array of family structures. Many of us care for and live with family members – including aging parents, grandchildren, adult siblings, and more – who are not recognized by our employers or our government as “family” because they are not related to us by marriage, blood or adoption. Laws and policies that narrowly define “family” as limited to two legally-married adults of the opposite sex raising their biological children are often used against immigrants, people of color and the working poor who are more likely to live in family structures that differ from this model. Narrow definitions of family exclude many relationships that our members call family, including relationships with individuals for whom we have primary care-taking responsibility and relationships with individuals with whom we share economic and emotional interdependence. Government and employer-provided benefits should support individuals with day-to-day responsibilities to care for and financially support minor children and dependent adults in all family forms, and should protect interdependent adult relationships. Therefore be it resolved: This convention affirms SEIU’s commitment to valuing all families, and to protecting the widest possible range of family structures. SEIU will make it a collective bargaining and legislative goal to ensure that all of our members’ families are respected, protected, and enjoy equal rights and benefits. SEIU will support and advocate for legislative efforts, at all levels of government, that allow workers to define for themselves who will be considered their family. SEIU will oppose efforts to penalize working people who live in family structures different from the nuclear family model, such as “overcrowding” regulations that seek to restrict who is permitted to live together in one household and have been used to target immigrant communities and communities of color. 22 Resolution # 110 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Workers’ Rights in Burma The illegitimate regime in Burma has for decades employed forced labor and child soldiers, while killing, torturing, imprisoning, and exiling the government elected by the people of that country. Working people around the world have repeatedly condemned these actions and have taken unprecedented measures against this illegitimate regime through the International Labor Organization. The Federation of Trade Unions – Burma (FTUB) and its elected General Secretary, Maung Maung, have played a key leadership role on behalf of the working people of Burma. Maung Maung was a leader and founder of one of the workers’ organizations that supported and participated in the 1988 democracy demonstrations in Burma. After the military junta that controls Burma violently suppressed those demonstrations, Maung Maung was forced to flee the country and established a base of operations outside Burma. Since then, at great personal risk, he has devoted his life to opposing the Burma military regime and supporting workers’ rights in his country. In 1991, Maung Maung co-founded FTUB. FTUB is an independent trade union organization that represents workers throughout Burma. The FTUB consists of various affiliated unions, including, among others, the All Burma Mining Union, the Seafarers Union of Burma (also affiliated with the ITF), the Textile Workers Union, and the Health, Education and Social Workers Union. The FTUB strongly supports the restoration of democracy in Burma and Aung Song Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, whose party won the 1990 elections in Burma and which has been denied the right to form a parliamentary government by the ruling military junta. Dozens of FTUB organizers have been arrested, tortured, or sentenced to lengthy prisons terms, and some have been killed, simply because they have been identified as members of the FTUB which the regime has deemed to be an illegal organization. In many cases, the family members of arrested organizers -- including children -have also been arrested and tortured as a means of coercing the organizers to identify other organizers, activists and members. Therefore be it resolved: SEIU stands with Maung Maung and the members and organizers of the FTUB who are putting their lives at risk to protect and advance the rights of workers in Burma. SEIU and all of its local unions shall urge our elected members of Congress and candidates for federal office, including President of the United States, to ensure that the U.S. government takes the following action: Continue to increase and enforce sanctions and diplomatic pressure against this illegitimate regime and its supporters and support reinstatement of Burma’s rightful, elected government. Support Burmese workers by supporting a request by the ILO to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of this illegitimate regime’s violations of the Convention Against Forced Labor. Support the democratic representatives of the people of Burma as they seek to restore democracy and end the humanitarian crisis caused by the brutal Burmese military dictatorship. 23 Resolution # 115a Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean Today, progressive, democratically elected movements continue to grow in strength across Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela are increasingly committed to fighting against poverty and illiteracy and for a more just society. Through the following resolution, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East (UHE) calls on our brothers and sisters throughout SEIU to express our support for and solidarity with progressive labor unions, popular mass movements and democratically elected governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. Whereas Latin America’s labor unions and popular mass movements are increasingly growing in strength and power and democratically electing progressive leaders; and are fighting poverty and investing in education, literacy and healthcare, unapologetically reaching for equality; and are leading the fight against privatization, vowing to close the open veins of Latin America”; and are creating regional alternatives that serve as models for pro-worker policy, such as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) and PetroCaribe as alternatives to US Free Trade Agreements, Banco del Sur (Bank of the South) as an alternative to US financial institutions; and Whereas Trade unionists often risk their lives and face repression and violation of their rights. For example in Colombia over 2, 800 trade unionists have been assassinated since 1991. Whereas the United States has a long history of intervention and support for dictatorships and oppressive regimes in Latin America and the Caribbean; and at times even the US labor movement has not been supportive of the struggles of our sisters and brothers in the region; Resolved: SEIU supports progressive, popular, democratically elected movements and governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. SEIU commits to building long-term relationships and networks to support progressive trade unions throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and to build our strength globally, linking the struggles of workers in the region with our own here in the United States, and Canada. SEIU commits to support efforts and campaigns across the hemisphere that seek to protect the rights and lives of trade unionists including opposition to trade agreements with governments that fail to provide such protections. 24 Resolution # 116A Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Unity Among Union Organizations Experience has proven that working people are strongest when we unite all those who do the same kind of work and when all union organizations coordinate efforts. At a time when only a small fraction of workers have a union, labor organizations should concentrate resources on organizing in their core jurisdictions, not on “reorganizing the organized” by raiding each other. The delegates to the 2004 SEIU Convention decided that our union should work to either change the AFL-CIO or build something stronger. The result was the formation of Change to Win which focuses the strength of seven key unions representing six million workers on uniting 50 million jobs in the growing service economy. Change to Win has helped speed the pace of change in its affiliated unions and was recently cited by publications such as the New York Times as having played the key role in the union movement achieving modest membership growth for the first time in many years. Since helping to form Change to Win, SEIU has also worked hard to coordinate efforts with other interested unions, including affiliates of the AFL-CIO and the National Education Association, at the national, state, and local levels. We have made agreements wherever possible to coordinate organizing, and we have joined with other unions to support passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and other priority legislation. Therefore be it resolved: SEIU should continue to work through Change to Win to support strategies to unite 50 million workers in the growing service economy. We should also continue to coordinate and seek alliances with other unions on organizing, politics, and on passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and other priority legislation. Given recent events in the healthcare industry, SEIU should work with other unions that are committed to the principle of no raiding to discuss a coordinated strategy for organizing and uniting healthcare workers on key issues of health care reform, quality of patient care and worker voice, including convening a summit meeting of these unions if such strategy would be productive for achieving these goals. 25 Resolution # 117 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Resolution to Prevent Offshoring of Civil Service Jobs Whereas, state and municipal governments have been reducing the size of their workforce; and Whereas, governmental entities contract out for services performed by civil servants; and Whereas governments directly or indirectly through private contractors are offshoring services performed by civil servants; and Whereas, in the United States civil servants are required to prove their competence through rigorous testing procedures monitored by civil service law; and Whereas, these services are going to workers in countries that do not have the protection of laws on human rights and protection against child labor, and will not allow unions; Whereas the United States lost 800,000 service sector jobs in 2006; and Whereas, the United States is expected to lose another 3.3 million white collar jobs by 2015 if nothing is done to stop offshoring; and Whereas, offshoring is a major threat to well paid middle-class jobs which are a necessary part of the United States economy; Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Service Employees International Union encourage and assist each public sector local of SEIU to draft legislation that will prevent offshoring of civil service jobs. 26 Resolution # 118 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention The Role of Nurses in Policy Making Preamble Every day in this country the governance of nursing practice is in the hands of someone other than a nurse. It is the State Legislators, Governors, Congress and the President that govern the practice of nursing. There is a lack of understanding among legislators regarding the role nurses can perform on government advisory committees. That lack of understanding hampers our ability to participate and does not validate our skill sets, education, our life’s practice and experience Our practice is also in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Departments of Health and State Departments of Education. They decide the scope of practice of nursing and then state boards of nursing define and apply that law to our practice. Nurses in many cases are not consulted prior to creation of these laws. Nurses are forced to live out the imperfect laws that someone other than a nurse created. There is not a forum for listening to nurses in this country. Policies are made regarding care of patients, care delivery systems, standards of practice, and emergency support functions for nurses where nurses are not involved. The healthcare industry has been heading down a road where the bottom line means more than quality patient care. We believe that it is time for nurses to be an integral part of the decisions that affect our practice and our patients. Policy makers need to consult nurses for every discipline of nursing in this country from nursing home care and acute care, department of corrections and mental health nursing, public health nursing and disaster nursing. Patients in this country deserve to have the expertise of the nurses caring for them be a part of the process that develop the laws. It is time for Nurses to take our rightful place in government, to be among the policy makers creating the laws that guide our practice. It is time to secure our autonomy as a profession and the only