SEIU Grows to 2 Million Members: Obama Addresses SEIU International Convention

Pledges to Fix Healthcare System!

In the third day of SEIU’s national convention 1,600 elected delegates heard a rousing speech and a hardy thank you from Presidential candidate Barak Obama.

Since our national endorsement of Obama in February, thousands of SEIU members have made millions of phone calls, knocked on more than a million doors, appeared on multiple television ads, and volunteered thousands of hours to make Barack Obama the Democratic nominee for president.

On June 4th, 2008, the day after he clinched the Democratic Presidential nomination, Senator Obama addressed the 2008 SEIU Convention in Puerto Rico via live satellite and shared his vision for hope, change and national health care for all. This speech represents the first public address by Senator Obama to the labor movement since becoming the Democratic nominee for president and comes as SEIU celebrates a historic membership milestone of 2 million members.

During three long days of convention, starting at 7AM breakfast meetings and ending in the early evening, Local 615 Executive Board members voted with others to approve the SEIU Justice for All Program and re-elected Andy Stern and his slate, including President of Local 615, Rocio Saenz. The Stern slate represents the most diverse national union leadership group in the history of American labor.

The Justice for All program focuses on creating power through membership activity, new organizing and political work to bring benefits like health care and the right to form a union to the millions of workers now without union representation. This is the surest road to securing and improving the benefits union members now have as well as those they want to win. Our goals are:
• Affordable, quality healthcare for all
• The freedom to form a union for all working people
• Quality services in our communities, with fair and reliable funding
• An economy that rewards work, not just a few at the top

For more information on the Jus¬tice for All Program, our Obama endorsement and SEIU plans to work for an Obama victory in November go to: www.seiu.org.