My name is Roberta Ayala and I'm a teacher's assistant at Laradon Hall, a private organization in Denver, Colorado. I work with teenagers with severe emotional problems as well as non-verbal autistic children.

I help my students with basic personal and medical needs and provide academic support.

I love my students. And I love the advancements they are able to make. It's the most difficult most rewarding job I've ever had.

But we needed some changes in my workplace if we were going to really help move our students forward.

We didn't have enough teachers and teaching assistants to provide the one-on-one attention the students require. We had no voice in creating a better learning environment for kids. And we wanted additional training opportunities and better safety procedures to allow us to provide better care.

We also have a very high turnover rate. Our students need stable teaching staff to make real progress.

My co-workers and I raised our concerns multiple times but management dismissed us and no changes were ever made.

We knew the only way we were going to win a voice on the job was to form a union. That way we could make changes in the classroom and win improvements for our families.

I have a four year-old son. I want to give him the best life possible. I need a paycheck that can support us. I knew having a union would bring us closer to achieving the American Dream.

Eighty percent of us signed cards supporting the union. But the school refused to recognize our decision. We filed for an election and that's when management began harassing and intimidating us. They even fired several teachers' assistants--making our staffing problems even worse.

They wanted to scare us. They wanted us to give up. But it didn't work--we won our election.

Management continued their intimidation tactics even after we won our election. The facility experienced a 70 percent turnover in staff because of the campaign waged by management.

From the very beginning, my sole reason for having joined with my co-workers to form a union was for the safety and care of the kids. Imagine what it does to developmentally disabled children when they lose 70 percent of their caregivers.

Eighteen months after our election, we finally won our first contract. We finally won a voice in classroom decisions. But it shouldn't have been this hard to win improvements for our students.

It's time for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. We can't wait any longer.

>> To read more about the new ad and grassroots campaign, "Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act," visit SEIU's blog here.