Two Largest SEIU Local Unions Re-Affiliate with the Minnesota AFL-CIO

The Minnesota AFL-CIO announced today that two Minnesota locals of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are re-affiliating with the state’s largest labor federation. SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Local 284 are the first SEIU local unions to return to the Minnesota AFL-CIO since the 2005 national disaffiliation.

“Now more than ever, working people need to stand together to protect the middle class from partisan political attacks and to help build a better future,” said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson. “Middle class families are stronger when we speak with a unified voice.”

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota unifies 17,000 hospital, clinic, nursing home and home care workers in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. SEIU Local 284 joins together over 8.000 public school service employees who work as paraprofessionals, office clerical staff, bus drivers, custodians, and school food service workers.

“We’re at a crossroads for working people in our country,” said Sonja Lemire, a licensed practical nurse at Parkview Care Center in Buffalo and member of the SEIU Healthcare Minnesota Executive Board. “As we’re seeing in Wisconsin and Ohio, working families are under attack from corporations and their handpicked politicians.  It’s time for working families to share unity of purpose to rebuild the American Dream and create an economy that works for everyone.”