Service Employees International Union
Encyclopedia
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States
(including Puerto Rico
), and Canada
. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: health care (over half of members work in the health care field), including hospital
, home care
and nursing home
workers; public services (local and state government employees); and, property services (including janitors, security officers and food service workers).
SEIU is the fastest growing labor union in the United States and has over 150 local branches
. It is affiliated with the Change to Win Federation
and the Canadian Labour Congress
. SEIU is based out of Washington, D.C.
, and has several internal divisions which include: Communications, Government Affairs, New Media, Organizing
, Political, Global Strength, Pension/Benefits, Community Strength, Research, and Legal.
The union states that its top priorities are to stand up for working families to help bring economic relief to millions across the country, fix the nation's broken health care system, and fight to guarantee workers' rights on the job. SEIU is sometimes referred to as the "purple ocean" at political events because of the union's recognizable purple shirts. The union is also known for its Justice for Janitors program and strong support for Democratic candidates. It spent $28 million supporting Barack Obama
in the 2008 presidential election
, making it the "organization that spent the most to help Barack Obama get elected president."
as the Building Services Employees Union (BSEU); its first members were janitor
s, elevator operator
s, and window washers. Membership increased significantly with a 1934 strike
in New York City
's Garment District
. Growth from organizing
new members, and affiliating with other unions, it includes more than 225,000 janitors in at least 29 cities in the United States and at least four cities in Canada, and mergers with other unions resulted in a membership working in industries well beyond BSEIU's initial boundaries. In 1968 it renamed itself Service Employees International Union. In 1980 it absorbed the International Jewelry Workers Union, later the Drug, Hospital, and Health Care Employees Union (Local 1199), and the Health & Human Services Workers.
In 1995, SEIU President John Sweeney
was elected president
of the AFL-CIO
, the confederation of labor unions in the United States
and Canada
. After Sweeney's departure, former social worker Andrew Stern
was elected president of SEIU. In the first ten years of Stern's administration, the union's membership grew rapidly, making SEIU the largest union in the AFL-CIO by 2000.
In 2003, SEIU was a founding member of the New Unity Partnership, an organization of unions that pushed for reforms at the national level, and a greater commitment to organizing unorganized workers into unions. In 2005, SEIU was a founding member of the Change to Win Coalition, which furthered the reformist agenda, criticizing the AFL-CIO for focusing its attention on electoral politics, instead of taking sufficient action to encourage organizing in the face of decreasing union membership.
In June 2004, SEIU launched a non-union-member affiliate group called Purple Ocean to stand with workers in the fight for economic justice.
On the eve of the 2005 AFL-CIO convention, SEIU, along with its Change to Win partners, the Teamsters
union, and the United Food and Commercial Workers
Union, announced that it was disaffiliating from the AFL-CIO after the 50-year-old labor federation declined to pass the Coalition's suggested reforms.
The Change to Win Federation
held its founding convention in September 2005, where SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger
was announced as the organizations' Chair. As with other Change to Win unions, many individual SEIU locals remain affiliated to regional AFL-CIO bodies through "solidarity charters."
Over the course of the past several years, the union has made a concerted effort to expand outside of its traditional base on the coasts.
Notable health care organizing successes in 2009 include more than 800 healthcare workers at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, the largest medical center in Boston's Caritas Christi Health Care chain, voting to unite together with thousands of health care workers in 1199SEIU. And in July 2009, 13,000 home care attendants in the state's consumer directed home care program voted to join the Missouri Home Care Union, a statewide union of home care attendants.
In 2009, the union launched a nationwide campaign against Sodexo to improve wage and job standards. Clean Up Sodexo serves as the online voice of the workers at Sodexo, many of whom make near poverty-level wages working as food service workers at universities around the country.
Since 2004, the union has seen success organizing workers in Texas, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona in particular. Over 5,000 janitors organized with SEIU in Houston, Texas
in 2005, which was especially significant due to the size of the campaign and its location in an area with low union density. In Florida
, a high-profile strike at the University of Miami
which lasted nine weeks and included a hunger strike
, ended with the union winning representation of 425 janitors on campus. This victory was shortly followed by another 600 workers at North Shore Medical Center
, also in Miami
, voting to join the SEIU in early 2006.
One of the major potential areas of union growth in the United States is organizing workers usually hitherto considered "unorganizable," especially low-wage service sector workers, in what is often called "social movement organizing." Many of these service sector workers are minorities, immigrants, and women.
As an example of this, in 2006 and 2007 Oregon
's SEIU Local 503, OPEU (Oregon Public Employees Union) built on its earlier successes in organizing state-paid "long-term care providers", including homecare
workers (in-home care providers) and family-child-care providers, by organizing "commercial" adult foster home providers who receive state funding. Commercial providers are licensed to operate foster homes with up to five senior or disabled residents. By forming a union, providers would for the first time be able to collectively bargain a contract with the state over service fees, benefits, regulations, and respect.
