Union merger brings power in numbers

Yawu Miller

One might expect to see state Rep. Marie St. Fleur at a function of an organization that represents low-income health care workers, but what about city councilors Stephen Murphy and Maureen Feeney? What about Attorney General Tom Reilly?

When the organization in question represents 3,000 potential Boston voters, its shindigs become a mandatory stop for all politicians facing re-election.

Thus, the New York-based Service Employees International Union 1199’s celebration of its merger with Boston’s SEIU 2020 drew a mixture of vote-hungry politicians, civic leaders and union members at the Boston Convention Center Saturday.

The merged union, which represents a total of 260,000 people, is primed to pump funds into the campaign coffers of potential allies in City Hall and the State House.

While there are only 12,000 members in Massachusetts, the merger with 1199 will add needed resources to the union’s efforts to organize more of the estimated 393,000 health care workers in the Greater Boston area.

“It’s the most politically active union in the country,” said Boston-based political director Tim Foley. “It has the biggest political action committee account.”

While the 1199 PAC’s $1 million account represents real power, so too does the union’s growing membership. Skilled labor has traditionally turned its back on the service economy, but jobs in the country’s service sector have grown while skilled labor has not.

In cities like Boston, people of color make up a sizeable segment of the low-paid and unorganized service economy. SEIU 1199 is now poised to expand its organizing potential to fight for better wages for the largely immigrant health care workforce.

Hospital and nursing home administrators will now have to contend with a powerful union headed by a charismatic and politically connected Nuyorican.

“We are incredibly happy and excited that we are going to be working together to better the lives of thousands of people in Massachusetts,” said 1199 President Dennis Rivera while on stage in the convention center.

Before addressing the gathering Rivera spent much of the evening chatting with politicians including Mayor Thomas Menino, City Councilor Felix Arroyo and state senators Jarrett Barrios and Dianne Wilkerson.

Wilkerson said the merger of the unions was an astute move.

“Since the election of George Bush, people have been saying that we have to come together,” she said. “This is the first major act I’ve seen. With the health care industry employing so many people, it can only get better.”

The merger stands in contrast to the departure earlier this year of SEIU and the Teamsters from the more conservative AFL-CIO. That split reflected long-simmering differences over AFL-CIO’s perceived lack of interest in putting resources into organizing and expanding membership.

The merger of 1199 and 2020 — which is now referred to as SEIU United Health Care Workers Eastern Massachusetts Division — will have a positive impact on the state’s labor movement, according to Rocio Saenz, president of SEIU Local 615, which has focused on organizing janitors and security guards.

“This makes us much stronger overall,” she said. “It’s a great impact for all us.”

While 1199 has made considerable headway with the hospitals in New York, organizers in Boston have not yet had as much luck. Executives with the Massachusetts Hospital Association have so far refused to meet with SEIU.

But Mike Fadel, director of organizing, says he thinks the city’s health care managers will come around. In addition to fighting for increased wages, the union also offers incentives that could benefit hospitals as well, according to Fadel.

“1199 has already established the largest health care training fund in the country,” he said. “Now all we have to do is bargain and get employers to participate in this program.”

The $300,000 training fund will help members get the necessary certification to go after higher-paying jobs in area hospitals, Fadel says. Already Boston Medical Center has bought into the program.

“It’s in the institutions’ best interests,” he commented. “It can meet the institutions’ needs in terms of training people for hard-to-fill positions.”

Whether or not the area hospitals welcome the union into their buildings, the union is likely to expand its ranks rapidly with the might of the New York local behind it.

Before the merger, 2020 had put a special focus on nursing homes, moving into 30 of the 150 homes in the Greater Boston area. Despite several protracted battles replete with illegal union-busting tactics, the union is making progress.

With the merger, Marie St. Fleur says she expects to see even more progress.

“I think it’s very exciting,” said St. Fleur whose mother worked in a nursing home. “I think a re-focus on organizing, building and solidifying the base is a great goal, particularly because their membership is largely immigrant.”

With her record of backing Haitian nursing home workers, St. Fleur could very well benefit from the union’s largesse in future elections. This year, the union’s endorsements went to three of the most progressive candidates in the city council races — Felix Arroyo, Sam Yoon and Gibran Rivera.

The endorsements are fitting for a union that is widely considered one of the most progressive in the country. But as Foley points out, the union is simply complying with the wishes of the largely immigrant, working class people they are organizing.

“I think our endorsements reflect our membership,” Foley commented.

White candidates who are supportive of the union can take heart, however. Mayor Thomas Menino, who was supportive of bringing the union’s training program to Boston Medical Center, picked up an endorsement from the union.