way to accomplish this goal is through the action of nurses in the political process and with the support SEIU Healthcare. Whereas the nurses of SEIU Healthcare witnessed the lack of government preparedness related to the rescue and treatment of the victims of Hurricane Katrina in their most desperate hours, including those in hospitals and nursing homes; Whereas the nurses of the workplace quality, health and safety and public sector committees of the Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare have witnessed the failure of the government to implement a competent national plan to care for influenza that is practical, safe, and a requirement as a standard of care for every health care institution; Whereas department of corrections nurses and mental health nurses have witnessed the lack of response of government and attention to the issues of workplace violence in caring for the incarcerated and for people with mental illness; 27 Whereas the government has continued to close mental health facilities across this country, without regard for the safety of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, and that of the public, and in too many cases without effective treatment plans in place to care for this population of patients; Whereas the government has concentrated its efforts and financial resources on bringing new nurses into the healthcare workforce without addressing the mass exodus of nurses due to the every day challenges nurses face in their work environment caring for patients with little or no respect, no autonomy, dwindling resources and no hope of positive change for most nurses in this country; Whereas the definition of quality is based on the whim of legislators, lobbyists, drug companies, insurance companies and investors, while bedside nurses and nurse researchers and an ever growing body of scholarship on the subject of quality through evidenced based practice are kept mute or dismissed; Whereas it is long overdue to have a national ban on mandatory overtime and national standards of safe nurse to patient ratios, and the absence of these protections has affected the lives of too many patients and the practice of too many nurses; Whereas nurses as a body of qualified educated professionals are not consulted in any way that validates our skill of critical thinking and our vast knowledge base, and our ability to work with the public (and guide them); Whereas the Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare is the largest union of nurses in this country; Therefore be it resolved: SEIU recognizes the important and integral role of the National Nurse Alliance and its function and structure within SEIU Healthcare. The nurses of SEIU Healthcare will support the creation of nurse policy committees at the state and Federal levels to be made up of nurses elected from every sector of nursing so that the legislators and policy makers have a recognized group to consult before any action on bills or policies or laws that affect nurses are developed. The nurses of SEIU Healthcare will insist upon increasing the funding of nursing research on practice issues that affect patients and nurses. The nurses of SEIU Healthcare will work vigilantly and pool our financial resources to support legislators who commit to ban MOT and pass legislation to set safe nurse to patient ratios and will work just as diligently to eradicate from office those elected officials who are not willing to protect our patients. The nurses of SEIU Healthcare will work to evaluate and review all the areas of government which lack the voice and presence of nurses and will call upon legislators and political candidates to correct this problem. The nurses of SEIU Healthcare shall educate and collaborate with our endorsed presidential candidate regarding the key role of nurses in policymaking. 28 Resolution # 119a Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Resolution in Support of Good Union Jobs for Persons with Disabilities Whereas Service Employees International Union recognizes that the ability of individuals to contribute to their communities through productive work for which they are paid a living wage is a basic human right and this basic human right should never be denied based on gender, race, religious belief, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability; and Whereas as part of its organizing goal SEIU has been working with members of the disability community to bring members of this community into our union; and Whereas according to 2000 U.S. census data only 55.8% of adults with disabilities in the U.S. are currently afforded the dignity of employment; and Whereas, persons with disabilities who are employed are often placed in segregated work settings, paid less than the minimum wage, and denied access to promotion; and Whereas persons with disabilities often place their public health benefits at risk when accepting employment (1); and Whereas the loss of health benefits when losing employment can lead to increased hardship and more severe disabling conditions due to lack of access to medical services; and Whereas access to employment for persons with disabilities is often limited by misguided assumptions and lowered expectations of the value and productivity that persons with disabilities bring to the workplace, in spite of repeated, recent studies showing that workers with disabilities are just as productive and valued by their employers as their non-disabled co-workers.(2) ; and Whereas numerous artificial barriers to employment of persons with disabilities persist as the result of public policy and labor management agreements that end up excluding disabled workers from the marketplace. These barriers include public and private health care benefits policy at the state and federal level, civil service testing and hiring procedures, job classification requirements, federal Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income benefits policy and work incentive rules that don’t work (3) and few understand; and Whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are laws that were enacted to give equal access to the workplace to people with disabilities but employers often fail to meet existing requirements under the ADA and FMLA, and many union rank and file members and stewards are unaware of how to inform and protect members’ rights under the ADA and FMLA; therefore be it resolved SEIU will take an ongoing leadership role to contribute to policy change that removes artificial barriers to the employment of persons with disabilities and emphasizes the abilities and innovations of people with disabilities who engage in any paid work. SEIU will work in partnership with other groups to develop initiatives and policies that support employment of persons with disabilities in good union jobs with access to benefits. SEIU will support health care policies such that no individuals lose insurance when they lose a job, change jobs, or lose existing insurance when they get a job. 29 SEIU staff and members will be given the information they need to work with employers with respect to health benefits, COBRA health continuation protections, HIPPA, and pre-existing condition exclusionary policies and protections. SEIU will develop and provide training and training materials for staff, stewards, and members on: Federal laws on inclusive employment and relevant state initiatives Americans with Disabilities Act and reasonable accommodations Family Medical Leave Act Information on protecting and retaining access to benefits for persons with disabilities who are employed and/or self-employed SEIU, through its publications, websites, and other communications with staff, members, employers, and policy partners, will address cultural barriers and misinformation that limit the acceptance of persons with disabilities in the workforce. These will include highlighting: • The positive contributions made by disabled workers who are SEIU members • Innovative initiatives and best practices that support the employment of persons with disabilities in good union jobs with access to benefits. SEIU will work with employers to create more flexible job descriptions and work rules that facilitate the employment of persons with disabilities. SEIU will create and share contract language that facilitates the employment of persons with disabilities SEIU locals will reject contract language that would create unnecessary barriers and de facto systemic exclusions that limit the employment of persons with disabilities. SEIU will support the establishment and operation of worker with disabilities caucuses or committees at the levels of chapters, locals, the International and Change To Win. (1) For example, a 2001 Urban Institute study found that 20.1% of non-working adults with disabilities cited “fear of losing health insurance or Medicaid” as a reason for not looking for work. (2) De Paul University, Exploring the Bottom Line: A Study of the Costs and Benefits of Workers with Disabilities, 2008 (3) For example, the Social Security Administration reports that in 2003 and 2004 just 0.5% of SSDI beneficiaries had a change in cash benefit because of employment. 30 Resolution # 120 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Fighting Hunger and Promoting Health and Wellness for America’s Children SEIU members strongly support the federal government’s commitment to provide America’s school children with nutritious and healthy school meals through the Child Nutrition and School Lunch Programs. More than 30 million students participate in the National School Lunch Program, and over half of those young people receive free or reduced price meals. In addition, close to 10 million students participate in the School Breakfast Program on an average day, with slightly over 8 million coming from low-income families. Quality school meals are critical to student academic achievement; improved attendance and attentiveness; reduction of childhood hunger and obesity; and the overall health and wellness of children nationwide. Today, the availability of healthy and nutritious school breakfasts and lunches for the nation’s children is more important than ever. Millions of American families are struggling just to make ends meet. Due to the high cost of energy, housing, health care and food, many working families find themselves barely able to put food on the table. Meals served in schools often end up being the primary source of daily food and nutrition for millions of America’s children. SEIU service workers in schools across the country work proudly day in and day out to prepare and serve nutritious breakfasts and lunches for the nation’s school children, and keep their schools clean and safe. Support for effective and adequately funded federal nutrition programs is essential to SEIU members, our families, and to millions of the nation’s children. We must strengthen the effectiveness of the programs, work to increase student participation, support nutritional and workplace standards, and ensure accountability and transparency in operations. Therefore be it resolved: SEIU will work with other unions, community, school and nutrition/health organizations to promote initiatives for health and wellness of our children. We will build support at the local, state and national level to insure that all those eligible for free and reduced meals have access to them and to promote the establishment of standards and funding for training for school food service workers on nutrition, health, and wellness. SEIU will call for an increase in the federal reimbursement rates for school meals to keep pace with the cost of preparing and serving healthy and nutritious meals for America’s children. 31 Resolution #121 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Justice for All Puerto Rico’s Workers: Leading the Way to a Brighter Future SEIU is an international labor union composed of three nations – Canada, Puerto Rico and the United States. On every continent, in every country, the story is the same: globalization is working for multinational corporations, while incomes for workers are shrinking and social safety nets are growing thin. Workers voices are being diminished at a time when they must grow stronger to make sure that work, and not just wealth, is rewarded. But there’s hope for a brighter future on the horizon: Over 40,000 workers throughout Puerto Rico in the healthcare, security, and public sectors have joined with SEIU. Throughout Puerto Rico, we are forging a new path toward better jobs, higher standards, improved access to community services, and quality, affordable healthcare for all. Today, Puerto Rico’s workers are poised to unite with SEIU throughout new areas of work, including education, home care, and healthcare. At this moment, there are: 45,000 teachers throughout Puerto Rico who want to be able to join a union that is responsive to their needs and that shares their vision for an educational system built on fairness and excellence. 