SEIU United Healthcare Workers East - Political Director

Pay Competitive

Location:

New York/New York

Employment type:

Full-Time

• Req#:
  WbN
  68CM
  vI7

Organization Overview

Every day, the members of 1199

SEIU United Healthcare Workers East save lives, deliver babies, and care for the sick, seniors, and people with disabilities. We are frontline caregivers in hospitals, nursing homes, homecare, clinics, pharmacies, and all other areas of the healthcare industry. We are nurses, nurse aides, techs, lab workers, clerks, housekeepers, dietary workers, transporters, pharmacists, social workers, and many other types of medical professionals.

With over 450,000 members throughout Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, and Washington, DC, 1199 is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in the nation.

From our inception, 1199 has championed equality, justice, and democracy. Written into the 1199

SEIU Constitution are core values of economic and social justice and dignity and respect for everyone.

Over the years, 1199 has won some of the highest standards for healthcare workers in the country, including good wages and benefits, safe staffing, paid time off, secure retirement, model childcare and education benefits, and a real voice in the workplace.

1199 is a powerful force in national and state politics in our region. Using our significant financial resources as well as an army of politically engaged and active members and retirees, 1199 has been a leader in using its political program to secure better wages and benefits for members and their families, and helping to elect candidates who support workers, their families, and communities.

Position Overview

1199

SEIU is seeking a strategic, confident, and collaborative leader to serve as its Political Director.

The Political Director advises union leadership on political strategy, oversees electoral, legislative, and issue-based campaigns of the union, builds and maintains relationships with key political officials and allies, and supervises the program to build an engaged and activated membership.

The Political Director will strengthen the political capacity of the union and build power for members in New York and across the country. The Political Director will shape and set the agenda for the union’s political program, which seeks to empower members to take action that will help them and their families.

The Director will build and maintain relationships with key political figures, including federal, state, and municipal elected and appointed officials, labor unions, and progressive community organizations. The Director will build member political power by educating, activating, and organizing members.

The ideal candidate is a thoughtful, experienced manager with a deep belief in the power of union membership and collective action, a commitment to elect champions for working families, and a desire to build political power for 1199 members and their families across the country.

Key Responsibilities

• Direct the creation and implementation of strategic plans for union-wide campaigns, including political, legislative, and national issue campaigns.
• Oversee the development and implementation of the political programs in each of 1199’s five states, including review of strategic plans and budgets and staff hiring, training, and development.
• Supervise the development and implementation of New York’s political program, including:
  • Endorsements, campaigning, and independent expenditures in support of candidates for elected office;
  • Legislative efforts aimed at protecting funding for the health care industry and protecting the rights and abilities of workers to organize;
  • Issue campaigns focused on racial and social justice issues important to members;
  • Member engagement and activation around electoral, legislative, and issue campaigns.
• Approve the development and production of paid media for legislative, issue-based, and political campaigns.
• Manage relationships with progressive partners, including other labor unions and community organizations.
• Work with and advise internal stakeholders, including the President, Secretary-Treasurer, and Executive Vice Presidents.
• Supervise a leadership team and ensure support and…