In the spring of 2007 the state Employment Relations Board (ERB) verified that a significant majority of the commercial providers across Oregon had signed authorization cards supporting forming a union, and Governor
Ted Kulongoski
signed an executive order recognizing commercial adult foster care providers as a union, and opening the path to contract bargaining.
Following the governor's executive order, the Oregon legislature passed a bill, on June 28, 2007, codifying the executive order and making the adult foster care
providers state employees solely for the purpose of collective bargaining
. After successfully organizing commercial providers, SEIU 503 continued the campaign and organized "relative" adult foster home providers, who are licensed and paid by the state to provide care for senior or disabled family members.
In November 2007 the Oregon ERB verified that a significant majority of relative providers had signed authorization cards and Governor Kulongoski signed Executive Order No. 07-20 recognizing them as part of the union. With the success of the two stages of this organizing campaign, adult foster care providers were able to form a union for the first time in the United States. In August 2008, the new adult foster care providers in SEIU Local 503 and the State of Oregon completed negotiations on the first adult foster care provider union contract in the US.
to help get out their message online in 2009 and 2010. The International maintains a Locals Twitter list, which pulls in tweets from every SEIU Local on Twitter.
There is a joint local of SEIU and the New York-based union UNITE HERE
called Service Workers United, which represents food service, facilities, and laundry workers.
has a membership of roughly 300,000 and claims to be the largest local union in the world. It represents workers in various parts of New York state, chiefly in New York City
, Syracuse
, and Buffalo
, with additional members located in and around the Canton
-Potsdam
and Plattsburgh areas of northern New York, as well as Maryland
, Washington, D.C.
, and Massachusetts
.
(UHW West) is a large (150,000 member) local union based in Oakland, California
. In August 2008, the international union announced plans for a hearing to consider trusteeing UHW West. On January 27, 2009, SEIU placed UHW West under trusteeship and dismissed 70 of the local's executives, including president Sal Rosselli
. Rosselli and other ousted leaders reformed under the National Union of Healthcare Workers
and pushed for UHW West members at 60 facilities to vote to decertify SEIU. As of March 22, 2009, a total of 91,000 UHW West members (a majority of UHW West members) signed decertification petitions to leave SEIU and join NUHW.
is a politically outspoken building services local based in New York. 32BJ represents 120,000 property service workers, and is part of SEIU Justice for Janitors, Stand for Security and Multi Service Workers campaigns.
Recently, SEIU 32BJ's Thomas Shortman Training Fund was awarded a $2.8 million grant by the Department of Labor, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aiming to create jobs in expanding green industries over the next two years. The program (1,000 Green Supers) will help train 2,200 NYC building superintendents in energy efficiency.
(CSEA) with one other union, the California State University Employees Union
, SEIU Local 2579, and two other non-union affiliates of unrepresented managers, confidential and supervisory employees and an affiliate of retired state employees. Yvonne Walker has been president since 2008. It is the exclusive legal representative for 95,000 California state employees. Local 1000 deals with issues of concern to current rank-and-file state employees, such as salaries, benefits, working conditions and contract negotiations. Local 1000 has nine bargaining unit
s and represents a variety of state workers, including DMV
employees, prison support staff (excluding uniformed guards), information technology workers, nurses and administrative staff.
Negotiations for a new contract between the state and Local 1000 bogged down in 2005-6. On June 12, union members voted to authorize a strike in the event negotiations failed. This would have been the first strike by state employees in California history. However, a deal was reached on June 17. The new contract was approved by union members in July, and signed into law on September 6.
Local 1000 played a prominent role in opposing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
's response to the budget crisis of 2008-9
, much of which focused on cutting public services such as home care and education in order to reduce the deficit.
In September 2011, a small group of members proposed raising the Executives of SEIU 1000 annual salaries by up to 300%. The proposal was not going to be voted on by the regualar membership, but only the executive membership. When news of this proposal made it to the rank-and-file members a huge email campaign started Statewide calling for the resignation of the current leadership. During the Executive meeting in Oakland, CA where the proposal was to be voted upon a last minute decision was made by Yvonne Walker to pull the topic from the agenda with the comment that the pay proposal "would be studied further."http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2011/09/seiu-local-1000-council-to-con.html
. It represents over 46,000 health care and community services workers in Ontario
. Its members work in hospitals, home care, nursing and retirement homes and community services throughout the province.
Justice for Janitors campaign was portrayed in the motion picture Bread and Roses
.
On the popular long-running television show ER
, the service employee Jerry Markovic (played by Abraham Benrubi
) often wears an SEIU t-shirt, reflecting SEIU representation of hospital service workers in the United States (approximately 250,000).