8,000 home care workers who are currently paid just minimum wage who want to be able to join their voices for better care for their consumers and better jobs. Thousands of nurses and healthcare workers who do not have a voice at work because they are not part of a union. Tens of thousands of municipal workers and court employees who want to win the right to bargain with their employers. By joining together with over 100,000 not- yet-union workers we can create a stronger voice to improve the quality of work for both union and non-union workers, and improve the quality of life for everyone within their communities. And by standing up for all working people, we can seize this moment to create a future where: Every community has access to dependable, quality public services. Everyone, including corporations and the wealthy, contributes their fair share toward providing quality services in our communities. Every child has access to the highest quality education. Every education worker has a voice in shaping the future of Puerto Rico’s educational system. 32 Every healthcare worker is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve and their work is rewarded. Every man, woman, and child has access to affordable, quality health care. Therefore, Be it Resolved: At this critical moment, when workers have real hopes of uniting with SEIU and creating a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities, we will dedicate ourselves and the resources necessary toward achieving this dream. We will help to create a strong, unified voice for both union and non- union workers throughout Puerto Rico. We will raise our voices to advocate that teachers throughout Puerto Rico have the right to a timely election so that that they can have a voice at work. We will create better communications systems and use new technologies to build stronger connections among union and not-yet-union workers that will help us all mobilize and advocate for change. We will work to build a two-year campaign (2008–2009) to pass universal healthcare reform and the Employee Free Choice Act into law in 2009. We will be leaders for improving access to high quality public services in Puerto Rico, so that everyone, not just the wealthy, has access to essential services to build safe, healthy communities. In addition, we are committed to expand our work to reach more non-union workers in our core jurisdictions in growing sectors of the economy. SEIU will continue to invest resources normally contributed to SEIU by our members in Puerto Rico to uniting with more workers in Puerto Rico and launching global strategies especially in Latin America. 33 Resolution # 122 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Resolution on the Campaign for the New American Dream WHEREAS SEIU’s Mission Statement provides that SEIU, a union of over 1.9 million members, is “united by the belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide and dedicated to improving the lives of workers and their families and creating a more just and humane society;” WHEREAS over the past seven years, SEIU members along with other workers and their families across the United States have suffered enormous set-backs and now risk further erosion in their living standards due to legislation enacted or proposed by the current US Congress and actions directed by the Executive Branch of our federal government; WHEREAS this attack on working families and the welfare of our local union membership has resulted in the loss of good jobs, growing numbers of people who lack any health care coverage at all, loss of immigrant workers’ rights, tax cuts for the wealthy instead of reliable public services, and an assault on key workplace safeguards such as overtime pay and workers’ right to organize; WHEREAS Article II of the SEIU Constitution specifies that the object and purpose of the Union is to improve the conditions of our members through all lawful means, including but not limited to: engaging in civic, political and educational activities on the local and national level, and cooperating with and assisting, by moral, monetary, or other means, other groups or organizations “having objectives which are in any way related or similar to those of the Union, or which are of a nature beneficial to this International Union or to its members, directly or indirectly;” WHEREAS it is clear that to improve the lives of workers and their families and to create a more just and humane society, we must change the fundamental policy direction of the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal government as well as those of key state governments; WHEREAS the mandate to Local Unions under Article XV, Section 18 of the SEIU Constitution is to contribute to an overall SEIU political education and action program that includes, but is not limited to, widespread voter registration, broad encouragement of civil participation and issue advocacy on key matters of vital concern to working families; WHEREAS in February 2008, the International Executive Board endorsed Barrack Obama to become the next President of the United States, and since that time SEIU members and leaders from around the country have worked tirelessly in primaries and caucuses from Oregon to Pennsylvania, from Texas to Wisconsin, in Puerto Rico, Indiana, Ohio and other states. We have also built upon our successes in the 2006 Congressional General Elections in 2008 to preserve a democratic seat in Massachusetts, elect a progressive democratic in Maryland and make unprecedented gains in difficult congressional districts against anti-worker candidates. WHEREAS the upcoming 2008 election cycle provides a crucial opportunity to advance these overall goals by: Voter registration of as many union members and working families as possible, so their voices are heard in the political process; Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) efforts among members and working families so their right to vote can be fully realized; 34 Educational programs on the issues, to assist our members and working families in making informed decisions in the political process, whether on legislative initiatives or political candidates; Political action to elect federal and state candidates who support key issues of importance to our members and working families; Recruitment and deployment of member political organizers; and Monetary and in-kind support for outside organizations that share one or more compatible goals in this critical undertaking; WHEREAS the members of the IEB agreed to pledge to SEIU and to one another, that their locals will commit to raise an amount equal to $20 per member for the 2008 American Dream Fund; and WHEREAS our Union plans to expend approximately $80 million on this critical effort – approximately 50% of which will be from voluntary contributions from our members. NOW THEREFORE be it resolved by the Delegates to the 2008 SEIU International Convention, that the Campaign for the New American Dream is hereby approved and that the International Executive Board is authorized to make the planned expenditures contained herein and any additional expenditures necessary to carry out a successful Campaign for the New American Dream for working families. 35 Resolution # 123 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention UNITY RESOLUTION This week we have discussed and debated the plans that will determine our work together as a union for the next four years. After months of discussion inside and outside our union leading up to the convention, nearly fifty hours of passionate debate and open discussion at the Convention, and vote after vote by the delegates, one thing has become abundantly clear: We are unified. Decision after decision at this Convention and in our Division Leadership Assemblies has been made with overwhelming, if not near-unanimous, support from delegates. These democratic decisions made together empower SEIU members and local unions everywhere to work to improve the lives of our members, change the lives of millions of workers, and win quality healthcare for all – goals we all share. Now it is time for us to get to work. To successfully win Justice For All, we commit to coordinate our efforts and hold each other accountable to the decisions we have made. Reflecting the voice of the clear majority, we commit to act together, coordinate our work in organizing and bargaining, pool our resources, participate in democratic decision-making, and speak with one voice to politicians and our employers. THEREFORE, all delegates commit to: Honor, respect, and implement the decisions made by this Convention Hold each other accountable for these decisions Have respect for all the voices that have made us stronger and pledge to engage in constructive debate going forward We have never been stronger than we are today. The time has come to make history together and seize our oncein-a-lifetime opportunity to win Justice for All. 36 Resolution # 201 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Building Our Political Strength to Change Workers’ Lives After decades in which corporate special interests have dominated the political process, we have an historic opportunity to turn the tide and achieve goals we have dreamed about all our lives. Millions of U.S. voters are fed up with policies that benefit only a few at the top and not hard-working, taxpaying families and retirees. With a new U.S. president and new Congress, we will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win affordable, quality healthcare; rebuild the American Dream and the middle class by passing the Employee Free Choice Act to restore the freedom to form a union; enact comprehensive immigration reform; and ensure quality public services with fair, reliable funding. Seizing this opportunity requires building a permanent pro-worker political majority in the United States. As the leading advocacy organization for working people in North America, SEIU has both the opportunity and the responsibility to play a leadership role in building that majority coalition based on issues important to working people rather than the interests of particular political parties or candidates. Building the political strength that working people need at the local, state, and federal level to change our lives, our communities, and our countries will take unity, resources, and increased participation by SEIU members, retirees, and families. It also requires putting even more emphasis on holding public officials accountable after they are elected and not just hoping that they will stand for working people. Therefore be it resolved: This Convention directs SEIU Local Unions, State Councils, and the International Union to carry out the following program: Federal Priorities • Build a two-year campaign (2008-2009) to pass universal health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act into law in 2009. • Continue our work to pass comprehensive immigration reform, comprehensive pension reform, fair and reliable funding to support quality services in our communities, and a commitment to a specific Iraq War exit strategy in 2008 or 2009 that brings our troops home and allows redirecting war spending to vital needs at home. Electing Pro-Worker Public Officials • Elect a pro-worker U.S. President and get to 60 or more votes in the U.S. Senate as a result of SEIU’s election campaign work in 2008. • Elect 2-3 new pro-worker Governors in 2008-2009 and 3-5 additional (over and above the current number of) pro-worker Governors in 2010. • Develop and implement a strategic union-wide plan for redistricting with a focus on key state legislatures, governors, and other relevant elected office holders to ensure that working people and all communities are fairly represented. • Coordinate a monthly strategy call of Local Union Political Directors and State Council Directors involved in state ballot initiative work and develop a plan for proactive and counter initiatives. 