A Letter From Our New Board
Dear SEIU Local 5 members,
We are writing to introduce ourselves, the new SEIU Local 5 Executive Board, to you and to let you know that the new Local 5 constitution and bylaws were ratified with overwhelming support in the recent membership vote! With this vote SEIU Local 5 members have moved our organization into a new phase with its first democratically chosen Executive Board and its own constitution and bylaws.
The new SEIU Local 5 President is Steven Ward. Pat Thomas is our new Secretary-Treasurer with Scott Washburn as Arizona State Director, Norm Yen as Texas State Director and David Broder as Virginia State Director. We are all honored to serve on the Local 5 Executive Board and are looking forward to the great challenges and opportunities in all three States in 2009 and beyond. To learn more about the new board or to view the newly adopted constitution and bylaws please go to www.seiulocal5elections.org.
The core mission of SEIU Local 5 is to assist workers in the South-Southwest region of SEIU to organize and build strong and sustainable worker organizations that can continue to grow, implement strategic political programs, fight for social and economic justice in order improve the lives of working people and their families in the region. As workers who work hard every day to provide public services at the city, county and state level, who provide care for older adults and people with disabilities and who provide early education programs for children, we are also dedicated to improving the vital services we provide and to ensuring that those services are adequately funded.
In recent years, with the support of the 2 million SEIU members around the country, we have had organizing and political victories in Arizona, Texas and Virginia and have begun to build a solid foundation for our Union. In 2009 and beyond we have strategic plans and great opportunities to continue to build our Union. It will take hard work and effort from all of us to build the power we need to affect real and permanent changes for workers in these States. We are at a unique time in our nation’s history with a growing frustration with the status quo and a demand for change that we have not seen in generations. We look forward to working with all of you to make these changes a reality!
In Solidarity, The SEIU Local 5 Executive Board
Steven Ward, President
Pat Thomas, Secretary-Treasurer
Scott Washburn, Arizona State Director
Norm Yen, Texas State Director
David Broder, Virginia State Director