Why Unity Matters
by David GreenI was lucky enough several weeks ago to attend a Saturday steward's council meeting at the local. It turned out that there was two separate meetings going on at the same time in the same building, I ended up going between both the legacy 660 and legacy 535 meeting. What struck me is how similar the issues being discussed were at both meetings: the issue of our stewards being protected from retaliation; the fight to protect our benefits and increase our wages; and our need to find common ground on our local wide by-laws. There was so much energy and enthusiasm ( and a little anger ) in both meetings but it inspired me.
It inspired me but also frustrated me because even though we have differences in the way we do business, we don't actually communicate as well as we are able to. I have talked to members in Ventura, Riverside, L.A. City and L.A. County workers and talked about finding common ground.
There are so many things we agree on. We want to be able to afford quality day care for our families. We want our family to be protected if we become ill and cannot work full time, and we want a decent salary that means we can have the things that many of our parents were not able to give us. I think that many of us became involved in the labor movement for these same reasons.
I know that many of my brothers and sisters that work in the public sector that put in countless hours of overtime, nights and weekends to serve the public. Whether you work in animal control, work for the courts, are a social worker or eligibility worker you are serving the public and have dedicated your life to service. The sad reality is that many times not only is your work unrewarded but actually attacked in the media and very rarely does the public know many of the things we do. It is our responsibility to let these folks know that we are working hard to serve them. Many times we are the "unsung heroes" behind the scenes.
I also know that many times our similarities outweigh our differences. It seems that the longer we focus on trying to get our own "piece of the pie" that we are not focusing on the big picture for all our brothers and sisters.
I know that I was one of the members that were skeptical how all these different groups would intertwine and work together and I am the first to acknowledge that there are many things that are still a work in progress. I realize that we have some amazing opportunities to change the way that others view the labor movement. We can't let the wounds of the past affect our future.
This is out time to move forward.
Many of us have new contracts we will be working towards in 2009. This is our time to work past our differences and work together and work on the goals that many of us share. The way I see it, SEIU's best times are ahead of us. If we work together, can you imagine the strength we can have?
I am part of the fight for working people and I am proud to know that there are 85,000 other unsung heroes out there waiting to be heard and ready to fight.
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