37 Local Union Resources All Local Unions (LUs) will continue to dedicate at least 10% of their LU resources to political work in 2008-2010, at least 11% in 2011, and at least 12% in 2012. SEIU Divisions may choose to set these standards higher. State Councils Speaking with one voice is essential to winning for workers. State Councils should function as coordinating and convening bodies that allow Local Unions to communicate and collaborate with each other. They should assist in capacity building and facilitate common interests to move the state and Locals forward and help build a progressive infrastructure. Local Unions are responsible for political activity and capacity building, but the State Council provides the vehicle that strives to ensure that everyone around the decision making table is on the same page. The State Council shall establish and coordinate a candidate endorsement process for all of the Locals within the state. COPE Locals and Divisions will work collaboratively to ensure that: • By December of 2009, 20% of every Local Unions’ members should be giving at an average of at least $7 per month to COPE. • Once a Local has achieved this 20% goal, the Local should increase the number of members giving at an average of $7 or more per month by at least 10% each year until a majority of members are giving at this level. • In order to ensure Locals achieve this goal, Locals are strongly encouraged to set the COPE giving levels at $5, $10, and $15 per month with a minimum level of at least $5 per month. Member Volunteers Member Volunteers—3% of Local Union (LU) membership in 2008 and 2009, 6% of LU membership in 2010 and 2011, and 10% of LU membership in 2012. Member Political Organizers (MPOs)—0.5% of Local Union (LU) membership in 2008 and 2009, 1% of LU membership in 2010 and 2011, and 2% of LU membership in 2012. Civic Participation Local unions, state councils, and the International Union will work together to promote civic participation of communities of color and immigrant members and families, including encouraging citizenship and voter registration, challenging the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS’s) fee increases and processing backlogs, and insisting that the Federal Government and Congress expedite the process. Locals, State Councils, and the International Union should expand capacity to hold citizenship and voter registration drives and educational voter forums in 2008 and beyond. SEIU will help expand the work of nonprofit entities such as Mi Familia Vota, Strengthen Our Lives (S.O.L.), and The American Dream Fund so that all working people, including immigrants, will be active and united. Member Voter Registration Local Unions will register to vote at least 70% of their eligible membership in 2008, at least 75% of eligible membership in 2009, at least 80% of eligible membership in 2010, at least 85% of eligible membership in 2011, and at least 90% of eligible membership in 2012. 38 Local Unions that are already above their annual goal should increase their voter registration percentage by 5% per year until they are at 95% or higher. Building a Progressive, Pro-Worker Majority Continue to expand the electorate by providing leadership in America Votes’ state based and national tables and the equivalent state/local coalitions. Help build a significant network of donors to finance the progressive infrastructure and media/messaging expertise needed to win big for workers. Continue to support technology and information based organizations that assist in the development of new technologies, strategies and techniques to strengthen the progressive movement. Political Accountability Commit at least $10 million to 2008-2009 post-election political accountability work. Build a multi-level grassroots rapid response system that includes emails, text messages, phone trees, and worksite communication to hold Members of Congress and local elected officials accountable. Invest additional resources in issue based and electoral accountability campaigns that SEIU leads and/or works in coalition with, including They Work for Us and Working for Us PAC and other state based political accountability coalitions. Increase by 10 Congressional Districts and/or states in 2008 (above the current 15) and 5 Congressional Districts and/or states annually in 2009-2012 the number of SEIU members participating in the Grassroots Lobbying Accountability Program. Programmatic Development Political Communications—Continue to build a multi-channel communication system that includes an email rapid response system for political campaign work and incorporates the identification and training of SEIU member leaders as spokespeople for SEIU’s campaigns. Political Technology—Deploy the Voter Activation Network (VAN) systems with SEIU in 36 states in 2008 and the use of additional volunteer tracking software, and continue to make improvements to these voter information and tracking systems and SEIU’s access to these systems after 2008. SEIU GOP Advisory Committee—Increase by 25% per year in 2009-2012 the number of Locals that are developing GOP member programs and increase GOP member involvement within active Locals by 10% per year in 2009-2012. SEIU Retiree Advisory Council—Increase retiree membership within Retiree Advisory Council (RAC) Locals by an average of 5% per year in 2009-2012 and identify and recruit three new Locals each year into RAC in 2009-2012. SEIU Members Running for Office Program—Identify, recruit and train at least 20 new SEIU members to run for elected office in 2008, 30 new members in 2009-2010, and 40 new members in 2011-2012. Therefore be it further resolved that the Convention delegates adopt the Resolution on Building Our Political Strength to Change Workers’ Lives, including the recommendations herein. 39 Resolution #202 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Community Strength to Improve Workers’ Lives SEIU members need allies to help achieve the far-reaching goals that are within our reach in the coming years to improve the lives of working people and build a more just and humane society. Community strength is a key to persuading many employers to respect workers’ freedom to unite with us and form a union. It is also crucial for winning on major issues such as affordable, quality health care, an economy that rewards work, quality public services, and comprehensive immigration reform. Many SEIU members already are involved with other community organizations in a wide variety of ways. In addition, SEIU’s relationships with community groups have grown stronger in recent years as a result of working together. In the course of organizing campaigns, we have partnered with a number of organizations to help workers win a voice on the job. A variety of legislative and issue fights such as comprehensive immigration reform, health care for children (SCHIP), and living wage initiatives have strengthened ties between local unions and organizations that share our values and goals. Building on those experiences, we must increase our community strength in several ways: 1. SEIU and its local unions must train and encourage members to assume new leadership roles in community organizations and to draw more effectively on their existing involvement. 2, To be a credible voice and a strong partner, SEIU must demonstrate its commitment to key non-workplace issues that affect all workers and to improving the quality of life in local communities. 3. We must intensify our efforts to reach out to community organizations on core issues facing working people, including the freedom to form a union without management interference. 4. We must build long-term relationships with organizations that already have strength and, where necessary, help build new organizations needed to win on working people’s issues. Therefore be it resolved: SEIU and its local unions shall increase workers’ community strength by developing a program in which… • Members’ existing community relationships are systematically identified. • Members are provided training and encouragement to deepen and expand their leadership role in the community. • Local unions, state councils, divisions, and key geographic areas within the union develop annual community strength plans with clear goals, staffing, and budgets that unite and coordinate our relationships with key partners and allies. • By 2012, local unions designate community strength leads to coordinate work within and across locals who are provided with training and mentoring to build effective programs. • We follow written criteria for funding or participating in long-term community partnerships. 40 • Key elements of the community strength program, such as member action and leadership, staff training and development, and organizing and issue work, are integrated with the overall union programs in those areas. 41 Resolution # 203 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Justice for All (Final Implementing Resolution) Working people are facing a once-in-a-lifetime, historic opportunity. After decades of what is clearly now a failed economic theory of deregulation, worship of the free market, and tax breaks for the richest 1% and the largest corporations, the tide is turning and working people are ready for change. There is a broad public consensus that our society is out of balance between people that work and people with wealth, and it is now realistic that we could win… A society that rewards hard work; ensures healthcare for every man, woman, and child; provides a secure retirement; and allows our children to live better than their parents. Reliable funding toward which everyone, including the wealthy and the corporations, pays their fair share. Restoring the middle class by reestablishing the freedom of all working people to form a union without interference from their employer. Comprehensive immigration reform, including a clear path to citizenship for all hard-working, taxpaying immigrants. For the past 12 years, SEIU members and leaders have made strategic choices that have put us in a position to take advantage of this historic opportunity and to help build the pro-worker political majority it will take to turn these dreams into reality. Together, we have… Built the most effective advocacy and political organization for working people in North America. United a million more workers with us, building our strength to nearly 2 million. United and won economic gains for hundreds of thousands of workers and the communities they serve in new sectors such as homecare, childcare, and private security. Developed far-reaching alliances in our communities and the political arena. Become the leading voice for affordable, quality healthcare for all. Maintained and improved standards for SEIU members in our industries for pay, healthcare, retirement, and working conditions. Made members’ voices far stronger force in our cities, states, and country on all the issues that make a difference in our daily lives – healthcare, education, housing, transportation, public safety, immigration reform, retirement security, and much more. Given working people more of a voice in the South and Southwest and other parts of the country that are growing fastest. 42 Now, with our new strength and our expanded voice, coupled with a country ready for change and the chance to elect a new U.S. President and Congress and many new governors and local public officials, we are at a historic turning point where we can imagine making progress we have only dreamed of all our lives. We have the opportunity – and the responsibility -- to make new, bold choices that will let us continue to make history. We believe that we can achieve such goals only if we stand for “justice for all” and not for “just us.” It is part of our core mission to unite and win a better life for all working people and to pass on a better world to our children and grandchildren. In addition, we have seen that today’s union members cannot expect to maintain and improve our living standards and working conditions if the percentage of union workers in our industries and our society continues to decline. We also believe that our key goals to improve workers’ lives depend on the active voice and participation of current union members, retirees, and millions more workers we must help to join our movement. With these core principles in mind, hundreds of SEIU members and elected local union leaders have met over the past few years to analyze strategies and structures that have worked and not worked, industry trends, and experiences of other unions. Based on their research, town hall meetings with local unions in every region, and input from other SEIU members, the SEIU Local Strength Committee, Political Strength Committee, Organizing Review Committee, Community Strength Committee, Executive Committee, and Employer Relations Subcommittee have prepared a series of interrelated recommendations. These recommendations also take into account the recommendations adopted by the Convention delegates in SEIU Healthcare and the SEIU Property Services and Public Services Divisions. Therefore be it resolved: The recommendations presented in the Justice for All report have been adopted by the SEIU delegates to the 24th International Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The International Union Officers, International Executive Committee and Executive Board, Local Unions, and affiliated bodies are directed to take all necessary and appropriate steps to implement the recommendations of the Justice for All Report as adopted. 