Berta Alvarado, Home care provider
JOIN UP TODAY
All of us, no matter where we’re from or what we look like, want the same thing — to provide for our families and build a better future. We know if we allow ourselves to be divided, we will lose important protections and make it easier for employers to cut our wages, our benefits, or even our jobs.
Visit your SEIU local’s website today and become a member of SEIU.
We have a strong union of caregivers in Washington state and together we have won many improvements in our jobs and changes that allow us to provide the best care possible for our clients.
One victory that is especially personal for me is our health insurance coverage that we won. I live with heart disease, celiac disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, so I need a lot of medications that are very expensive.
Before, I struggled to pay for the medications I need. During that time, I got very sick and needed a hysterectomy but didn’t have health insurance to cover the surgery. The surgery ended up costing $30,000. I don’t have this kind of money lying around. Who does?
Now, everything is different. Because of our union contract, I have health insurance. My medications and doctors appointments are covered. My most recent surgery only cost me $50 out-of-pocket.
That’s what it means to use our power in numbers in our union.
Berta Alvarado
Home care provider
Othello, WA
SEIU 775
Demetrus Dugar, Security Officer
JOIN UP TODAY
All of us, no matter where we’re from or what we look like, want the same thing — to provide for our families and build a better future. We know if we allow ourselves to be divided, we will lose important protections and make it easier for employers to cut our wages, our benefits, or even our jobs.
Visit your SEIU local’s website today and become a member of SEIU.
You might not have heard about it on the news, but I helped make history recently. I’m one of the security officers who negotiated a contract that set new wage and benefit standards for our profession nationwide. I’m really proud that this contract will help change the lives of thousands of families in the Seattle area – including my own.
We brought everybody up with this new contract. Nobody was left behind.
I’m so proud that we are paving the way for security officers across the country in their next contracts. Thousands of my fellow security officers in California took on corporate giants like Facebook and Google and won. We set a new benchmark nationwide, winning a $15.65 minimum wage, good healthcare, and up to 4 weeks of vacation.
We won because we’re all members of the union so we negotiate from a position of strength. Our power in numbers means my family – and thousands of others across Seattle – will live a better life.
Demetrus Dugar
Security Officer
Proud SEIU Member
Seattle, WA
Jan Williams, School Bus Driver
JOIN UP TODAY
All of us, no matter where we’re from or what we look like, want the same thing — to provide for our families and build a better future. We know if we allow ourselves to be divided, we will lose important protections and make it easier for employers to cut our wages, our benefits, or even our jobs.
Visit your SEIU local’s website today and become a member of SEIU.
When I first became a school bus driver in 1998, it was a nonunion job. I earned as little as $7 an hour and had to work from early morning until late at night. When I became a bus driver with the Los Angeles Unified School District, my wages immediately jumped by $10 an hour more and I got healthcare, sick days, and vacation for my family. The big difference was that I now had a good union job.
This progress and the promise of a better future for our country drives me to stick with my union. As union members, we are working for justice, to raise the bar for everyone, and for equality and opportunity for all. That makes me really proud.
Jan Williams
School Bus Driver
Proud SEIU Member
Los Angeles, CA
Jordan Sillito, Paraeducator
JOIN UP TODAY
All of us, no matter where we’re from or what we look like, want the same thing — to provide for our families and build a better future. We know if we allow ourselves to be divided, we will lose important protections and make it easier for employers to cut our wages, our benefits, or even our jobs.
Visit your SEIU local’s website today and become a member of SEIU.
I used to think unions had outlived their usefulness. Now I know better.
I’m an educator in a school where I help kids who are learning English succeed in school. My work requires a lot of training. After finishing a course a couple years ago, I was shocked when I wasn’t paid for the training. So I sought help from my fellow union members.
We figured out that everyone had been cheated out of training pay. Because we stuck together in our union, we won back pay – going back three years.
It took all of us – white, Black, and brown – standing together to make things right. That’s what being in a union is all about. Together we rise.
Jordan Sillito
Paraeducator
Proud SEIU Member
Benton City, Washington
Lemoyne Miles, Proud SEIU Member
JOIN UP TODAY
All of us, no matter where we’re from or what we look like, want the same thing — to provide for our families and build a better future. We know if we allow ourselves to be divided, we will lose important protections and make it easier for employers to cut our wages, our benefits, or even our jobs.
