Justice for Janitors: The Diffusion of an Organizing Model

I propose to examine the impact of the Justice for Janitors (JFJ) campaigns on the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) because I want to understand how a particular union model can affect the union generally, and other locals specifically, when the model is adapted to different contexts. The SEIU membership includes workers in the health care, public services, and property services sector. The JFJ campaigns differ from traditional union campaigns, and are widely recognized by labor leaders and academics as innovative and effective at organizing low skilled and/or undocumented immigrant workers in the property services sector. Given their success at organizing marginalized workers, it is reasonable to assume that the Justice for Janitors campaign model has had an impact both on the overall SEIU model, and on that of the health care and public services locals’ model. I will address criticism of the JFJ model and reasons why health care and public services locals may be resistant to it, as well as other variables that make the implementation of this model difficult in the health care and public services sector. However, this research will begin to address the issue of the effectiveness of multi-purpose unions like the SEIU, which merits further study.

First, I will need to conduct general research on the history of the SEIU and develop an understanding of the overall union’s model. I define the components of the union model as organizing strategies and tactics, organizational structure, and the policy platform and objectives. Second, I will need to develop an understanding of the Justice for Janitors campaigns and clearly describe how they differ from other SEIU organizing campaigns. I will also show how the JFJ campaigns constitute an integrated model, and not just a disparate set of strategies and tactics.

I will then identify changes in the overall union model since 2000 that indicate the influence of JFJ campaigns. I will analyze the changing language of primary documents such as yearly convention reports, union newsletters, internal committee reports, policy resolutions, statements of union leaders at Congressional hearings, and personal interviews with top union leaders. I will look at internal census reports to track the changing demographics of the union’s membership, and databases such as the Bureau of National Affairs to track changes in organizational structure and the demographics of union leadership. I have chosen the year 2000 because by then the J4J campaign had been in existence for 15years and had successfully organized workers in various American cities, but most health care and public services locals had yet to implement components of the JFJ model.

Lastly, I will conduct a case study of non-property services locals in order to gain an in-depth understanding of how the JFJ model has been diffused and transformed when it is adapted to the health care and public services context. I will study at least two locals, one a health care services local and one a public services local, and use primary documents to track whether these locals have implemented elements of JFJ, how they have done so, and to what degree of success. Ideally, I would like to study a representative sample of locals that takes into account differences in geography, worker demographics, industry, corporate structure, and employer opposition. However, in the interest of time, I may only be able to do a case study of several locals.

I will be taking at least to two trips to the SEIU archives in Washington, D.C. and (possibly) a trip to the Catherwood library at Cornell’s School of Industrial Labor Relations. I hope to take my first trip in early November, and will take the other two during the winter break. I will also be filing an application with the City College IRB so that I can conduct interviews with union leaders in the locals I choose to study.