SEIU's Popular Media Organizing Program is an initiative to connect popular culture and the labor movement's platform with support from the creative arts. In 2008, SEIU partnered with Manifest Hope: DC, MoveOn PAC and Obey Giant to launch a nationwide online contest to gather the best artwork celebrating the grassroots campaign that helped elect Barack Obama as president. The winning artwork was displayed to DC area residents and millions of people expected to gather in Washington for Barack Obama's inauguration. SEIU has also produced a "Social Justice" calendar featuring the work of Manifest Hope artists in 2009 and 2010.
The non-profit 501c3 Bread and Roses program started by 1199SEIU was founded in 1978 as a cultural resource for union members and students in New York who, for the most part, are not reached by traditional arts institutions and programs. Since that time, the Bread and Roses program has spread widely beyond the New York City area. In 2006, “Unseen America”--a book of photography taken by 1199SEIU members and other workers—was published, with New York’s Guggenheim Museum hosting a party to celebrate Bread and Roses’ “Unseen America” project, which was one of dozens of events held in cities around the U.S.
issued a report finding that SEIU unlawfully threatened Kaiser Permanente
employees with loss of wages and benefits if a rival union won the election
and that SEIU had engaged in various acts of physical force and violence against supporters of a rival union.
In April 2010, The National Labor Relations Board
regional office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina issued a federal complaint against a local SEIU chapter for maintaining an “annual objection” policy designed to force nursing home
workers into full union dues
payments against their will.
In June 2003 SEIU was found guilty of violating security workers'
rights and ordered to pay back dues and fees to over 400 workers.
In December 2010, SEIU agreed in a settlement to stop trying to prevent workers who do not support its activities from coming to work at Morehouse College
dining venues operated by Sodexo. The settlement also forces SEIU to post notice that it will not "restrain or coerce" Sodexo employees. According to Sodexo, SEIU leads a smear campaign to spread misinformation about Sodexo in an attempt to drive out UNITE HERE and other unions that have historically operated within the food service industry.
Sodexo USA filed a civil lawsuit against SEIU under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
on March 17, 2011. In the complaint, Sodexo alleges that SEIU engaged in blackmail, vandalism, trespassing, harassment, and
lobbying law violations, referring to the "Clean Up Sodexo" campaign as "old-fashioned, strongarm tactics" and SEIU behavior as "egregious" and "illegal." This suit was settled in September 2011; the parties withdrew their respective charges and lawsuits and SEIU terminated its public campaign focused on Sodexo.
During a drive to organize 10,000 healthcare workers in November 2009, SEIU was accused of ballot rigging and using intimidation to persuade workers to vote in SEIU instead of the National Union of Healthcare Workers
as their representative.
Aramark
employees from Johns Hopkins University
, Towson University
, Morgan State University
and Coppin State University
, as well as students from all four universities, participated in a protest
alleging SEIU was acting to prevent a fair employee representation by the union of their choice.
The SEIU's tactics were featured in a book entitled The Devil At My Doorstep chronicling the 3 year battle between the union and an Indiana based building services company .
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(including Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
), and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: health care (over half of members work in the health care field), including hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
, home care
Home care
Home Care, , is health care or supportive care provided in the patient's home by healthcare professionals Home Care, (also referred to as domiciliary care or social care), is health care or supportive care provided in the patient's home by healthcare professionals Home Care, (also referred to as...
and nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
workers; public services (local and state government employees); and, property services (including janitors, security officers and food service workers).
SEIU is the fastest growing labor union in the United States and has over 150 local branches
Local union
A local union, often shortened to local, in North America, or a union branch in the United Kingdom and other countries is a locally-based trade union organization which forms part of a larger, usually national, union.Local branches are organized to represent the union's members from a particular...
. It is affiliated with the Change to Win Federation
Change to Win Federation
The Change to Win Federation is a coalition of American labor unions originally formed in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO. The coalition is associated with strong advocacy of the organizing model...
and the Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.- Formation :...
. SEIU is based out of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and has several internal divisions which include: Communications, Government Affairs, New Media, Organizing
Organising model
The organising model, as the term refers to trade unions , is a broad conception of how those organisations should recruit, operate and advance the interests of their members...
, Political, Global Strength, Pension/Benefits, Community Strength, Research, and Legal.
The union states that its top priorities are to stand up for working families to help bring economic relief to millions across the country, fix the nation's broken health care system, and fight to guarantee workers' rights on the job. SEIU is sometimes referred to as the "purple ocean" at political events because of the union's recognizable purple shirts. The union is also known for its Justice for Janitors program and strong support for Democratic candidates. It spent $28 million supporting Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, making it the "organization that spent the most to help Barack Obama get elected president."
History
The SEIU was founded in 1921 in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
as the Building Services Employees Union (BSEU); its first members were janitor
Janitor
A janitor or custodian is a professional who takes care of buildings, such as hospitals and schools. Janitors are responsible primarily for cleaning, and often some maintenance and security...
s, elevator operator
Elevator operator
An elevator operator is a person specifically employed to operate a manually operated elevator...
s, and window washers. Membership increased significantly with a 1934 strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Garment District
Garment District, Manhattan
The Garment District, also known as the Garment Center, the Fashion District, or the Fashion Center, is a neighborhood located in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The dense concentration of fashion-related uses give the neighborhood, which is generally considered to span between Fifth Avenue...