43 Resolution # 204a Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Member Action and Leadership to Win for Working People To take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change workers’ lives, SEIU members and leaders are committed to an all-out effort to unite all workers in our industries, build a permanent pro-worker political majority, and win affordable, quality healthcare for all; an economy that rewards work, including the freedom to form a union without employer interference; comprehensive immigration reform; and quality services in our communities with fair, reliable funding. Achieving goals as important and large-scale as those requires an unprecedented level of involvement and action by SEIU members, families, and retirees. We can all be proud of the thousands of members who have been actively involved as member organizers, contract action team members, political activists and COPE contributors, work site leaders and stewards. But we must build on that record to involve 200,000 members (10% of SEIU members) in leadership roles and 1 million members (a majority of SEIU members) in member action if we are going to truly achieve a society with justice for all. Member action and participation on a whole new scale also will further expand democracy in our union. Real worker democracy includes majority participation in the actual activities of the union that aim to improve workers’ lives. At the same time, every union member deserves an effective and responsive union that provides high quality representation, prompt answers to our questions, and support in our own language every day of the year--24/7. SEIU local unions’ ability to both unleash members’ skills and talents and provide quality and responsive representation has been limited by antiquated systems of representation and administration that, according to a survey of locals, are too often manual, unreliable, and inexpertly managed. Moreover, when SEIU local unions have restructured to better serve our members, some have faced practical challenges with an array of administrative issues. In these circumstances, the restructured locals would benefit from administrative support. Therefore be it resolved: SEIU members and leaders commit to the following steps to get a majority of members involved in member action, ensure that members play a leadership role, support stewards and other member leaders, and provide responsive, quality representation to every member: Increase opportunities for members to lead the way. Members must be able to use their skills, talents and passions to engage in the building of our working family movement. By 2012 at least 10 percent of SEIU members should play a leadership role in the union, and a majority of members should be involved in working to achieve our core goals. Increase responsiveness and member satisfaction by establishing Member Resource Centers. Local unions that have already established Member Resource Centers are now providing members prompt access to trained organizing staff that provide members information in their own language, help solve job-related problems using 21st century technology 24/7, and engage members in the core activities of our union. All members should have the opportunity to access member resource centers, and local unions must insure that members receive quality and responsive representation for their worksite issues and are provided opportunities to participate in the life of the union. 44 Retrain and redirect local union field organizing staff. Local union members, leaders, and staff should develop ways to focus on giving members far greater opportunities and training to win at work, unite workers in our industries, forge community alliances that work for reliable, quality services for all, and build a working family movement. Free individual local unions from administrative tasks by pooling administrative functions. Using 21st century technologies to provide locals with high quality operations can free up resources to expand our focus on member action, uniting workers in our industries, community alliances, bargaining, and other vital work. With today’s technology, it is more efficient and cost effective for local unions to share secure common platforms and systems for tasks such as list management, accounting, dues processing, and information technology. Devote International Union resources to support newly merged or reorganized local unions, including access to the Institute for Change. To make these vital changes to increase member strength and unity, we will work together to achieve the following goals: During 2008 and 2009, we will work together to evaluate, test and pilot member resource centers (MRCs). We will determine the most effective and efficient manner in which to implement MRCs and to provide high quality member representation. Using what we learn from the pilot, we shall implement member resource centers across the union. By 2012, a majority of members will have 24/7 access to quality information and services from member resource centers. These member resource centers will be organized at the highest, most effective and efficient level. Member resource centers will meet union-wide standards for cost, quality and outcomes such as quality of service to members, ease of access, multiple language capability, support available to member leaders and staff, and quality of data to support SEIU programs and strategies. During 2008 and 2009 we will also conduct comprehensive administrative services pilots. As part of these pilots, we will use a secure and independent shared service organization for administrative services such as dues processing, accounting and financial reporting, communications, and data storage and list management. Local unions that participate in pilots will share information on current systems and future needs, and in some cases test software and systems developed during the pilot. By 2009, based on the findings of the pilot, the union shall establish a shared service organization to provide state-of-the-art administrative services. These administrative services shall be cost-effective and of high quality and shall be provided under conditions consistent with SEIU’s values. By 2012, a majority of SEIU members shall receive administrative services provided by this shared service provider. As members access Member Resource Centers and their locals access shared service center resources, resources freed up by the conversion to 21st century technology and systems will be measured, tracked and redirected to member action programs. Between now and 2012, local unions will meet new standards for member action and leadership. By 2012, but preferably beginning as soon as MRCs are implemented, local unions shall have: a) a yearly written plan with numerical goals for member action and leadership; b) a full-time staff person (who may already be in place) who is responsible for coordinating member action and leadership; c) a mechanism for members to help design and develop strategies to increase member action and leadership; 45 d) staff roles focused on supporting and increasing members’ ability to lead, participate, and decide; e) systems in place to measure local union levels of member leadership and action; and f) resources redirected to member action and leadership, made possible in part by implementation of member resource centers and pooled administrative services. By 2012, at least 5% of post-per capita resources should be freed up to directly support efforts to increase member action and leadership. Beginning in late 2008, SEIU shall establish a Member Action and Leadership Committee of local leaders, members, and key staff. This Committee shall advise the union’s member action and leadership program. The International shall also establish a new Member Action and Leadership Center. This Center will help local unions work together and learn from each other and will develop and monitor year-to-year plans, serve as a resource for locals as they establish pilots, and provide technical and developmental expertise. Tapping into the creativity of SEIU members, leaders, and staff, we will sponsor experiments and pilots; develop and recommend standards and measures; share best practices; support local union programs to engage members and implement member resource centers; and track and report results. By 2012, ten percent of SEIU members will play an active leadership role in the union and a majority of members will be involved in helping to achieve our core goals. Therefore be it further resolved that the Convention delegates adopt the Resolution on “Member Action and Leadership to Win for Working People,” including the recommendations herein. 46 Resolution # 205a Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Uniting Working People to Change Our Lives Today and every day, in cities and towns all across America… Parents who didn’t use to be able to take their children to the doctor when they got sick can now do so. Hard-working people who had to work two or three jobs and still were barely scraping by now have more time to spend with their families. Women and men who provide vital services to their communities now have more say to make sure they have what they need to do the job right – and the strength they need to be treated with respect and dignity. These are some of the more than a million people in America whose lives have improved by uniting with SEIU since 1996 in the most successful organizing effort by any union in American history. By joining their strength with the million workers who already belonged to our union, the million new members of the SEIU family have…. Helped all of us maintain and improve standards in our industries for pay, health care, retirement, and working conditions. They have also Helped make our union a far stronger force in our cities, states, and country on all the issues that make a difference in our daily lives – health care, education, housing, transportation, public safety, immigration reform, retirement security, and much more. Started to give working people more of a voice in the South, Southwest, and other parts of the country that are growing fastest. Uniting Our Strength The Result of Past Convention Choices to Work More Closely Together The doubling of our membership strength in 12 years to improve pay and benefit standards for all of us is a remarkable, historic achievement that no other modern union has ever matched. From 1997 to 2007, we added the strength of nearly 100,000 workers per year, more than triple the rate in the previous period from 1988 to 1996. This success has been made possible by a series of bold and difficult choices at SEIU’s 1996, 2000, and 2004 Conventions about strategy, priorities, and structure: Increased focus and resources. In 1996, the International Union raised spending on organizing for greater strength from 20% to 50%. The local union10-15-20% program began so that by 1999 many locals had increased organizing spending from an average of less than 5% to at least 20%. We focused our efforts on uniting workers who do the same type of work in health care, property services, and public sector and publicly funded services. In 2000, the local union delegates to the SEIU convention adopted the New Strength Unity Plan, part of which dramatically increased resources from members for their local unions and created the Unity Fund for major breakthrough strategies. Increased unity and accountability. For the past ten years, elected local union leaders increasingly have 47 been serving not just as heads of their local affiliates but as the collective leadership responsible for a national strategy to unite and improve the lives of workers in their industry and ensure quality services for our communities. At the 2004 SEIU convention, the delegates increased accountability and coordination within the SEIU divisions that are made up of local unions in each industry. By moving, step by step, toward pooling our strength – bargaining, political, membership, and financial capital – we have been able to develop new models of organizing that unite workers on a far greater scale for everyone’s benefit. Homecare. Our members’ combined political strength in California and the combination of local, state, and national resources made it possible to help 74,000 home care workers in Los Angeles establish their legal right to a union, which in turn led to a coordinated effort to help 345,000 of their counterparts in the rest of California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, and parts of Wisconsin to do the same. With each contract, homecare workers are “invisible no more,” gaining more pay, health coverage, and other improvements. Childcare. Building on that experience, we pooled our financial and political strength to help 49,000 child care providers in Illinois to win their right to a union, and then began spreading that model to Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Maine, and Pennsylvania. To date, we have united more than 75,000 family child care providers to win pay and benefit increases, and have active campaigns in Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to unite an additional 120,000 providers. Security. We pooled our strength, including global relationships with unions in other countries, to win an agreement with the largest security company in the world – based in Sweden – and then worked to organize other companies as well to help thousands of mostly African American security officers to raise wages and gain health care. Janitors. We used our existing strength in dealing with national building owners and cleaning contractors to help janitors in nonunion markets such as Houston and Miami to win improvements and lay the groundwork for more victories in the South, while winning the best contracts ever in the industry in the last four years. Nursing homes. By coordinating strategy, we won agreements with national nursing home chains that led to respect for workers’ rights and common efforts to win badly needed funding. Workers at Extendicare, Longwood, Gem, and other chains across the country have a new opportunity to join SEIU through a fair process, and we won funding increases in nine states for nursing home care that total more than $1 billion. Hospitals. By pooling resources and strategy across the union, we were able to reduce employer interference with workers’ freedom to form a union at hospitals in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as Puerto Rico and Canada. In all, we helped more than 33,000 nurses and other hospital workers to unite with us so they could negotiate improvements for themselves and their patients. Multi-service. SEIU local unions, together with another union, UNITE HERE, helped unite workers in the multi-service industry that is dominated by three huge global corporations that contract to provide a wide range of support services to governments, businesses, hospitals, local school systems, universities, and other institutions. Together, we have won agreements with two of the three largest multi-service firms to respect workers’ freedom to form a union through majority sign-up. We have already helped 14,000 workers gain a union so they can begin the climb to more economic justice with improved pay and benefits. 