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NEW LABOR FEDERATION PLEDGES TO CARRY OUT MOST AGGRESSIVE ORGANIZING CAMPAIGN IN 50 YEARS

- Anna Burger Chosen as Chair, First Time in US History a Woman Will Head a Labor Federation-
 
St. Louis, MO - Hundreds of working people from around the country - members of unions that together represent nearly 6 million workers - came together to create a new labor federation dedicated to ensuring that hard work is once again valued in the US and around the world.  Change to Win, comprised of 7 unions, will be a lean organization focusing more than 75% of its budget on organizing working people.  The federation estimates that the collective organizing expenditures of its affiliates and Change to Win at all levels will easily approach $750 million per year.

"May the history books record that on the 27th day of September in St. Louis, delegates gathered and chose to change not just their unions, but their country," said Anna Burger, Chair of Change to Win.  "Today we come together, having traveled here on separate roads with our separate proud histories, and our own union's colors, but we are all going in the same direction now.  We are on the way to rekindle the American dream."

"Strategic, smart, organizing is our core principle-our North Star," said Burger.  "We will put our money where our mouth is, with three-quarters of our resources going to a groundbreaking organizing crusade." 

"Today is a day the labor movement can be proud of," stated Edgar Romney, Secretary-Treasurer of the federation.  "We are embarking on a journey together toward a new era, where workers are valued and the economy works for everyone.  And for the first time ever, the movement is being led by a woman.  We are committed to diversity throughout our ranks and there is no better place to start than the top."

Prior to leaving the convention, all of the delegates signed a Change to Win pledge, which summarized the organizing goals of the new federation, including agreeing "to hold each other accountable to our common objective of uniting workers into unions and restoring the American Dream."

Statement by SEIU President Andrew L. Stern
September 27, 2005
Change to Win Convention in St. Louis, MO.

On important days, days like today, I seem to always get up, then spend a couple of minutes just thinking about my life in our union.

I can still remember attending my first union meeting, for the profound reason that they were serving free pizza.

I remember being so excited when I was 26 to win a hotly contested election to be president of my local, and so humbled 20 years later to become President of our International.

I remember counting down 4 years, the 10 largest unions in the AFL-CIO and seeing the shock and pride when our delegates realized that #1 was SEIU.

But this morning I reflected a lot on how the challenge presented a little over a year ago to SEIU's delegates that we either change the AFL-CIO or build something stronger set off a remarkable year of debate and decisions about our movement

There are many memories after 33 years in SEIU. Nine years as its president, but the one thing I am truly wise enough now to understand is that our union is a powerful force for change -- but not because of who I am, but because of whom I represent: 1.8 million hospital, home care and nursing home workers, janitors, child care, security, and public workers.

People, who alone, on their own, are the power-less

But together, when we unite our strength through our unions together, we the once powerless - become the powerful, and we use our power every day to change the lives of other people.

So at this Convention, I want to make sure that we fully understand that the success of our new federation will NOT happen because of what 7 union presidents do.

But it will happen because people like Amanda Figueroa, a rank-and-file LA home care worker, will pay dues for 10 years out of her minimum wage paycheck, for the hope that she and 74,000 of her co-workers could gain a voice and they did -- by winning the largest election victory in modern labor history --- will birth a home care organizing revolution-adding 450,000 members to our union.

It will happen because of Mirna Blanco a janitor in Houston (stand up Mirna) who every night-in a 4 hour shift cleans 30 offices, two hallways, and 29 bathrooms---for 20 bucks.

But this year with the help of Flora Aquilar---struck their employer---then flew to Chicago and NY to ask Irma Deshoomes, her African-American union sister in Chicago, to honor her picket line, and when they did--Mirna and Flora and 8,000 other janitors in Houston will win the largest organizing drive in Southern history in decades.

It will happen because of Martina Casey, Local 880 who provided child care in her home, for about $6.00 an hour.

Martina, after 8 years of organizing with 49,000 of her mostly sisters--- voted this year for SEIU which will lead to a hundred thousand of America's children to have better lives.

It is Amanda, Mirna, Flora, Irma, and Martina, and the 6 million other decent, hard-working, tax paying Americans, immigrants and native born -- members of our unions that we represent - they, not the 7 Change to Win presidents, are the foundation, the determination, and inspiration for Change to Win.

So, I want every rank-and-file member in this room to get on their feet now -- stand tall.

