Creating Good Jobs, Education, and Healthcare Are Among Top Items on SEIU Members' Goals for the Next Seven Years
LOS ANGELES - Delegates representing more than 700,000 members of SEIU in California converged on Los Angeles this weekend to develop and ratify a vision for the union's work in California from now through 2020. As part of the member convention, an event that occurs once every four years, delegates elected a new Executive Board for the organization, which will serve for the next four years. In addition, President of SEIU California Laphonza Butler, who is also President of SEIU-ULTCW (United Long-Term Care Workers), was re-elected for a four-year term.
"Being part of this movement gives me and every other active, vocal member of this union a powerful voice in what our society is going to look like in the years to come," said Nady Maechling, an Engineering Associate for the City of Los Angeles. "We've done some amazing things together, including helping pass both the Affordable Care Act and state legislation to make sure that California is a leader in implementing it. But we have so much more work to do to make California the kind of society we want for ourselves and for our children."
More than 300 members and leaders from local unions across the state spent the day on Saturday developing and fine-tuning a vision for California that includes, among other things:
- Continuing to expand access to healthcare.
- Creating more good jobs.
- Giving more workers the opportunity to come together in a union and have a voice at work.
- Increasing working Californians' civic participation.
- Expanding educational opportunities for all, from our youngest learners to those pursuing higher education.
"SEIU members have an ambitious and inspiring vision of transforming California into a place where work is valued, people are valued, and opportunities to succeed are available to all," said Laphonza Butler, president of SEIU California and SEIU-ULTCW (United Long-Term Care Workers). "I am honored to play a role in helping SEIU members lead California toward realizing that vision."