48 South-Southwest. We decided at the 2004 Convention to jointly commit serious resources and effort to unite workers in our industries in the South and Southwest, with the result that we now represent more than 100,000. Puerto Rico. The support of SEIU members throughout North America has helped members in Puerto Rico win public sector collective bargaining and gain new public sector contracts. Canada. In just the past three years, increased unity and strategic focus has helped 13,000 more workers join us and led to a major affiliation of a new local union. These gains have built workers’ strength in healthcare and property services and made us the fastest growing union in Canada. Global strength. As a result of coordinated campaigns with global labor federations and about 20 unions around the world, 18,000 more U.S. workers have SEIU representation and improved working standards and about 60,000 workers in multinational corporations in SEIU industries in other countries now have a voice at work. In all, of the 1 million more workers who have united with us since 1996, more than two-thirds did so as a result of campaigns that involved not just their local union but support from the rest of SEIU in terms of financial resources, staff and members, political strength, capital strategies support, and/or member bargaining strength. If we had not acted more and more like one organization – and not just a collection of loosely federated locals – most of the newly organized 1 million would probably not be members today. Future Challenges Require More Unity, Larger Scale We have a great opportunity today as polls show that about 50% of U.S. workers would choose to have a union if they didn’t face employer opposition. That’s at least 40 million who don’t have one now. But taking advantage of this opportunity to strengthen all working people requires overcoming some stark realities: The organizing process established by the National Labor Relations Act can no longer be counted on to protect workers’ freedom to form a union.. Most employers refuse to respect workers’ freedom to form a union without management intimidation. In many cases, we have had to conduct a corporate social responsibility campaign that holds the employer accountable for the full range of ways that its policies and practices affect the larger community. That takes money, political strength, and the ability to campaign effectively throughout the nation or even around the globe. Our industries and employers increasingly operate on a regional, national, or global basis. Their increased size allows them to bring to bear far more political pressure than a purely local employer can. Capital is now blurring the lines across industries and between the public and private sectors. Already, more than 5 million people work for companies controlled by corporate buyout firms that have no industry focus but only an interest in moving and manipulating money to maximize profits for a limited group of executives. In the past few years, corporate buyout firms have taken ownership of the nation’s largest office building landlord, Equity Office Properties; the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, HCA; the nation’s largest nursing home chains, including HCR Manor Care, Beverly Living Centers, and Mariner Health Group; and the largest U.S.-based provider of cleaning and food services, Aramark. Earlier this year, a buyout takeover of one of the largest national child-care providers, Bright Horizons, was announced. The buyout firms’ latest 49 target is public infrastructure (roads, bridges, and lotteries) that has involved work performed by public employees that could be outsourced to companies the buyout firms control. The percentage of unionization in the private sector has dropped below 8%, and two-thirds of public employees have no union either. In the health care and property services industries, 90% of workers have no union. Virtually all population growth in the U.S. in the next 20 years will be in southern and western states where unionization is lowest. Those states increasingly will have an economic impact on pay and benefit standards for the nation, so if we don’t help workers there unite to win improvements, pressure will be greater to reduce standards in the rest of the country. Industries that are growing fastest generally are those with the least unionization. It takes huge amounts of resources to persuade some of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world to respect workers’ rights, and yet… While we have doubled spending on organizing in four years, we have not doubled results. Our spending to help each new worker join us has increased greatly, which jeopardizes our ability to unite more workers faster. Spending per member on representation and other non-organizing activity increased significantly since 1999 but without clear increases in member satisfaction. While many SEIU local unions are spending at least 20% of their budget on organizing, on average only 45% of the total 20% is being spent for that purpose. That is at least $37 million that is badly needed to help pay for larger scale strategies. The experiences of some of the major industrial, construction, and transportation unions are a stark reminder that SEIU cannot expect to win or maintain high union standards for just us, as an island in an increasingly nonunion economic sea. While not long ago SEIU was only 8% of America’s union movement, by 2012 we will be 20% if current trends continue and other unions continue to decline. We have to work with our partners in Change to Win to unite the 50 million service workers in the U.S. whose jobs are difficult to move overseas – in transportation, retail, food production and distribution, construction, hospitality and tourism, as well as health care and property services. A United National Plan to Unite Our Strength The Justice for All Report contains recommendations developed by the SEIU Organizing Review Committee of local union and International Union leaders and staff, including the following: A. Involve all local unions to jointly develop one national strategy for uniting more workers with us to win gains for working people on a much larger scale. SEIU will have one strategy for uniting more workers and raising standards for all workers in our industries that is based on the integrated plans of each division, their locals, and the South-Southwest, and also includes opportunities and challenges that cross industries and regions. Local unions will continue to have organizing programs as part of an overall division plan. The overall SEIU strategy will include a number goal for the whole union, each division, the South-Southwest, cross division opportunities, and each local union and will be approved by the International Executive Board. 50 On Division Day—May 31, 2008—each Division of the International Union (Healthcare, Public and Property Services) adopted a Strategic Unity Plan to unite more workers in our industries. These goals have been formally reported to the convention delegates and are incorporated into our union’s strategy. By 2012, SEIU will have united more than 500,000 additional workers, the largest four-year increase in strength by any union in modern history. That will make SEIU the largest and strongest union that includes private sector workers that North America has ever seen, with more than 2.5 million members. It is also expected that if we are able to enact the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) with a new U.S. Congress and President we will unite a total of at least a million more workers by 2012. Local union leaders will collaborate as national leaders for their industry to make a united national strategy for their division based on a long-term vision and an initial 4-year action program. Through the divisions, local unions will collectively decide – instead of deciding individually -- where to prioritize efforts for the best chance of large-scale gains for workers. Each division strategy will spell out how the International Union and local unions will blend their efforts, resources, and political, bargaining, and membership strength to win gains for more workers than any local union can win alone. Decisions will be made by consensus when possible, and by majority rule when necessary. Every local union will set aside 20% of its post per capita budget to organizing in a separate fund. These local union resources will be blended with the Division’s dedicated Unity Fund of at least $12 million as the primary resources to carry out a Division’s plan. That plan will include each local in order to maximize focus on where it will make the most difference in uniting more workers and changing workers’ lives. The International Union’s resources will be used to implement the one national strategy approved by the International Executive Board rather than being automatically allocated in rigid percentages. All levels of the union will be accountable for their contribution to the strategy. Once decisions are reached through the collaborative process, everyone will work together to carry them out. There will be a regular union-wide review and evaluation of progress, leading to adjustments in resources as well in strategy. B. Involve Current Members in Helping More Workers to Unite with Us for Everyone’s Benefit Involve far more members and other activists in our campaigns. MOR (Member Organizing Reserves). SEIU members have been very effective at reaching out to not-yetunion counterparts who do similar work and are organizing to unite with us. MOR will be a new program to expand member involvement in organizing campaigns and will work with the divisions to help staff large campaigns primarily with member organizers. SEIU Organizing Corps. This will be a new group of temporary organizers modeled after the Peace Corps or Teach for America. It will be aimed at people interested in doing social justice work for a portion of their life, but who are unsure of what work they want to do long term. Give high priority to providing members the opportunity to go to nonunion locations or meet with not-yetunion workers. Use our bargaining and political strength to unite more workers with us for everyone’s benefit. Mechanisms for involving current members to use their strength to help more workers at national employers to unite with us should be developed nationally through the divisions. Divisions may designate key strategic 51 global/national/regional employers or sectors/subsectors where a comprehensive union-wide strategy offers the potential for breakthroughs in uniting more workers and raising standards. In those cases, democratic procedures for negotiating those agreements are spelled out in Appendix B. C. Help Build a Stronger Union Movement, as We are All Stronger Together Help other unions in Change to Win to unite more workers in their industries. Increase our capacity to conduct campaigns involving multinational corporations in other countries on behalf of members in SEIU and Change to Win industries. Work with union allies in other countries to increase the capacity to unite workers to improve living standards and working conditions in common industries and multinational corporations. Deepen the involvement of SEIU local union activists in SEIU’s global work. Track employer globalization trends in all SEIU divisions. THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Convention delegates adopt the Resolution on “Uniting Working People to Change our Lives,” and its recommendations herein. 