800 San Bernardino Professionals Vote to Join SEIU 721

A few weeks ago, SEIU 721 awarded its first-ever Labor Legacy Awards to four heroes who have changed the lives of working families around the world, across the country, and right here in Southern California.

The awardees: Former UFW organizer and SEIU Vice President Eliseo Medina, who is leading the national immigration reform movement; SEIU Executive Vice President Valarie Long, who helped build Justice for Janitors into a national powerhouse; former USWW President Mike Garcia, who led efforts to organize Los Angeles’ janitors and security guards; and Rev. William J. Smart, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California, who is a leading voice in Fix LA. The legacy award winners share something in common: They all are brilliant organizers.

We held a reception to honor the winners because organizing is part of SEIU 721’s DNA, and their skills and accomplishments are a powerful example of how we all can build power for working people. But while parties and plaques are nice, the best way I know to honor the Legacy Award winners is to follow their lead.

After a months-long organizing drive, San Bernardino County professionals voted in March to join SEIU 721. SEIU 721’s external organizers helped 800 S.B. professionals call for fair elections, in which workers voted 3 to 1 to leave an ineffectual association that saddled them with a series of bad contracts. Now this same 721 team is fighting to win fair elections for thousands more S.B. County workers fed up with bad contracts and dishonest leadership.

I think this is the beginning of something big in San Bernardino. And as we organize more workers in the Inland Area, we can set standards that will help all SoCal workers. It all begins with organizing.

Bob Schoonover, President