Today is really your day. You are why we are here. You are why we had to change, and most importantly, you are why we WILL win!

Stand up!  Thank you.

We are also here today --- as resolution No. 1 says --- for our country, for America -- and its gift.

For generations people came to its shores, worked hard and had their work valued and rewarded.
 
But today, at the dawn of a new century, our country is living through the most profound economic revolution in world history. As globalization and new technologies change the ways business operates and people work.

And this new economy creates for America a serious test.

This is why at this Convention we are asking ALL of you to make a pledge.

A serious pledge, a solemn pledge, to our country and to all the hard working single moms heading to work right now at Wal-Mart, to the dads in the Cintas laundry, to the farm workers picking grapes, the hospitality workers making beds, and the construction workers pounding nails.

To pledge today that ALL of our Federation's actions, ALL of our efforts, will be for ONE fundamental purpose: to ensure every that American, and every Americans hard work, will be valued and rewarded - not just the shareholders and executives.

We pledge today that no one -- that no one who works full time -- will be poor anymore.

We pledge today to revolutionize our failing health care system that is sapping America's competitiveness, and stealing worker's pay rises with it.

We pledge to create a new political movement. Not about Democrats and Republicans or left and right, but what's right and wrong for American families;

We pledge that regardless of the color of your skin, or the language that you speak, whether you are gay or straight, immigrant or native born, your hard work will be rewarded and your legal rights will be respected.

We pledge to make sure that no one ever again, ever again works their whole life, only to die in rising flood waters because despite working, they are still too poor to buy gas.

We pledge to ensure that in this new global economy, "workers of the world unite" is not a slogan, but the basis to build global unions.

And we pledge to devote the vast majority our shared resources to uniting our strength in modern, growing unions, to grow stronger once again.

For too long, we were walking down a road. And in our hearts, we knew where it ended - you would had to been blind not to read the signs -- 1 in 3 workers in unions, then 1 in 4, 1 in 5, then 1 in10, and now 1 in12 in the private sector.

Today we pledge to change all that. Because when you are walking down a road, and you know where it ends, you get off the road, and walk in a new direction, where there is hope.

Today we say to America, take our hands, and walk with us, on our road - the road to opportunity and prosperity for all Americans.

Today we close the chapter of change, and begin walking on the road to win.

Our future - our unions' future - our children's future is no longer a matter of chance, it is now a matter of choice.

And it is time to decide.

Because if not us-if not us - then who.

And if not now-at the dawn of a new century-- if not now after witnessing the shame of Katrina -if not now at time where America's economic leadership is being tested….then when?

Remarks by SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger
September 27, 2005
Change to Win Convention in St. Louis, MO.

Good morning.  Brothers and Sisters, I am honored to be here as the chair of this historic founding convention. 

Today, 7 unions representing 6 million members stand together and commit to each other,
and to the unorganized American workers, that we WILL rebirth the union movement. 

I grew up in the 1950's in Levittown, Pennsylvania-in a working class family, believing in the American Dream.  My mom was a nurse, working the 3 to 11 shift at a nursing home and-
when I was 9-my dad, a truck driver, was permanently  disabled in a terrible accident,

Mom's enormous strength and, Dad's social security and medicare allowed my sisters, brother and me to live decently and to go to college, without being buried by debt. 

After I got my first union job and went on my first strike my Dad gave me some good advice
-- he said, "Anna, whatever you do…stick to the union, it's what makes a difference for working people like us."  And that was the one thing that my dad told me that I listened to…so Dad, you were right, and I'm still sticking to the union.

Unions are a gift. They allow ordinary working class Americans like me to join my strength with the strength of a  truck driver, a hotel porter, a retail worker, a nursing home worker, a carpenter…all of us here today.

The fact is, that each of us by ourselves are are just ordinary people, but together……. when we unite our strength… together all of the ordinary people in this room can do the most extraordinary thing….
we will change the lives of American workers. 

We will do it, RIGHT?!

When I was growing up, 1 in 3 workers was in a union, and a union job raised up whole families,
whole communities, whole generations.

Every generation of Americans has met their biggest challenges with greatness.  We didn't just settle the West, …we built a railroad across it; we didn't just feed people during the Great Depression,
…we created Social Security; we didn't settle for the Civil Rights Act, …we passed the Voting Rights Act the very next year.