. Growth from organizing
Union organizer
A union organizer is a specific type of trade union member or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers....
new members, and affiliating with other unions, it includes more than 225,000 janitors in at least 29 cities in the United States and at least four cities in Canada, and mergers with other unions resulted in a membership working in industries well beyond BSEIU's initial boundaries. In 1968 it renamed itself Service Employees International Union. In 1980 it absorbed the International Jewelry Workers Union, later the Drug, Hospital, and Health Care Employees Union (Local 1199), and the Health & Human Services Workers.
In 1995, SEIU President John Sweeney
John Sweeney (labor leader)
John Joseph Sweeney was the president of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009.-Early years:Born in The Bronx, New York, Sweeney is the son of Joseph and Agnes , both Irish immigrants. The family moved to Yonkers in 1944, where Sweeney attended St. Barnabas Elementary School and graduated from Cardinal...
was elected president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
, the confederation of labor unions in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. After Sweeney's departure, former social worker Andrew Stern
Andy Stern
Andrew L. "Andy" Stern , is the former president of the 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union , the fastest-growing union in the Americas. SEIU is the second largest union in the United States and Canada after the National Education Association.Stern was elected in 1996 to...
was elected president of SEIU. In the first ten years of Stern's administration, the union's membership grew rapidly, making SEIU the largest union in the AFL-CIO by 2000.
In 2003, SEIU was a founding member of the New Unity Partnership, an organization of unions that pushed for reforms at the national level, and a greater commitment to organizing unorganized workers into unions. In 2005, SEIU was a founding member of the Change to Win Coalition, which furthered the reformist agenda, criticizing the AFL-CIO for focusing its attention on electoral politics, instead of taking sufficient action to encourage organizing in the face of decreasing union membership.
In June 2004, SEIU launched a non-union-member affiliate group called Purple Ocean to stand with workers in the fight for economic justice.
On the eve of the 2005 AFL-CIO convention, SEIU, along with its Change to Win partners, the Teamsters
Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....
union, and the United Food and Commercial Workers
United Food and Commercial Workers
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in many industries, including agriculture, health care, meatpacking, poultry and food processing, manufacturing, textile, G4S Security, chemical...
Union, announced that it was disaffiliating from the AFL-CIO after the 50-year-old labor federation declined to pass the Coalition's suggested reforms.
The Change to Win Federation
Change to Win Federation
The Change to Win Federation is a coalition of American labor unions originally formed in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO. The coalition is associated with strong advocacy of the organizing model...
held its founding convention in September 2005, where SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger
Anna Burger
Anna Burger, , was the Secretary-Treasurer of Service Employees International Union , and Chair of the Change to Win Federation....
was announced as the organizations' Chair. As with other Change to Win unions, many individual SEIU locals remain affiliated to regional AFL-CIO bodies through "solidarity charters."
Presidents of SEIU
- William QuesseWilliam QuesseWilliam Fred Quesse was an American labor leader and president of the Building Service Employees International Union, the precursor of the Service Employees International Union, from 1921 to 1927. He was the union's founding president.-Early life:His parents were Christ and Shirley Quesse, and he...
(1921–1927) - Oscar NelsonOscar NelsonOscar Nelson was a Chicago City Alderman, one-time Auditor for the state of Illinois, and interim president of the Building Service Employees International Union, the precursor of the Service Employees International Union, in 1927.Nelson was born in Sweden. He emigrated to the United States and...
(1927) - Jerry HoranJerry HoranJeremiah J. Horan was an organized crime figure and President of the Building Service Employees International Union from 1927 until his death in 1937...
(1927–1937) - George Scalise (1937–1940)
- William McFetridgeWilliam McFetridgeWilliam Lane McFetridge was an American labor leader and president of the Building Service Employees International Union , the precursor to the Service Employees International Union, from 1940 to 1960....
(1940–1960) - David SullivanDavid Sullivan (labor leader)David Sullivan was an American labor leader and president of the Building Service Employees International Union , the precursor to the Service Employees International Union, from 1960 to 1971.-Early life:...
(1960–1971) - George HardyGeorge Hardy (labor leader)George Hardy was a Canadian-American labor leader who was president of the Service Employees International Union from 1971 to 1980. At the time of his death, SEIU had grown to become the fifth-largest affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Hardy was a vice president of the AFL-CIO from 1972 to 1980, and a...
(1971–1980) - John SweeneyJohn Sweeney (labor leader)John Joseph Sweeney was the president of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009.-Early years:Born in The Bronx, New York, Sweeney is the son of Joseph and Agnes , both Irish immigrants. The family moved to Yonkers in 1944, where Sweeney attended St. Barnabas Elementary School and graduated from Cardinal...
