Cindy Benko: fighting for our future in Fresno
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 12:25PM Eight of us from Kaiser Stockton met up with two workers from Sacramento and we caravanned down to Fresno. When we arrived, we got a briefing on what to expect and how to visit homecare workers and ask them to vote for NUHW.
We got a list of addresses to visit, and it wasn’t long before we were knocking on doors. We had great conversations with the homecare workers we met. Most of them were very excited that we were there to explain what was going on, because they realized that SEIU had not been telling them the truth about the election.
After hearing from other healthcare workers, they signed up to vote for NUHW. Two things became clear to me in Fresno. First, I was amazed at how easy it was to ask people to vote for NUHW. When they hear what we have to say, they understand why it’s so important. Second, we have our work cut out for us. There are thousands of workers we have to talk with, and many of them have been misled by SEIU.
They live and work all over the County and don’t have a worksite where they can talk with each other—so for them to get the information they need, we have to reach them. This election isn’t just about homecare workers’ future, it’s about mine, and ours as a union. We can win big in Fresno, and we know exactly what we have to do to win: healthcare workers like us have to join phonebanks and get down to Fresno to knock on doors and get out the vote.
I am going back to Fresno for the next two weekends to fight for our future, and I hope you will join me by clicking here to volunteer.
-Cindy Benko, Kaiser Stockton