SEIU Healthcare

History

Originally known as the Building Service Employees International Union, the Canadian division of the union established its first two locals in Montreal and Vancouver in 1943. Members at these two locals were mainly elevator operators, window cleaners, janitors and other maintenance employees in commercial buildings.

SEIU started organizing healthcare workers in Ontario hospitals in the early 1940s. SEIU continued its efforts and formed Canada's first hospital local at the Toronto General Hospital in 1944, and went on to organize four hospitals in Thunder Bay in 1946.

SEIU continued to expand in hospitals and nursing homes. Throughout the 1980s, SEIU campaigned to protect nursing home jobs from outsourcing, advocated for pension plans for thousands of nursing home workers worth over $304 million in assets, and helped stop the Ontario Government from passing a law that would restrict yearly wage increases.

In the mid-1990s, SEIU took the Ontario Government to court after the Progressive Conservatives tried to limit Ontario's pay equity legislation. This legal action pressured the government in June 2003 to commit up to $414 million in pay equity funding for 100,000 women across Ontario.{{cite web

1998–2004: CAW "raids" and the mega-merger

By the end of the 1990s, SEIU International began restructuring. The union called for locals, including those in Canada, to merge into mega-locals. SEIU International believed a mega-local structure would effectively challenge more employers, transform the existing political climate, and also address SEIU Canada's internal problems. However, the call for a mega-merger came with the cost of transforming the union into a top-down, business union as it sacrificed bottom-up, rank-and-file driven union democracy. Then-SEIU International President Andy Stern argues that bargaining units "with less than 100,000 members lacked the power to effectively deal with employers or governments", even at the cost of democratic decision-making. Although merging existing SEIU locals makes the union less democratic, Stern argues that it's a necessary change to address growing economic issues and membership decline. According to Stern, "Workers want their lives to be changed. They want strength and a voice, not some purist, intellectual, historical, mythical democracy. Workers can win when they are united, and leaders who stand in the way of change screaming "democracy" are failing to understand how workers exercise the limited power they have..."

Instead of merging the locals or defecting to other unions, in 1998, SEIU's Canadian leadership, including the national executive board and local presidents, created a working group to examine ways to address the political and economic challenges, improve servicing, and strengthen SEIU's structure in Canada. Dubbed the "November Group", this body put forward a proposal that would give SEIU Canada and its locals greater autonomy in its decision-making, financial structures and the establishment of their strategic goals.{{cite web

The November group's proposals, however, were not accepted by SEIU International, and the latter decided to forcefully merge the locals without consent. Backed by SEIU's International Constitution which permits merging locals together as it sees fit, Canadian locals had no choice. As a result, on February 20, 2000, a meeting of executive committee members from the eight SEIU locals in Ontario was convened where the unanimous decision was made to propose to the existing 30,000 members to leave SEIU and join CAW. Then-CAW President Buzz Hargrove described frustration due to "dictatorial leadership from Washington, poor service, and a fundamental lack of control over their Canadian affairs."

SEIU International responded by immediately placing all eight locals under trusteeship. All staff members from the locals were dismissed, as were all members of the executive committees. A $3.7 million lawsuit was launched by the International against the executive committee members of the eight locals. SEIU International then appointed Sharleen Stewart as the new Canadian vice-president.

On March 2, 2000, the day that the proposed defecting vote was to be held, SEIU International obtained an injunction from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to render the vote non-binding. Nonetheless, the vote took place and about 11,000 members of the Ontario SEIU locals cast ballots to leave SEIU. Then, between March 2000 and March 2001, 180 SEIU bargaining units, representing over 14,000 members, left the SEIU and joined the CAW. These decertification votes averaged around 95% in favour of switching to the CAW. Buzz Hargrove defended CAW's actions, saying that they had "no choice but to honour the expressed will of those who had overwhelmingly voted to leave SEIU". Despite members voting in favour of leaving SEIU, the CAW was sanctioned by the Canadian Labour Congress for raiding.

In October 2003, the six remaining locals voted to merge their healthcare and community-service members into one provincial local named SEIU Local 1.on. SEIU International issued a charter for SEIU Local 1.on on January 8, 2004, and approved the new local's constitution on March 26, 2004.

2013-Present: Rebranding as Canada's Healthcare Union

In 2013, SEIU Local 1.on changed its name to "SEIU Healthcare", and rebranded its logo and slogan to appeal to patients, residents and clients under the care of SEIU workers. Former President Stewart believed this transformation was as a move towards being a "21st-century, solution-based union; a union that all members know makes their lives better; a union that teaches employers and governments that the labour movement is a valued partner, not an opponent."

Political Action and Affiliations

Over the last decade, SEIU Healthcare has increased its focus on electoral politics. The union played an important role in the 2014 Ontario provincial elections by helping elect former Ontario Liberal Party leader Kathleen Wynne. During both the 2014 and 2018 voting cycles, SEIU mobilized hundreds of members across the province to contact voters in key ridings and to encourage them to strategically vote and support the candidate who was most likely to strengthen Ontario's public healthcare system and improve collective bargaining rights.

SEIU Healthcare affiliates with the Ontario Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress.

Governing Structure and Leadership

SEIU Healthcare's governance structure consists of three officers (president, vice-president, treasurer-secretary) and 17 executive board members. In the event of a vacancy, under article 5.8 of the constitution, the president can appoint a vice-president or treasurer-secretary without a vote from the membership or executive board. In 2015, the union restructured its executive board to include seven seats specifically for equity-seeking groups: workers of colour, LGBTQ, persons with disability, retirees, young workers, women and aboriginal/indigenous.

Nursing Division

SEIU Healthcare has a dedicated nursing division that holds its own convention and has a separate governing board, constitution and professional liaison staff. The division advocates for nursing in Ontario regarding professional practices, scope of practice and delivery of care by nurses. The Nursing Division Board is led by President Sandi Jones, and consists of three Vice Presidents (Hospital, Home & Community Care, and Long-Term Care) and eight regional representations.

Current Officers

• Tyler Downey (President, 2024–current)
• Jackie Walker (Executive Vice-president, 2023–current)
• Sandi Jones (Nursing Division President, 2024–current)

Internal organization

While the head office is located in Richmond Hill, there are regional offices in Barrie, Ottawa, St. Catharines, London, North Bay and Thunder Bay.

References

Bibliography

Moody, Kim. An Injury to All: The Decline of American Unionism, San Francisco, CA, & Chelsea, MI: Verso, 1988. .

References

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