(1980–1995, former president of the AFL-CIOAFL-CIOThe American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
) - Richard CordtzRichard CordtzRichard Webster Cordtz was an American labor leader. From 1980 to 1995, he was the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union under John Sweeney, and was president of the union himself from October 1995 to May 1996.-Early life:Richard Cordtz was born in Chicago,...
(1995–1996) - Andy SternAndy SternAndrew L. "Andy" Stern , is the former president of the 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union , the fastest-growing union in the Americas. SEIU is the second largest union in the United States and Canada after the National Education Association.Stern was elected in 1996 to...
(1996–2010) - Mary Kay HenryMary Kay HenryMary Kay Henry is an American labor union activist who was elected International President of the Service Employees International Union on May 8, 2010. She is the first woman to lead the union...
(2010-)
SEIU International Leadership
- President - Mary Kay HenryMary Kay HenryMary Kay Henry is an American labor union activist who was elected International President of the Service Employees International Union on May 8, 2010. She is the first woman to lead the union...
- Secretary-Treasurer - Eliseo Medina
- Executive Vice President - Tom Woodruff
- Executive Vice President - Gerry Hudson
- Executive Vice President - Dave Regan
- Executive Vice President - Mitch Ackerman
- Executive Vice President - Bruce Raynor
Recent organizing
In Missouri, 12,000 home care attendants in the Consumer Directed Services program voted to unite in the Missouri Home Care Union, a joint local of AFSCME and SEIU. In Wisconsin, 5,500 home care providers voted 'yes' to unite in SEIU. In a landslide vote, part-time adjunct faculty members in the Maine Community College System formed a union with the Maine State Employees Association, Local 1989 of SEIU. And in New York, 30,000 SEIU Local 32BJ apartment building workers—doormen, security guards, bellhops, and others—averted a strike and won a new contract.Over the course of the past several years, the union has made a concerted effort to expand outside of its traditional base on the coasts.
Notable health care organizing successes in 2009 include more than 800 healthcare workers at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, the largest medical center in Boston's Caritas Christi Health Care chain, voting to unite together with thousands of health care workers in 1199SEIU. And in July 2009, 13,000 home care attendants in the state's consumer directed home care program voted to join the Missouri Home Care Union, a statewide union of home care attendants.
In 2009, the union launched a nationwide campaign against Sodexo to improve wage and job standards. Clean Up Sodexo serves as the online voice of the workers at Sodexo, many of whom make near poverty-level wages working as food service workers at universities around the country.
Since 2004, the union has seen success organizing workers in Texas, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona in particular. Over 5,000 janitors organized with SEIU in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
in 2005, which was especially significant due to the size of the campaign and its location in an area with low union density. In Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, a high-profile strike at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
which lasted nine weeks and included a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
, ended with the union winning representation of 425 janitors on campus. This victory was shortly followed by another 600 workers at North Shore Medical Center
North Shore Medical Center
The North Shore Medical Center is a hospital complex on the North Shore of Massachusetts. It encompasses several campuses, the main being the Salem facility at 81 Highland Avenue, Salem, Mass., 01970, which consists of NSMC Salem Hospital, and MassGeneral for Children at North Shore Medical...
, also in Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, voting to join the SEIU in early 2006.
One of the major potential areas of union growth in the United States is organizing workers usually hitherto considered "unorganizable," especially low-wage service sector workers, in what is often called "social movement organizing." Many of these service sector workers are minorities, immigrants, and women.
As an example of this, in 2006 and 2007 Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
's SEIU Local 503, OPEU (Oregon Public Employees Union) built on its earlier successes in organizing state-paid "long-term care providers", including homecare
Home care
Home Care, , is health care or supportive care provided in the patient's home by healthcare professionals Home Care, (also referred to as domiciliary care or social care), is health care or supportive care provided in the patient's home by healthcare professionals Home Care, (also referred to as...
workers (in-home care providers) and family-child-care providers, by organizing "commercial" adult foster home providers who receive state funding. Commercial providers are licensed to operate foster homes with up to five senior or disabled residents. By forming a union, providers would for the first time be able to collectively bargain a contract with the state over service fees, benefits, regulations, and respect.
In the spring of 2007 the state Employment Relations Board (ERB) verified that a significant majority of the commercial providers across Oregon had signed authorization cards supporting forming a union, and Governor
Governor of Oregon
The Governor of Oregon is the top executive of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. territorial governments....
Ted Kulongoski
Ted Kulongoski
Theodore R. "Ted" Kulongoski is an American politician, who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon. A Democrat, he has served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, as the state Insurance Commissioner, the Attorney General, and an Associate Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court.-Early...
signed an executive order recognizing commercial adult foster care providers as a union, and opening the path to contract bargaining.
