On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 00:16:00 -0500, John Lacny <jlacny at earthlink.net>
wrote:
> Only later did these locals merge with other
> international unions, a few with AFSCME and most with SEIU.
-This is the point, the SEIU has grown not by organizing workers but -through merging with other unions. You haven't contradicted anything -I've said, SEIU Local 1199 stretches across several states.
Lance- you are wrong and wrong.
Yes, some unions like Local 1199 have merged with SEIU, but most of its growth has been among previously unorganized workers. All of its growth in janitors through its Justice for Janitors campaigns have been among completely non-union workers. Tens of thousands moving towards hundreds of thousands of home health care workers-- previously non-union -- have become unionized in the last decade. Previously non-union nurses have organized. So you are just plain wrong, Lance.
And you obviously do know nothing about SEIU's internal structure. It is confusing but you shouldn't be talking about it if you don't know the facts. Local 1199 SEIU, headed by Dennis Rivera, exists only in New York State and merged with SEIU only in 1998. All the other 1199 locals are separate locals, either members of SEIU separate from the New York local, or part of AFSCME.
SEIU District 1199, which covers West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio, is a completely separate local and joined SEIU back in 1989. http://www.seiu1199.org/ourlocal/history.cfm
SEIU 1199NW represents health care workers in Washington State http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/uwunions/brown-1199.htm
SEIU 1199 Florida is also a separate local, very small currently, although it's been given a lot of assistance from Local 1199 (NY) http://static.highbeam.com/m/miamitimes/november042003/seiuelectpresidenttostandupforworkingfamilies/
The reality is that SEIU has been successfully organizing new workers, often in dramatic ways. If every union had SEIU's organizing success rate, the AFL would be in pretty good shape.
Nathan Newman