For SEIU members, politics is about making sure the issues that are important to working families are put on the front burner by candidates and elected officials. It's about ensuring that politicians put the needs of working families before the demands of wealthy corporate donors.
That's why more than 300,000 members contribute an average of $7 per month out of their heard-earned paycheck to make sure they have a voice in the political process.
And that's why thousands of members take time off from their jobs each year or volunteer after work and on weekends to pound the pavement, make calls, attend candidate forums an events, appear in ads, and educate their co-workers, friends, family, and neighbors about the issues that matter to working people and where the candidates stand.
Despite George W Bush's victories in 2000 and 2004, SEIU's political program rapidly grew in the 2000s as SEIU members realized that growing corporate control of the political system threatened the middle class. SEIU members helped elect eight US Senators and many pro-worker House members in 2000, including Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
And in 2004, SEIU fielded 2,000 "Heroes"--SEIU members who worked full time in key battleground states--as well as 50,000 part time volunteers. SEIU members elected pro-worker candidates like Ken Salazar in Colorado, John Lynch in New Hampshire, Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania and more. And SEIU worked with 30 other unions and progressive groups to form America Coming Together. The growing political involvement of SEIU members proved crucial in the 2006 election where Democrats took back both Houses of Congress.
During the 2008 election, SEIU members stepped up their efforts to engage candidates by launching Walk a Day in My Shoes, a landmark program inviting candidates to spend a day at home and on the job with them to experience their lives firsthand. Dozens of candidates from President Obama to Vice President Biden to members of Congress, mayors, state legislators, and others participated--working as janitors, child care providers, nurses, family services caseworkers, school custodians, and other workers who keep our communities running.
On the job, these candidates experienced what its like to be a nurse with dangerously high nurse-to-patient ratios, the impact cuts to healthcare and childcare programs have on kids and patients, the difficulties faced by workers who spend all day caring for patients but who cannot afford that same care themselves, and the important work done by ordinary Americans each day to keep our communities running.
SEIU members also made history in 2008 by increasing their political involvement at all levels of our union. When the results were tallied, SEIU members:
- Knocked on 3,571,955 doors;
- Made 16,539,038 phone calls;
- Sent 5,125,378 pieces of mail;
- Registered 227,206 new voters; and
- Helped 10,992 voters vote early or by absentee.
Looking forward, SEIU members are more committed than ever to have a voice in our democracy and to realize our vision for America--where we put people back to work in good jobs that support a family, where we can retire with dignity after a career of hard work, and where our children are better off.
90th Anniversary of SEIU: Celebrate the history of our union