Following the governor's executive order, the Oregon legislature passed a bill, on June 28, 2007, codifying the executive order and making the adult foster care
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
providers state employees solely for the purpose of collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
. After successfully organizing commercial providers, SEIU 503 continued the campaign and organized "relative" adult foster home providers, who are licensed and paid by the state to provide care for senior or disabled family members.
In November 2007 the Oregon ERB verified that a significant majority of relative providers had signed authorization cards and Governor Kulongoski signed Executive Order No. 07-20 recognizing them as part of the union. With the success of the two stages of this organizing campaign, adult foster care providers were able to form a union for the first time in the United States. In August 2008, the new adult foster care providers in SEIU Local 503 and the State of Oregon completed negotiations on the first adult foster care provider union contract in the US.
Notable locals
More and more SEIU Locals have embraced free social networking and microblogging service TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
to help get out their message online in 2009 and 2010. The International maintains a Locals Twitter list, which pulls in tweets from every SEIU Local on Twitter.
There is a joint local of SEIU and the New York-based union UNITE HERE
UNITE HERE
UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with more than 265,000 active members The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries...
called Service Workers United, which represents food service, facilities, and laundry workers.
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
SEIU's largest local union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
1199SEIU is a local union of the Service Employees International Union. With a membership of 360,000 it claims to be the largest local union in the world.-History:...
has a membership of roughly 300,000 and claims to be the largest local union in the world. It represents workers in various parts of New York state, chiefly in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, and Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, with additional members located in and around the Canton
Canton (town), New York
Canton is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, USA. The population was 10,334 at the 2000 census. The town contains two villages: one also named Canton, the other named Rensselaer Falls. Canton is located near the center of the county. The town is named after Canton in China. Canton is the...
-Potsdam
Potsdam (town), New York
Potsdam is a town located in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 15,957 at the 2000 census. The ZIP code is 13676. The town is named after the city of Potsdam in Germany...
and Plattsburgh areas of northern New York, as well as Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
SEIU United Healthcare Workers West
SEIU United Healthcare Workers WestSEIU United Healthcare Workers West
The SEIU United Healthcare Workers West is a statewide local union of the Service Employees International Union in California in the United States. It has a membership of 150,000....
(UHW West) is a large (150,000 member) local union based in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. In August 2008, the international union announced plans for a hearing to consider trusteeing UHW West. On January 27, 2009, SEIU placed UHW West under trusteeship and dismissed 70 of the local's executives, including president Sal Rosselli
Sal Rosselli
Sal Rosselli is president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. He was the president of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West until 2009, when the local union was placed into trusteeship by its parent union, SEIU....
. Rosselli and other ousted leaders reformed under the National Union of Healthcare Workers
National Union of Healthcare Workers
National Union of Healthcare Workers is an independent labor union based in Oakland, California. It was formed after a split with the SEIU United Healthcare Workers West...
and pushed for UHW West members at 60 facilities to vote to decertify SEIU. As of March 22, 2009, a total of 91,000 UHW West members (a majority of UHW West members) signed decertification petitions to leave SEIU and join NUHW.
SEIU Local 32BJ
SEIU 32BJSEIU 32BJ
SEIU 32BJ is the largest property service workers union in the United States, representing more than 120,000 members. Its members are office cleaners, security officers, doormen, porters, maintenance workers, bus drivers and aides, window cleaners, school cleaners and food service workers. 32BJ is...
is a politically outspoken building services local based in New York. 32BJ represents 120,000 property service workers, and is part of SEIU Justice for Janitors, Stand for Security and Multi Service Workers campaigns.
Recently, SEIU 32BJ's Thomas Shortman Training Fund was awarded a $2.8 million grant by the Department of Labor, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aiming to create jobs in expanding green industries over the next two years. The program (1,000 Green Supers) will help train 2,200 NYC building superintendents in energy efficiency.
SEIU Local 1000
SEIU Local 1000 is affiliated with the California State Employees AssociationCalifornia State Employees Association
The California State Employees Association , was founded in 1932 in Sacramento, California. Its early achievements include creation of the first retirement system for California state workers , creation of a credit union for state employees, winning collective bargaining rights for state and...
(CSEA) with one other union, the California State University Employees Union
California State University Employees Union
The California State University Employees Union /SEIU 2579 represents approximately 15,000 healthcare, operations, administrative and technical support staff at the California State University's 23 campuses and the Office of the Chancellor...
, SEIU Local 2579, and two other non-union affiliates of unrepresented managers, confidential and supervisory employees and an affiliate of retired state employees. Yvonne Walker has been president since 2008. It is the exclusive legal representative for 95,000 California state employees. Local 1000 deals with issues of concern to current rank-and-file state employees, such as salaries, benefits, working conditions and contract negotiations. Local 1000 has nine bargaining unit
Bargaining unit
A bargaining unit in labor relations is a group of employees with a clear and identifiable community of interests who are represented by a single labor union in collective bargaining and other dealings with management. Examples would be "non-management professors"; "law enforcement professionals";...
s and represents a variety of state workers, including DMV
Department of Motor Vehicles
In the United States of America, a Department of Motor Vehicles is a state-level government agency that administers vehicle registration and driver licensing. Similar departments exist in Canada...
employees, prison support staff (excluding uniformed guards), information technology workers, nurses and administrative staff.