52 Appendices Appendix A Division Decision-Making SEIU members and local unions in the same industry unite their strength and strategy through their industry division. The following spells out a decision-making procedure that ensures that all points of view are heard and that decisions made by a democratic majority are carried out by all. Division Leadership Board Each industry division, as defined by the International Executive Board, shall have a division leadership board. (Currently the industry divisions are healthcare, public services, and property services.) The division leadership board will be the highest decision-making body for an industry division, and among other matters, will decide those issues assigned an industry division under the SEIU Constitution. Composition of Division Leadership Board Each division leadership board shall be comprised first of representatives elected to the International Executive Board at the SEIU Convention, and those subsequently filling a vacancy as an executive vice president, a vicepresident or International Executive Board member. Each International Executive Board member will be asked to serve as a representative of one industry division leadership board subject to policies and procedures adopted by the International Executive Board. Following their election at the International Convention, the members of each division leadership board shall meet to determine if the division leadership board should be expanded. It will take into consideration locals not represented, size of locals, industry sectors, occupations, geography, diversity, employer relations, and strategic areas for uniting more workers with us. The division leadership board will make recommendations for expansion to the International president for approval by the International Executive Board. Absent an approved alternative recommendation, the division leadership board will consist of representatives elected at the International Convention and the Chair appointed by the International president, and will function in accordance with these procedures. Executive, Sectoral, Occupational or Other Committees The division leadership board can recommend to the president that subcommittees be established to assist the division leadership board in its responsibilities. The number of committees, their purpose, role, and responsibilities will be determined by the division leadership board, and then recommended to the president and subject to the approval of the International Executive Board. Chair of the Division Leadership Board The chair of the division leadership board will be appointed by the president and can be a full-time officer of SEIU. The chair will only vote in cases where it makes a difference. Voting A majority of the members of the division leadership board shall constitute a quorum, and decisions of the division leadership board shall be decided by majority vote of those present and voting once a quorum is present. 53 Alternative Structure and Voting Mechanisms Divisions can recommend to the president alternative voting mechanisms or structures subject to the approval of the International Executive Board. 54 Appendix B Strength through Unity in Employer Relations Core Values SEIU members and leaders approach strategy questions regarding agreements with employers based on the following core values: 1. Strength through unity. What working people achieve has always depended on building a broad movement and speaking with one voice. That is all the more important today when unions represent only 1 out 10 healthcare and property services workers and only one-third of public service employees, and when our employers increasingly are regional, national, or global. 2. Justice for all. Our mission is to unite and win for all working people in our industries and in our society. In the long run, that’s the only way to improve and maintain gains for current members as well. 3. Quality service and strong communities. We seek a wide range of improvements that ensure that we can provide the public with accessible services that we can be proud of and that meet the needs of all working people. 4. Democratic decision-making and accountability. SEIU members and leaders make decisions by democratic majority rule and hold each other accountable for carrying them out. Strength through Unity in the 21st Century SEIU members value and respect our rights and responsibilities within our own locals to determine our own bargaining culture, structures, and processes for developing contract proposals, establishing bargaining committees, and conducting strike and ratification votes. As a basic guideline, bargaining is primarily the responsibility of local unions and conducted through members’ democratically determined processes at the local level. Our review of local union bargaining practices demonstrates that locals have well-established, and in many cases long-standing, policies that have served their members well. Some local union constitutions include provisions on bargaining that give wide latitude in size and organization of bargaining teams. The International Union constitution requires member approval of all collective bargaining contracts, and appropriately leaves to local union members the decision on what policies, structures, and practices best serve the local’s members. In 2000, the elected delegates to the SEIU Convention adopted the New Strength Unity Plan, which established the principle that local union leaders through their divisions could strategically decide in certain circumstances that the interests of members were better served when we united members’ strength to speak with one voice with an employer where more than one local union had members or was engaged in helping workers at that employer to organize. These circumstances most frequently arise with key strategic global/national/regional employers, where a comprehensive unionwide strategy offers potential for uniting more workers with us and improving standards. In 2004, the elected SEIU Convention delegates called for the union to further expand its efforts to coordinate and engage in national bargaining, again generally working through the industry divisions. 55 As our industry employers consolidate and grow in size and resources, and buyout firms gain ownership of companies in multiple SEIU industries, we know our union must develop employer relations strategies that best enable workers to gain the strength to organize and bargain to improve their working lives in this new environment across local unions. Over the past four years, SEIU has experimented with a range of employer relations strategies in an effort to gain more strength by uniting more workers in our industries, improve members’ pay and benefit standards, and work for quality of services with strategic employers within our industry divisions. Our Subcommittee on National Bargaining/Employer Relations has examined the benefits and challenges of these different approaches. To create clarity and unity we recommend the following principles and process to guide future employer relations with “strategic employers” within our industry divisions. The following applies only to those limited situations involving a designated “strategic employer” within an industry division. It does not affect the regular day-to-day practice of collective bargaining that local unions will continue to conduct with most employers. The committee had the opportunity to learn from the experiences of other national unions that had a history of national bargaining. We learned from them creative ways to build bargaining structures that enabled democratic decision-making at a national level and member action and leadership at the local level. We also took to heart the shortcomings that allowed the false hope of maintaining standards for a diminishing membership to stifle the need to organize and raise and maintain standards for all workers in an industry. Strength and Democracy Begin with Member Action and Leadership The foundation of our strength through unity and our democratic decision-making and accountability is the involvement of SEIU members. SEIU local unions have a rich tradition of member action and leadership that is expressed in our Member Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, including: • the right to have opinions heard and respected; • the right to be informed of union activity; • the right to be educated in union values and union skills; • the right to participate in the union’s bargaining efforts and approve union contracts; • the responsibility to help build a strong and more effective labor movement; and • the responsibility to support the organizing of unorganized workers. Uniting More Workers to Build Strength for All Global/national/ regional employer relations with strategic industry employers are now key to achieving longterm gains for all workers. In this ever changing global economy, we cannot let employers divide us –we must meet the challenge and create our own organizational structures so we are more unified than the employers we confront. The issue of standards has two dimensions. The first is raising standards for “some of us” or raising standards “for all of us” regionally, nationally, and globally. The second issue on standards is that labor history has taught us that unions that tried to maintain standards in one geography or one company have seen those workers’ standards eroded over time. Uniting more workers with us is essential to achieve and maintain increased standards for pay, healthcare, retirement security, working conditions, and quality service for all workers in our industries, including current members. 56 Building strength in numbers and achieving higher standards are not competing goals. Each is essential to the other. Without uniting more workers with us, we cannot raise and maintain standards in today’s world. Without raising standards, we cannot expect to maintain and increase our strength in numbers. Winning these standards requires building real power for workers through organizing the unorganized as well as developing a collective bargaining program that will win these standards at the bargaining table. Our relations with strategic industry employers should focus on division-identified organizing agreements, labor relations accords, and contracts that provide: • Uniting more workers with us. A primary goal in agreements with employers is that they provide for the right and ability of more workers to unite with us within identified markets and individual employers or sectors. One fundamental test of any agreement should be that it speeds the day when all workers in healthcare, public sector, and property services industries can be united in our union. • Raising standards. Agreements must open the way to improve economic standards for our members, including wages that reward work, healthcare benefits, retirement security, and dignity on the job, and have a clear path for achieving industry standards and full bargaining rights as their collective strength grows. • Political strength for workers and communities. Agreements should recognize that in those industries that depend on public funds or public contracts, vehicles for effective political partnerships are essential for improving workers’ lives and the services we deliver. • Consumer support. Improving the quality of the work we do is important to broadening the support for workers in our industries and the communities they serve. • Workers’ voice. Members must have the right to approve collective bargaining agreements which directly impact their current wages, benefits, and working conditions. It is important that members’ voices are heard on issues involving the quality of the services they provide as well as their working conditions, and we should utilize a range of avenues for accomplishing this. Unity and Speaking With One Voice at All Levels of the Union We build the most collective strength for members and all workers in our industries when members are engaged and, after consultation and debate, we adopt and implement unified goals and strategies. It will take the highest level of commitment, coordination and unity possible to implement our strategy in the global/ national/regional employer relations arena. Our ability to change workers’ lives is determined by our unity of purpose and action. Based on our common understanding that uniting more workers with us and raising standards must go together, our employer relations must be aligned with a clearly defined, articulated, and communicated organizational plan and strategy to minimize competing agendas and maximize our ability to improve workers’ lives. Our strategy, priorities, field campaign, and communications must be united. Global, national, and/or regional bargaining of contract terms covering bargaining unit members and future members must be accompanied by a comprehensive and unified campaign of member action and leadership at all levels of our union. Recommended Processes for Strength through Unity In order to achieve our twin goals of uniting more workers and raising standards with maximum unity, we need