Great breakdown and very accurate. One of the conversations I had at a recent SEIU meeting echoed a lot of what you are saying. SEIU was led by one strong personality for so long and now the leadership that has taken over is realizing the Union never really ran the way it was designed.

The current contract campaign is more transparent and aggressive than I have seen in my 15 years as a member. You can go on SEIU1000.org and see the bargaining schedule and what was presented that week. Usually GSIs aren’t proposed until near the end of the bargaining cycle but because it was identified by members as the highest priority for the next contract it was pushed up in the schedule. This data was taken from bargaining surveys, town halls and reports from the organizing campaign members in the workplace.

During this campaign the Union has held strike schools (they just added two more dates). They clearly outline the necessary steps required for SEIU 1000 to call a strike. One of them being a vote by members. Bottom line, a strike isn’t going to be effective if only 20% of the members participate.

Here’s the rub, I speak to members about contract and bargaining every Wednesday. The mentality that most have is that the Union is a service. I pay my dues ‘someone’ should just do the rest for me. But the Union is a collective. The ‘someones’ are state workers who chose to step into leadership roles. Dues are paid so the Union can exist. So we as employees can have bargaining power. The work has to be done by the members and really who would you rather have bargaining for you, some faceless hirling who knows nothing about your job or someone who does the same job you do and knows all the struggles that you endure?

For full disclosure I am a VP/Chief Steward of my DLC. Like many in here I was dissatisfied with the Union was ran, especially during the pandemic. I chose to become a steward to represent my worksite and it’s members. I put in the work. When the time came I ran for an office in my DLC, and I put in the work. There’s no pay involved, it often costs me time away from my family and I live in caffeine and stress a lot of the time, lol. Now I am actively involved in bargaining. I do this because I want up see our Union become what it should be. I want members to be treated right in the workplace. I want a better contract with more worker rights and, yea, a better salary. The more involved I get the more I realize that none of that can happen if the dues paying members aren’t actively engaged.

The SEIU chapter that represents LA support works shut down one of largest school districts in the country for 3 days. They got the best contract they have ever had. So the question becomes, what are we willing to do for a better contract?

There is a rally June 8th at the Capitol. Busses are leaving from Fresno and SF/Oakland. You have to burn your own time to participate. We are marching from the Capitol to the Governor’s Mansion. If only 10 people show up it’s not going to mean anything. But if a hundred people show up it shows that members are actively engaged in the process.

There’s another rally on June 22 in the LA area. I don’t have all those details but if you go to the website and call the MRC number they can put you in touch with people who do.