And each generation in America had one common legacy…  They passed on to their children a better life than their own.  We call that legacy the American Dream.  And, when you had a union job it meant you were on the road to the American Dream.  But that dream is flickering.  Working in America is very different today from when I got my first job.

America's greatness was that everyone who "worked hard and play by the rules," had a chance to own a home, raise a family, send their kid to college, and retire with dignity..

But the rules today stink.  They are stacked against American workers.
The truth is we DO work hard.  We're driving trucks, and serving food, cleaning hotels, picking apples, building houses, pouring concrete, and stocking shelves.  And American workers DO play by the rules.  But the rules no longer work..  Wages are down…work hours are up.  The gap between the rich and rest of America--- it's staggering and growing. 

Health care costs are exploding.  Pensions……wiped out.  Job security……a thing of the past. Part-time employment……on the rise.  Giant corporations…… who salute no flag but their own corporate logo and, worship no god, but the almighty dollar roam the globe in search of the lowest wages.

The result is families now face the impossible challenge of getting their children to school
in between their 2 or 3 jobs. Choosing between bus fare and breakfast…health care or housing…in-between taking care of their mother or their father or their children.

Sisters and brothers this is NOT the American Dream. 

It is an American Nightmare……

Today we are here to answer the call……to rekindle the American dream……to once again have work valued and rewarded in our country.

The answer is one, simple word…….
Union..
That's right. 
Union……

Unions are the antidote for what ails us.  They create the best jobs, provide health and safety, ensure affirmative action, fight poverty, and offer pensions, health care, and training 

Unions are an all-in-one program - the best that America ever had - and it didn't cost the government a dime.  Union power puts bread on our tables, roofs over our heads, It sends our children to college,
and union power helps us retire with security.

But tragically today, 9 out of every 10 American workers are not in a union.  We are growing smaller and our voice weaker.  It is those 9 out of 10 workers without a union that brought us together last summer, and to whom we dedicate this Convention today.  We must unite those workers and give them voice.  And I pledge, if we do our job, those workers will join with us and our voices will grow stronger with hope and opportunity….And there is only one way to do that…

Organize

Strategic……Smart……organizing is our core principle---our North Star…..uniting workers by industry, not one shop at a time, but whole companies all the time. Wholesale-not retail…

We will put our money where our mouth is--- three-quarters of our resources to a groundbreaking organizing crusade. 

This Federation will aggressively champion democracy and diversity.  Workers of color, women and immigrants are not just members to organize but decision-making leaders at every level of  in our movement.

And the exciting news is …..we have already started to walk the talk…In the wake of one of the most horrific disasters - Hurricane Katrina, the working poor were left to fend for themselves. 
They struggled and many died as the flood waters rose because they couldn't afford the gas or bus fare to get out of town.  Unacceptable.  Un-American. 

So we put our heads together. We decided to act together in partnership with our communities and transform the region, not just patch it up.

Our unions have proposed to create from the ground up, the greatest worker training program in American history ---in scope, in spirit, and in ambition. The hope we will bring to victims of Katrina is the hope we intend to spread everywhere in America. 

Today we come together, having traveled here on separate roads with our separate proud histories,
and our own union's colors, but we are all going in the same direction now.. 
We are on the way to rekindle the American dream. I believe we can build an American where again hard work is valued and rewarded.  I believe we can create an America where health care is a right not a privilege and retirement in dignity is guaranteed.  And I believe we can create an America that values our children and provides an education for them to share in the prosperity of the future…..so that my daughter Erin, your daughters and sons, nieces and nephews, and our grandchildren will live out their dream.

Sisters and brothers, when I was growing up in Pennsylvania, I never thought that one day I'd be the Secretary-Treasurer of the biggest union in the nation or the founding chair of an historic new labor federation with the opportunity to help millions of working families gain a voice.

Eight years ago I lost both my mom and dad. At the bottom of  a box that held their most important documents-love letters and their prized and special items, I found a little black book.  It was my dad's Teamsters book.  He put it there, with his most valuable possessions, because being a union member meant so much to him and his generation - and it means that to ours…… It must mean even more in this century.

May the history books record, that on the 27th day of September, 2005,  in St. Louis…
 800 delegates gathered and chose to change not just their unions, but their country.

This is our generation's moment for greatness.  It is our calling, our duty and our opportunity…….. 
Working men and women everywhere are counting on us. 

Let's give them back the American Dream, and let's do it now.