Purple Power: The History and Global Impact of SEIU

by Luís LM Aguiar (Contributor), Joseph A. McCartin (Editor), Adrienne E Eaton (Contributor)

Chartered in 1921, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a worldwide organization that represents more than two million workers in occupations from healthcare and government service to custodians and taxi drivers. Women form more than half the membership while people in minority groups make up approximately forty percent. Luís LM Aguiar and Joseph A. McCartin edit essays on one of contemporary labor’s bedrock organizations. The contributors explore key episodes, themes, and features in the union’s recent history and evaluate SEIU as a union with global aspirations and impact. The first section traces the SEIU’s growth in the last and current centuries. The second section offers in-depth studies of key campaigns in the United States, including the Justice for Janitors and Fight for $15 movements. The third section focuses on the SEIU’s work representing low-wage workers in Canada, Australia, Europe, and Brazil. An interview with Justice for Janitors architect Stephen Lerner rounds out the volume. Luís LM Aguiar, Adrienne E. Eaton, Janice Fine, Euan Gibb, Laurence Hamel-Roy, Tashlin Lakhani, Joseph A. McCartin, Yanick Noiseux, Benjamin L. Peterson, Allison Porter, Alyssa May Kuchinski, Maite Tapia, Veronica Terriquez, and Kyoung-Hee Yu

Genres: Labor

262 pages, Paperback

Published January 24, 2023

Reviews

[Shaun Richman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, an edited volume that's a mix of academic papers across various disciplines that encourages more scholarly research on what emerged at the turn of the century as one of the most impactful–and controversial–labor unions in the United States. I was hoping for more history, and surprised by the lack of attention to the union's healthcare division (its merger with 1199, its own Local 144's early healthcare organizing), but the union's historiography is a challenge. There's not a lot of historical scholarship to build on, no heroic battles of the 1930's to profile (only a shameful corruption scandal), and given the left-wing bent and preference for "from below" stories of most labor historians not much to encourage a deep dive. This book should encourage more scholars to take a renewed look at Big Purple.