Negotiations for a new contract between the state and Local 1000 bogged down in 2005-6. On June 12, union members voted to authorize a strike in the event negotiations failed. This would have been the first strike by state employees in California history. However, a deal was reached on June 17. The new contract was approved by union members in July, and signed into law on September 6.
Local 1000 played a prominent role in opposing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
's response to the budget crisis of 2008-9
2008–2009 California budget crisis
The U.S. state of California had, and still currently does have, a budget crisis in which it faced a shortfall of at least $11.2 billion, projected to top $40 billion over the 2009–2010 fiscal years.-2008:...
, much of which focused on cutting public services such as home care and education in order to reduce the deficit.
In September 2011, a small group of members proposed raising the Executives of SEIU 1000 annual salaries by up to 300%. The proposal was not going to be voted on by the regualar membership, but only the executive membership. When news of this proposal made it to the rank-and-file members a huge email campaign started Statewide calling for the resignation of the current leadership. During the Executive meeting in Oakland, CA where the proposal was to be voted upon a last minute decision was made by Yvonne Walker to pull the topic from the agenda with the comment that the pay proposal "would be studied further."http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2011/09/seiu-local-1000-council-to-con.html
SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana
SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana was founded in 2008, when members of three SEIU locals (Local 4, Local 20, Local 880) voted to join and create a single entity across the two states. The organization has 85,000 members SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana.SEIU Local 87
One of the first SEIU locals was Local 87, a local that can trace its origins back to the 1920s, when it was known as Local 9 of the Building Service Employees International Union (BSEIU). Labor legend George Hardy got his start organizing janitors with Local 9, where he helped quickly grow its membership; improving wages, benefits and working conditions for the janitors who worked in San Francisco's office buildings. Under future leaders such as Herman Eimers, Rex Kennedy, and Robert Parr, members of Local 87 continued to enjoy improved wages, benefits and working conditions. These victories were all won with very few strikes. Unfortunately during the 1990s and the first few years of the 21st Century, workloads in many of San Francisco's high-rise office buildings drastically increased along with a deterioration of working conditions.SEIU Local 1 Canada
The largest local in Canada is SEIU Local 1 CanadaSEIU Local 1 Canada
Services Employees International Union Local 1 Canada is the largest SEIU local trade union in Canada, representing more than 50,000 health care and community services workers in Ontario. Its members work in hospitals, home care, nursing & retirement homes and community services throughout the...
. It represents over 46,000 health care and community services workers in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. Its members work in hospitals, home care, nursing and retirement homes and community services throughout the province.
SEIU Local 473/395a, Allentown, Pa.
In November 2009, national news media reported that Nick Balzano, president of SEIU Local 473/395a in Allentown, Pennsylvania threatened to file a grievance against the town for allowing a Boy Scout, Kevin Anderson, to voluntarily clear a walking path for the town. Balzano said that, because several SEIU members had been laid off, "there are to be no volunteers." He continued to state that, "We'll be looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who done the trails." The local mayor as well as U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-15th District, criticized Balzano and called on him to apologize to the city and city residents. Following the backlash, Balzano resigned as head of the local chapter. SEIU members from Allentown, Philadelphia and New Jersey joined the Boy Scouts to help with the project and to make an apology. Wayne MacManiman, SEIU district leader stated "Kevin's doing an amazing thing.…We've always supported the Boy Scouts, whether it's here in Allentown, Bethlehem or Philadelphia."In popular culture
SEIU's Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
Justice for Janitors campaign was portrayed in the motion picture Bread and Roses
Bread and Roses (film)
Bread and Roses is a 2000 drama film directed by Ken Loach, starring Adrien Brody. The plot deals with the struggle of poorly paid janitorial workers in Los Angeles and their fight for better working conditions and the right to unionize...
.
On the popular long-running television show ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, the service employee Jerry Markovic (played by Abraham Benrubi
Abraham Benrubi
Abraham Rubin Hercules Benrubi is an American character actor known for his appearances as Jerry Markovic on the long-running U.S...
) often wears an SEIU t-shirt, reflecting SEIU representation of hospital service workers in the United States (approximately 250,000).
SEIU's Popular Media Organizing Program is an initiative to connect popular culture and the labor movement's platform with support from the creative arts. In 2008, SEIU partnered with Manifest Hope: DC, MoveOn PAC and Obey Giant to launch a nationwide online contest to gather the best artwork celebrating the grassroots campaign that helped elect Barack Obama as president. The winning artwork was displayed to DC area residents and millions of people expected to gather in Washington for Barack Obama's inauguration. SEIU has also produced a "Social Justice" calendar featuring the work of Manifest Hope artists in 2009 and 2010.
