Labor unions represent employees in collective bargaining over wages and improved working conditions across the United States. The labor unions are recognized by the US labor law established in the year 1935 under the National Labor Relations Act. The primary objective of labor unions is to represent their members in legal disputes over the violation of their employment rights. Among these labor unions is the Services Employees International Union (SEIU), which is one of the largest in terms of membership.
The Union Profile
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is arguably one of the largest labor unions across the United States. The association represents about 2 million workers from various service sectors in the US and Canada (Service Employees International Union, n.d.). The union extends its operations across three major service sectors: public services, property services, and healthcare services. Workers in the public services field include the state and local government employees, while janitors, food service employees, and security officers are among the property services workers represented by the union. In the healthcare field, the association represents workers in various healthcare organizations such as hospitals and nursing homes. SEIU has more than 150 local branches spreading across the US and Canada to maintain the grassroots link to all its members. SEIU has a capacity of about 35,000 employees to ensure quick and efficient service delivery to all the union members.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The SEIU was established on 23 rd April 1921, where its initial members were janitors, window cleaners, and elevator operatives. The union was then known as the Building Services Employees Union (BSEU) would later rename to Service Employees International Union. The new name meant that the union had opened its doors to diversified membership from across other sectors in the service industry (Service Employees International Union, n.d.). Unlike most labor unions, SEIU pulled out of the AFL-CIO confederation of labor unions in 2005, which many in the labor unions industry criticized. The success of SEIU in representing its members in legal disputes to push for better working conditions and improved wages has led the union to experience significant membership growth over the years. In the last decade, the union has been involved in several legal disputes. Three of those legal disputes are discussed below.
University of Miami Janitor’s Legal Dispute
In 2006, SEIU was involved in a significant legal dispute where it represented 465 janitors at the University of Miami, Florida. The parties involved in the dispute were UNICCO Service Company and the janitors. The dispute was about the unionization of the janitors. The service employees wanted their employer, UNICCO Service Co., to allow them to join the SEIU (Albright, 2010). However, the employer was reluctant and claimed that most of the workers did not want to join the union. This prompted the janitors to go on a union-sponsored hunger strike that also involved some students. The union sought the support of civil rights movements and religious leaders to push for the janitor’s labor rights.
The university president and the UNICCO Service Company advocated for the formal unionization process that involved a traditional election process. The striking janitors sought to push the university president to convince UNICCO to accept the card check unionization process. After a 17-day hunger strike by the workers and the students, the protest and labor dispute was taken over by the SEIU employees. The hunger strikes bore fruits as the janitors’ employer and the union reached an agreement. Under the agreement, the employer would allow the workers to sign cards to indicate their desire to join the labor union. The traditional election process was abolished. It was also agreed that a 60% majority of the workers would have to sign the cards for the union to acquire recognition (Albright, 2010). The American Arbitration Association was assigned to oversee the unionization process. Also, the UNICCO employees had a pay increase from $6.40 an hour to $8.55 an hour and were guaranteed access to health insurance.
Fight for $15 Movement
In 2012, SEIU was involved in fast food workers strikes, which pushed for a pay increase for the employees to $15 an hour and their unionization. SEIU assisted the employees in filing lawsuits against the fast-food providers to the National Labor Relations Board. The workers demonstrated to put pressure on the fast-food chains to improve the hourly wages to $15 (Bush, & Abdelbaki, 2016). The SEIU spent more than $10 million to finance the movement to guarantee the realization of its objectives.
The workers' protests were perceived as a threat to the safety of the customers and termed illegal. Rob Green, the executive director of the National Council of Chain Restaurants, viewed the protests as trespassing, putting the food-chain customers at risk. Most individuals and restaurant management termed the demands as unrealistic and could not be met. However, a state panel appointed by Governor Andrew established the $15 an hour minimum wage for fast-food workers across the New York State(Bush, & Abdelbaki, 2016). This was a significant win for the workers and the union by extension. The New York State board recommendations served as the footing through which fast-food workers from other states would push for higher wages.
Professional Janitorial Service of Houston Inc. (PJS) Litigation against SEIU
SEIU's aggressive efforts to organize the workers have sometimes put the union in a complicated legal situation. More than a decade ago, SEIU had an aggressive campaign to gain access to the Houston-area janitorial services market. The campaign was branded Justice for Janitors and targeted employees in Houston's six largest companies providing janitorial services. The union promised the workers better wages and improved working conditions. The union membership significantly increased, and five of the six companies complied with union demands. Professional Janitorial Service of Houston Inc. (PJS) did not give in to the pressure from the union. PSJ firmly stated that the union would have to win an election to represent the employees. This upset the association, which triggered a campaign against the company. Among other labor disputes, the union filed complaints against unfair labor practices against the company (Fisher Phillips, n.d.). The National Labor Relations Board resolved most of the issues raised by the union, clearing the company of any wrongdoings.
The union also spread information that PJS violated the labor rights of its employees to the company customers. This led to losses for the company as some clients withdrew from business relations with the company. In 2007, PJS sued the union on the grounds of defamation, which resulted in losses for the company. The union mired the litigation for almost a decade by filing motions to dismiss the case and seeking the appeals courts' assistance. However, in 2016, the case was trialed, and the union was found liable to the defamation claims. The jury awarded PSJ Company a total of $5.3 million in damages against SEIU (Fisher Phillips, n.d.). The amount would cover all the company losses due to the defamation. PSJ also pursues the union to pay about $2.5 million for punitive damages.
References
Albright, J. (2010). Cleaners and the mobilization of communities: The 2006 Justice For Janitors campaign at the University of Miami.
Bush, D., & Abdelbaki, R. (2016). Fight for $15 and Fairness.
Fisher Phillips. (n.d.). Fisher Phillips: Employer wins $5 million from aggressive union . Fisher Phillips: Leading Labor & Employment Attorneys. https://www.fisherphillips.com/resources-newsletters-article-employer-wins-5-million-from-bullying-union
Service Employees International Union. (n.d.). Seiu . SEIU - Service Employees International Union. https://www.seiu.org/about