Visit your SEIU local’s website today and become a member of SEIU.
I believe that hard work should earn people a decent life – no matter who you are or where you’re from. But the truth is that even though we are a people who value equality, many women and people of color still earn less for their work.
Through our unions we’re improving things for everyone, which is why women and people of color in unions don’t just make more than our non-union counterparts, but everyone in a union is more likely to earn the same wage for the same work. We are rejecting the idea that wages are a zero sum game and we’re making gains for all families.
For me, this is personal. I know what it’s like to work long hours and still not have enough for the basics. But when I finally got a union job, it changed everything. Because of our strength in numbers, we’ve been able to negotiate for good pay and benefits. I earn the same as my coworkers with similar seniority, regardless of race or gender. For the first time in my life my hard work means I can take my kids to the doctor and get them Christmas presents. That’s what being in a union means to me.
Lemoyne Miles
Proud SEIU Member
Washington, DC
Marisol Aguilar, Special Education Assistant
JOIN UP TODAY
All of us, no matter where we’re from or what we look like, want the same thing — to provide for our families and build a better future. We know if we allow ourselves to be divided, we will lose important protections and make it easier for employers to cut our wages, our benefits, or even our jobs.
Visit your SEIU local’s website today and become a member of SEIU.
I knew ever since I was in 6th grade that I wanted to be an educator. Now I work as a Special Education Assistant helping kids with special needs learn the curriculum in a way that works for them. The most rewarding thing is knowing that my students accomplished something, and that I helped plant the seed that allowed them to figure it out. I feel the same way about what I do as a union member--I love working for and with my coworkers to improve things.
Having a union gives me backbone when it matters. At one point, I was worried that I would be transferred out of my school, but because we have a union I felt confident enough to have a direct conversation with our administrator. I was able to stay in the school I love because I feel safe to advocate for what’s right for me, my coworkers, and the kids.
I don’t want a handout, and I know that to win anything you have to work hard and sometimes stand up to powerful people. I can do that because I have a union and know that my coworkers have my back.
Marisol Aguilar
Special Education Assistant
Proud SEIU Member
Los Angeles, CA
Pamela Owens Moore, Janitor
JOIN UP TODAY
All of us, no matter where we’re from or what we look like, want the same thing — to provide for our families and build a better future. We know if we allow ourselves to be divided, we will lose important protections and make it easier for employers to cut our wages, our benefits, or even our jobs.
Visit your SEIU local’s website today and become a member of SEIU.
Having a union has made all the difference for me as a single mother with 4 children.
When I started out as a janitor I struggled. I made $7 an hour, which meant I couldn’t pay all my bills each month. Now I earn $15 an hour with sick days, health insurance, and paid vacation. That’s the difference between taking my kids to the doctor when they’re sick or just having to hope for the best. Earning vacation has meant that I could do things for my kids that had been impossible before.
Somebody has to keep our city clean—it’s honest, important work that isn’t always recognized. Together, we are able to negotiate with management and make sure what we do is valued.
Pamela Owens Moore
Janitor
Proud SEIU Member
Detroit, MI
Tami O’Marro, RN, BSN
JOIN UP TODAY
All of us, no matter where we’re from or what we look like, want the same thing — to provide for our families and build a better future. We know if we allow ourselves to be divided, we will lose important protections and make it easier for employers to cut our wages, our benefits, or even our jobs.
Visit your SEIU local’s website today and become a member of SEIU.
A lot has changed since I started in nursing, but not the need for nurses to have a voice in our profession.
In my hospital, nurses formed our union after a former owner cut everyone’s pay by 9%. We were faced with a tough choice: quit the work we love – leave our community for one with decent pay – or stand together to change things. We decided to stand up for our profession, our families and our patients – and we won.
Since then, we’ve been able to improve our wages and patient care. Now nurses can issue a staffing alert when patients need more nurses on the floor, and management has to respond immediately.
We’ve accomplished so much for our patients and our families by having a union. As nurses we are caretakers for our patients, but we also have to be able to care for ourselves and our families. Having a union allows us to do both.
Tami O’Marro
RN, BSN
Spokane Valley, WA
Proud SEIU Member
