As all SEIU public service employees across the country deal with the common problem of budget shortfalls that threaten funding for services, we all benefit by helping each other use strategies that can become models for winning new standards, legislation, funding, and contract provisions.

Strength in numbers to improve contracts. SEIU members across the country were able to win improvements on issues like pay, benefits, and staffing by uniting thousands of public service employees together in SEIU. In Los Angeles, for example, 400 new Head Start members won a first contract that increases wages by nearly 8 percent, earmarks a percentage of future federal funds for further wage increases, and holds the line against increases in employee health care costs.

Public campaigns to raise new revenue to protect services.  In what could become a model for others, SEIU members in Los Angeles stopped the closing of a major public hospital and numerous health clinics by joining with community leaders, advocates, and consumers to pass a tax initiative that will generate $168 million annually in new revenue for the facilities.

Stockholder strategies to fight privatization. A campaign by SEIU school employees in Philadelphia showed what could be done by forming coalitions with parents, teachers, and community leaders and using innovating tactics to target shareholders in a fight against privatization. The campaign prevented the for-profit Edison Schools from winning several key contracts and contributed to a collapse of Edison’s stock and a more cautious approach by communities that are considering private education ventures.

New alliances for strength to improve conditions in mental health and developmental disabilities. By developing new service-delivery models, SEIU members are gaining national recognition as a uniquely progressive voice among mental health and developmentally disabled advocates and consumers. The emerging alliance positions SEIU members to win legislation that improves services, increases staffing, and boosts pay.

Uniting contingent workers with us to preserve good full-time jobs. In Chicago, SEIU members took a big step toward halting the shift of work from full-time to part-time employees by bringing more than 2,600 contingent workers into the union.

Working to transform the political landscape in the south to benefit all public employees.  Public service employees in Georgia demonstrated their growing strength by electing a worker-friendly state senate in 2002. By uniting workers in Georgia and other states that have long served as breeding grounds for anti-worker policies, SEIU members are starting to turn the tide against those who would privatize work, lower living standards, and repeal collective bargaining rights.