History was made when Chicago's Local 880, Service Employees International Union earned the right to represent 49,000 low-income child care workers in April. The innovative organizing and lobbying model developed and sustained for over a decade is now being used nationally and serves as a model of what labor must do to reverse its decline in membership. The SEIU is part of the coalition pressing for new AFL-CIO leadership and a stronger commitment to organizing. Later this month the AFL-CIO will be meeting in Chicago.
See "Local 880: Labor's new up-and-comer", Barbara Rose, Chicago Tribune, July 4, 2005