Join the TEAM Today

TEAM Leaders of SEIU are member activists who are taking the skills we’ve developed as union leaders in our worksites and are stepping into leadership roles in our communities by planning and executing events and actions that take on corporate greed and income inequality--and call for good jobs for all now.

The name comes from our desire to Transform, Educate, Agitate and Mobilize our fellow union brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors into actions that will lead the way to a more just and humane society.

Join us! Just fill out the information to the right to be included in our national TEAM Leader program. We’ll also let your Local Union know you’re interested in learning more about leadership development.

Tell us your story! Write to us at TEAMLeaders@seiu.org

Member Norberto Molina, RN, In DC To Support the Affordable Care Act!

As Supreme Court justices listen to arguments on the Affordable Care Act this week, Local 1991 member Norberto Molina, RN, is currently in Washington D.C. standing in favor of the healthcare law.

Molina and about 1,000 other supporters of the law are standing outside the Supreme Court as justices hear arguments through Wednesday. “It’s breathtaking to see so many people here supporting the law,” Molina said. “It goes to show you how much we need a law like this in place.”

Molina is currently being interviewed by several news outlets, included CNN, NPR and The Washington Post. He said a common question reporters ask him is: “What about the critics who say people can’t afford it?”

Molina said he uses Jackson Health System as an example of why the Affordable Care Act is so important. “My response to them is, we can’t help but to afford it because as it stands right now, the uninsured wait until the last minute to get care and patients end up in the emergency room where healthcare can cost up to four times as much as preventive care. In the long run, the Affordable Care Act is going to save the country money.”

Molina said it’s the responsibility of healthcare providers to educate the public about the Affordable Care Act. “It’s so important for us as caregivers to understand it so that we can go out and educate our patients, families and the community. It’s our responsibility because we are on the front lines and we see the effects of this law.”



Selma > Montgomery March for Immigrant Justice and Voting Rights

In 1965, hundreds of activists, workers, religious leaders, and students marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to protect voting rights for African Americans. Their attempts to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, however, were met with unconscionable acts of violent resistance from extremist determined to keep citizens from even registering to vote. Marchers were beaten, bullied, gassed and even killed. Now, nearly 50 years later, SEIU members and officers joined immigrant rights advocates, civil rights, labor and human rights organizations to commemorate the Selma to Alabama march. Together we’re lifting our voices to urge the repeal of Alabama’s racist anti-immigration law, HB 56, and take action against efforts to eradicate voting rights.

This year I traveled from California with my fellow union members to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama because if we are being treated unjustly—then we must fight for justice. I’ve learned this from way back, from my family being a union family and from standing up for what we believe in.


That’s what we’re doing still with this march. We’re marching for those who died and laid down their lives for the right to vote and for justice. We’re marching to repeal the racist anti-immigration law in Alabama HB 56. It’s a hard walk, but I think about the people who came before us. I have this chance to follow in their footsteps, to see where they camped and I feel so excited, so good inside.

I walked 11 miles on Monday and it was the greatest thing I could have done. When they said how far we were planning to march that day, I thought, ‘I can’t walk that far! I’m 68 years old!’ But a young man came up to me and he reassured me. He said, “Oh yes you can. I’ll walk with you every step of the way. We don’t have to walk as fast as everyone else. We’ll go at our own pace.” I tell you, that is how we’re going to do this, by everyone doing what they can and by helping each other along the way.

I’ll never forget this trip. The thing that stands out the most is all the diversity of the people. There are Buddhist priests praying and chanting in the mornings before we march. There are Asians, Latinos and Whites. Every race is here and all of us are of one accord crossing over that bridge where folks were beaten and killed. If we all work together, we can achieve it. This march made me feel like I’m carrying on my father’s work.

Margueritte Johnson is an in-home service provide and a member of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW). She currently serves on the SEIU ULTCW Southern Region Executive Board and is a member political activist. Mrs. Johnson lives in Rancho Cucamonga, California with her husband of 49 years, together they have four daughters and nine grandchildren.


Pete Hanlon is Finding Solutions for All Ohioians

Pete Hanlon of Wadsworth, Ohio is a committed problem solver. That’s why he joined SEIU Local District 1199 WKO 15 years ago. It’s the reason why he’s helping to empower youth as a physiological assistant at the Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facilities, and it’s the very same reason he’s engaged in the union Member Leadership and Action program.

“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

For Pete, being a TEAM Leader of SEIU is all about taking action to solve the problems that working families face.

He encourages anyone to participate in SEIU’s Member Leadership and Action Program if they want to change the union, their workplace or their community.

“I think it’s a great experience. It takes you out of your comfort zone. It’s exciting and helps you get a new perspective on not just your life, but how it relates to others,” says Pete.

He joined the program to help improve communication with his fellow union members about the income inequality that we all suffer from and how union members can come together with allies to take action and fight back against the super rich and big corporations that have rigged our economic and political systems.

“I knew if I joined this program, I would be able to communicate with the 85 percent of members we don’t have regular contact with, and I felt like that was a worthy goal,” he says.

Pete does a lot of talking to union and nonunion workers as he makes visits to area employers as a member of the TEAM Leaders of SEIU. He’s helping to raise awareness about income inequality through these visits that begin with discussions about high gas and energy prices, drilling, water quality and other community issues.

“It’s easy to get people to talk about community issues and move from gas prices to things like our actions against First Energy,” says Pete. First Energy made multi-million dollar profits last year but effectively paid no taxes. When big corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes, it means budget cuts to jobs and services that entire communities rely on.

The Ohio TEAM Leaders of SEIU are organizing petition drives and protests against big corporations like FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries that steadily raise rates, and threaten shut offs for customers while at the same time receiving major tax breaks from the government.

Pete says talking to others about income inequality and corporate tax dodgers is changing the way many workers see the union because it’s about issues that affect everyone. “They see that we’re interested in more than just what’s going on with our members at Joe’s Nursing Home. We’re interested in the whole community,” he said.

“You can make a difference as the 99%.”

The TEAM Leaders of SEIU empowers members to take a more active leadership role in the union and identify and develop new member activists. Many of the new activists are learning that they can make a difference in their communities through their union as we link arms with our allies and together fight for social and economic justice for the 99%.

“In the past, a lot of people didn’t do anything because no one asked them,” explains Pete.

Joining SEIU taught Pete the importance and benefits of asking others to step up.

“I think joining SEIU has really benefited my life. It’s made me more active politically. Over the last few years, I’ve seen the difference being politically active makes in the legislative process especially with our actions against Senate Bill 5 here in Ohio. When we rise up against this type of oppressive bill, we make a difference,” said Pete.

He believes the SEIU’s Member Leadership and Action Program provides additional benefits to the union and its members.

“The program strengthens the relationships and perception of the union and its community partners. Any good organization must have a charitable component. It also gives workers new skills that make us better at managing projects on our own jobs,” said Pete.

"MISTER ONE PERCENT"