The non-profit 501c3 Bread and Roses program started by 1199SEIU was founded in 1978 as a cultural resource for union members and students in New York who, for the most part, are not reached by traditional arts institutions and programs. Since that time, the Bread and Roses program has spread widely beyond the New York City area. In 2006, “Unseen America”--a book of photography taken by 1199SEIU members and other workers—was published, with New York’s Guggenheim Museum hosting a party to celebrate Bread and Roses’ “Unseen America” project, which was one of dozens of events held in cities around the U.S.
Controversy
In January 2011, The National Labor Relations BoardNational Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
issued a report finding that SEIU unlawfully threatened Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
employees with loss of wages and benefits if a rival union won the election
NLRB election procedures
The National Labor Relations Board, an agency within the United States government, was created in 1935 as part of the National Labor Relations Act. Among the NLRB’s chief responsibilities is the holding of elections to permit employees to vote whether they wish to be represented by a particular...
and that SEIU had engaged in various acts of physical force and violence against supporters of a rival union.
In April 2010, The National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
regional office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina issued a federal complaint against a local SEIU chapter for maintaining an “annual objection” policy designed to force nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
workers into full union dues
Union dues
Union dues are a regular payment of money made by members of unions. Dues are the cost of membership; they are used to fund the various activities which the union engages in...
payments against their will.
In June 2003 SEIU was found guilty of violating security workers'
Security guard
A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...
rights and ordered to pay back dues and fees to over 400 workers.
In December 2010, SEIU agreed in a settlement to stop trying to prevent workers who do not support its activities from coming to work at Morehouse College
Morehouse College
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....
dining venues operated by Sodexo. The settlement also forces SEIU to post notice that it will not "restrain or coerce" Sodexo employees. According to Sodexo, SEIU leads a smear campaign to spread misinformation about Sodexo in an attempt to drive out UNITE HERE and other unions that have historically operated within the food service industry.
Sodexo USA filed a civil lawsuit against SEIU under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
on March 17, 2011. In the complaint, Sodexo alleges that SEIU engaged in blackmail, vandalism, trespassing, harassment, and
lobbying law violations, referring to the "Clean Up Sodexo" campaign as "old-fashioned, strongarm tactics" and SEIU behavior as "egregious" and "illegal." This suit was settled in September 2011; the parties withdrew their respective charges and lawsuits and SEIU terminated its public campaign focused on Sodexo.
During a drive to organize 10,000 healthcare workers in November 2009, SEIU was accused of ballot rigging and using intimidation to persuade workers to vote in SEIU instead of the National Union of Healthcare Workers
National Union of Healthcare Workers
National Union of Healthcare Workers is an independent labor union based in Oakland, California. It was formed after a split with the SEIU United Healthcare Workers West...
as their representative.
Aramark
Aramark
Aramark Corporation, known commonly as Aramark, is an American foodservice, facilities, and clothing provider supplying businesses, educational institutions, sports facilities, federal and state prisons, and health care institutions. It is headquartered at the Aramark Tower in Center City,...
employees from Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Towson University
Towson University
Towson University, often referred to as TU or simply Towson for short, is a public university located in Towson in Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S...
, Morgan State University
Morgan State University
Morgan State University, formerly Centenary Biblical Institute , Morgan College and Morgan State College , is a historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Morgan is Maryland's designated public urban university and the largest HBCU in the state of Maryland...
and Coppin State University
Coppin State University
Coppin State University is a historically black college located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is part of the University System of Maryland...
, as well as students from all four universities, participated in a protest
Protest
A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...
alleging SEIU was acting to prevent a fair employee representation by the union of their choice.
The SEIU's tactics were featured in a book entitled The Devil At My Doorstep chronicling the 3 year battle between the union and an Indiana based building services company .
Further reading
- Fink, Leon, and Brian Greenberg. Upheaval in the Quiet Zone: 1199/SEIU and the Politics of Healthcare Unionism (2nd ed. 2009)
- Fletcher, Bill, and Fernando Gapasin. Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice (2009)
- Lopez, Steven Henry. Reorganizing the Rust Belt: An Inside Study of the American Labor Movement (2004), focus on SEIU in Pittsburgh
- Plumer, Bradford. "Labor's Love Lost," New Republic, April 23, 2008, Vol. 238, Issue 7 online in Academic Search Premier, focus on conflict between Stern and Rosselli
External links
- SEIU International
- SEIU Blog
- SEIU's official Flickr account
- SEIU's YouTube channel
- SEIU on Twitter
- SEIU on Facebook
- Change to Win Federation
- Nurse Alliance
- SEIU Collections at Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State UniversityWayne State UniversityWayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
- http://www.thedevilatmydoorstep.com/