As you probably know, per the previous post, SEIU is arguing that the labor movement cannot be a movement that is just worrying about its members but has to press for "Justice For All". I don’t think it’s entirely fair to say that other unions don’t think they are improving the lives of other workers when they are fighting for legislation on safety and health, healthcare and a whole list of other good things. But, there is a very important debate that really has been talked about for a long time: if you don’t organize new members and spend all your effort on just servicing current members, how can you hope to lift up the lives of all workers?

    So, here is some of what Andy Stern will say today. You can debate these points or expand on what you think:

In the last 12 years of our union, we organized as many workers as in the first 75.

And despite a recession and the best U.S. President big business could buy, our members continue to gain ground at the bargaining table.  Today the news media, politicians and even corporate CEOs listen to what we say and watch what we do. 

Because since 2004, SEIU has chosen to stand on the front lines of corporate responsibility—not only for our employers, but also for the largest employer in North America (Wal-Mart), the second largest (KKR), and the four other private equity firms that are among America’s 10 largest corporations.

So CEOs are learning that in SEIU, when you take any worker on, you take all of us on.

We followed through on our determination to either change the AFL-CIO or build something stronger.  With six strong unions, we created Change to Win, changing the face of labor by electing Anna Burger—the first woman to ever lead a U.S. labor federation.

Now given SEIU’s success, some may be asking an obvious question: Why continue to change?

Well, I guess we could try to forget that 81 percent of SEIU members are still in only six states and that the other 44 states have a total of 88 senators who will decide whether we get action on healthcare, immigration and employee free choice.

And we could forget what this hall would look like if we had reserved empty seats in this hall for delegates representing the twenty million not-yet-union workers in the public   healthcare and property service sectors.  Because the hall would be 85 percent empty. 

I want each of us throughout our debates to keep that picture etched in our minds.

The labor movement has too many once-proud unions that eventually declined because they were either unable or unwilling to include everyone in the room who should have been there.

Some unions thought they could stay strong while shutting the door on women, on people of color, on immigrants.

In Pennsylvania, there were leaders in industrial unions who asked why let public employees like me in the room. “After all,” they said. “Those people aren’t real workers.”

Well intentioned leaders sometimes believe their only real responsibility is to their Local, their employer, their state, their craft or their profession.

This elitist and exclusionary “Just Us/I Got Mine” unionism may take many forms, but there is one undeniable historical truth: it has never worked, and it never will.

In this union family, there is no local union so righteous to take tens of millions of dollars in help from everyone else in this room—the strength gained from mergers of local unions that others helped organize—and then refuse to pass it on when their turn comes.

    More…after the jump here:

But before we start discussion and debate, let me highlight a few of the key points:

Our model for representation is like a 1930s teletype in a 21st century Internet world.  Our members deserve a responsive union.  Their union should be on call not 9 to 5 but 24/7 with professional union staff able to promptly and respectfully answer questions in the language that the members speak.

SEIU local unions with half a million members are on their way to proving that fully-functioning Member Resource Centers will free up staff and give help to the 2-3 percent of our dedicated rank-and-file leaders, who we keep asking to carry a bigger and bigger load.

Our plan sets a goal of 10 percent—that’s 200,000 of our members—to be trained leaders and 50 percent of our members taking action every year to win justice.  Then we can stop talking about building a movement and finally just do it!

Second, in a union that is as complex and as rapidly expanding as SEIU, we must decentralize our decision-making even more.

Decisions once made by International leaders need to be made by our unions’ industry leaders from local unions, closest to where the members work. Our recommendation is that we change from me selecting to the convention electing the core of the members of Division Leadership Boards.

Once elected, those Boards will expand participation—and hold everyone accountable to the plans you just approved in your Divisions.

We also want every Industry Division Board to be led, not by staff, but by a full-time elected officer, and we are recommending a constitutional change to add two additional fulltime officers to meet the leadership needs of our ever growing union.

Third, over the last four years, more employers have been taken over or consolidated, and today our members need greater coordination to win at the bargaining table—which is why you voted in the healthcare and property services assemblies to coordinate bargaining with employers in strategic industry sectors.

In a union where bargaining historically was done locally, SEIU’s first attempts to coordinate bargaining nationally weren’t perfect. We ended up with different practices because each process involved different Locals and different industries.

So today, we are recommending approval of the Strength through Unity recommendations, a common SEIU framework for coordinated bargaining. 

It guarantees participation of every local union with members who work at those strategic employers, guarantees those members participation in national bargaining councils that set standards and vote on agreements, and continues the constitutional right of every member to approve their contract.

Fourth, Justice for All gives us the chance to do something about our deep frustration with politicians who are after our vote the day before the election, but after our throats the day after.  Politicians we help elect, who then conveniently forget their promises and think that we work for them!

In union organizing, we understand that winning an election is just the first step toward   getting a contract.  So why think politics is any different?

We intend after the election to use our very best powers of persuasion to remind legislators of their commitments.

But if that doesn’t work, we will just have to use the persuasion of power on behalf of all working people like us. More money and more member action after the election; we’ll be turning up the heat until the politicians see the light!

Those are parts of our Justice for All plan.

But passing the plan is not an end. It’s only the beginning.

America is at moment of profound change.

I see that change in the sparkling eyes of young people as Barack Obama—a shining new star representing a new generation of leadership—has the audacity to ask us to believe again in the goodness of America.

 

I feel it with every sign that the people of the United States will not accept four more years of George Bush’s policies under a different name.  

I dream it, that we the representatives of the most powerful, progressive voice for workers are poised to help lead what may be a once-in-a-lifetime moment of change.

We have worked  too hard, fought  too long, and dreamed too big to come to this historic moment that we helped create to get scared and turn back or turn against each other and miss the moment.

The future may be out of our control, but it is not beyond our reach.

So I want to end with this final pledge, a pledge I believe no union has ever made with such seriousness.  If we pass this Justice for All plan and take advantage of this unique moment in political history then:

I pledge we will—before the next convention—proudly join our Canadian brothers and sisters as a nation that guarantees affordable healthcare for every man, every woman, and every child.

I pledge we will restore the American Dream by passing the Employee Free Choice Act and then helping millions of workers to join our movement.

And I pledge that we will begin to win quality services in our communities and create a pathway to citizenship for hard working immigrants.

    Disagree? Agree?

    Update: when Stern ask all those delegates who have entered SEIU since 1996 to stand, about 65 percent of the hall stands. (I’m bad at crowd estimates but that’s my guess).

    Update: SEIU has two million members, and the crowd goes wild (like crowds used to do when the Yankees actually won World Series).

    Update:

When we execute the plan the Public Division delegates just approved Saturday, at our next convention, SEIU will be not only the largest healthcare union and the largest   property services union, but for public workers who grew up in the shadow of the AFSCME green machine, we will for the first time be the largest state, county and municipal workers union.  Purple will lead the public sector!

    Ouch…Take that Gerry McEntee…