processes that are open and clear. Consolidation of industrywide, multiemployer or single employer multistate 57 bargaining and organizing not only gives rise to greater worker bargaining power, but also serves as a vehicle to drive industry standards designed to improve the lives of workers. We believe our employer relations strategy should be accomplished through our industry divisions and pursued as an integral part of their “Strategic Unity Plans.” Therefore we recommend the International Executive Board adopt the following processes for members and their local unions to unite their strength. A. Division Delegates Day at the SEIU Convention The highest representative body of the division membership, the division convention delegates at division day of the SEIU Convention, after input, consultation and debate, adopts their overall “Strategic Unity Plan” for uniting more workers and raising standards for the division. Recognizing that bargaining is primarily the responsibility of local unions and conducted through their democratically determined processes, the division convention delegates may identify in their plan those key strategic global/national/ regional employers or sectors/subsectors where a comprehensive unionwide strategy offers potential for breakthroughs in uniting more workers and raising standards. B. On-going Evaluation by the Industry Division Leadership Board The industry division leadership board (to be defined) has the responsibility to implement their “Strategic Unity Plan” adopted by the division convention delegates. The ongoing responsibilities of the division leadership board shall include continued assessment and recommendation to the International president of strategic industry employers for global/national/regional employer relations. The division leadership board may pursue an individual employer or sector-wide/market approach. C. Designation of Strategic Employer Relations Category The division leadership board will designate the type of employer relations/bargaining that applies to each situation; that is, which category best describes the strategic employer(s) from the division’s perspective: virtually no union/organizing agreements; low density; or high density employer relations. Each category requires a different balance of the need to act decisively to take advantage of breakthrough opportunities with the need for meaningful engagement at multiple levels of union leaders and members. D. National Bargaining Process In carrying out this work, the division will use three vehicles to insure effective bargaining and meaningful participation from affected local union leaders and members. They are: • National Bargaining Teams; • National Bargaining Councils; and • Local Bargaining Councils; 1. National Bargaining Teams Upon the recommendation of the division leadership board, the International president acts and utilizes his/ her authority under the SEIU Constitution to authorize national bargaining and appoint a national bargaining chair and team for the strategic employer(s).The chair is responsible for implementing the strategic plan of the 58 division and is the chief spokesperson. The makeup of the other team members will depend on the category of strategic employer relations designated by the division leadership board. a. For situations involving virtually no union or a pure organizing agreement, the process is streamlined. After input from the division leadership board, the International president appoints the National Bargaining Chair and additional bargaining team members whom he/she determines is best situated to accomplish the strategic plan of the division. Organizing agreements, including model contract guidelines impacting potential members, shall be submitted by the National Bargaining Team to the division leadership board for approval before final recommendation for execution by the International president and should be shared with the cross divisional committee. b. For situations involving low density or high density employers that will address both organizing and the negotiation of contract terms affecting current members, the process shall be expanded to assure that the voice of members is heard. • Low density setting: The International President acts upon the recommendation of the division leadership board and appoints the national bargaining team chair and after input from the division leadership board appoints division representatives. The positions on the National Bargaining Team for representation from the locals with bargaining unit(s) of the employer(s) covered by collective bargaining agreements and serving on the National Bargaining Council shall be elected from among the local union representatives who serve on the National Bargaining Council. (As set forth below, each local union already has selected/elected one leader and one member to the National Bargaining Council from their own Local Bargaining Council.) • High union density setting: The International president appoints the chair, division representatives and local union representative from each local with members covered by the collective bargaining agreement (elected/ selected by the local and serving on the national bargaining council). The number of division representatives plus the chair shall not be greater than the number of team members appointed from the local unions. c. National bargaining teams operate by consensus where possible, under the guidance of the chair. When consensus is not achieved: • In the virtually no-union or low density union setting, differences on a bargaining team are resolved by one vote per bargaining team member. The chair may use his/her discretion to refer a significant dispute within the bargaining team to the division leadership board or the International president. • In the high union setting, differences on a bargaining team are resolved by the bargaining team using the same decision-making formula as used by the division leadership board. 2. National Bargaining Councils Once the division leadership board decides on whether to proceed on an individual employer or sectorwide/ market approach for its strategic employers, it will establish national bargaining councils for all national bargaining that has a shared goal of uniting more workers and negotiating standards for existing members. National bargaining councils (by employer or sector) shall consist of two representatives from every local (selected/elected by the local) with members or potential members from the employers/ sector within that national bargaining council’s jurisdiction. 59 The national bargaining council has the responsibility of adopting bargaining goals for uniting more workers and raising standards consistent with the overall division plan at the start of pattern contract bargaining and shall approve tentative collective bargaining agreements. The division leadership board shall approve agreements before they are submitted for ratification by the affected membership. 3. Local Bargaining Councils Once national bargaining councils are established, the division leadership board will develop a plan for local bargaining councils to be integrated with the national bargaining councils’ work at the local membership level. Specifically, for all locals with members covered by a collective bargaining agreement that is designated part of national bargaining, a local bargaining council shall serve as a vehicle for members/ workers to have a voice, exercise leadership and take action around the organizing and contract campaign as part of a unified national employer relations strategy. Local unions determine the structure of their own local bargaining councils. Each local bargaining council, operating in unity with the other local bargaining council(s) and the applicable national bargaining team, is responsible for member action including surveys, ongoing education, mobilization and ratification as part of the unified national strategy. Note: Representation on the national and local bargaining councils. Members at the local level select/elect delegates to their local bargaining councils. Those local delegates elect/ select one leader/one member to the relevant national bargaining council(s). E. Cross-Division National Employer Relations Committee A cross-division national employer relations committee shall be established as a standing committee of two representatives from each division plus additional representatives appointed by the International president from the International executive committee. This committee is responsible for blending the national employer relations strategies of the divisions and resolving any tensions or problems arising from our ambitious plans. The committee will continue to monitor, evaluate and make recommendations for improved processes and is responsible for reviewing and approving recommendations for process modification from the division leadership boards. [The International president may also initiate modifications as he/she deems appropriate and necessary.] When requested by the International president, the cross-division committee shall help resolve significant disputes with the national bargaining team or aid other decision-making. The cross-division committee will oversee policy issues that may arise in labor relations accords. F. Members approve their collective bargaining agreement, as required by the SEIU Membership Bill of Rights. 60 Resolution # 206a Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention Resolution to Unify All Long Term Care Workers in the Same Local Union in Every State in the United States Whereas, there are over 3 million long term care workers in this country who provide essential care for the frail elderly, and physically disabled. Whereas, realigning public resources so that consumers can truly have choice (rebalancing) is the cornerstone of our four year long term care growth plan, as adopted by the Long Term Care Steering Committee Whereas, Medicaid is the dominant funding source for both homecare and nursing homes. As Medicaid funding is squeezed, the various long term care sectors can be pitted against each other for shrinking funds. Protecting against this will be difficult unless all long term care workers are in the same organization in every state. Whereas, there is increasing overlap among and competition between “post acute” or long term care sectors. Many are competing for overlapping pools of clients. Assisted living facilities are competing with nursing homes for private pay clients. Consumers who once might have received care in nursing homes are increasingly receiving it at home. It makes sense for us to have a single integrated approach in a market where sectors are increasingly overlapping and competing against each other. Whereas, we work with many of the same allies across the long term care spectrum. Our ability to create strong coalitions and maintain good partnerships with consumer allies will be vital to the success of our rebalancing initiatives, as well as to our other work on behalf of long term care workers. Having a consistent message with our allies is important to maintain the credibility and trust necessary for these coalitions to be effective. Whereas, while locals across the country have made progress in uniting long term care workers and raising their wages and benefits, much more work needs to be done to increase long term care worker power, ensure quality of care for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, and improve the lives of some of the nation’s most important front line workers. Whereas, there is a need for a strong united voice not only for long term care workers, but also a united voice for the frail elderly and the physically disabled, to ensure quality, well-funded, and accessible care for all those who need assistance whether in their homes and communities, in nursing homes, or assisted living. Whereas, the American population continues to age, creating a growing pool of frail individuals who will need care, and necessitating strong advocacy from the frail elderly and the physically disabled and from the group of workers who care for them. Whereas, despite significant progress in organizing independent home care workers much more work needs to be done to increase home care worker power, to organize agency home care, nursing home and assisted living workers, and to ensure quality of care for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens and improve the lives of some of the nation’s most important front line workers. Whereas, long term care workers’ ability to work together and negotiate better wages and benefits is diluted by separating long term care workers into separate local unions in the same state. Therefore, let it be resolved that all long term care workers in each state be united in the same local union to unite long term care workers’ voices and increase power for themselves, the people they care for, their families, and their communities. 61 62 Constitution Amendments Adopted at the 2008 SEIU Convention 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96