SEIU membership numbers were swelling and the political scene was changing at a rapid pace when the SEIU Pennsylvania State Council was formed in 1974.
At its inception, the Pennsylvania State Council became one of a few existing state councils.
Today, the Pennsylvania State Council serves nearly 58,000 members in the industries of health care, public services, building services and utilities. It also holds the proud distinction of having helped foster current SEIU International leadership including President, Andy Stern, and Secretary Treasurer, Anna Burger.
According to SEIU historians, the state council concept was first introduced in the early 1970s by then International President, George Hardy. Hardy, of California, wanted to advance the concept of having all SEIU locals speak and act with one voice. At the urging of Hardy, the Pennsylvania state local leaders came together in a convention that with "some apprehension" adopted and founded the SEIU Pennsylvania State Council.
"At the time, locals didn't see the connection between politics and their locals. It was cashbook politics based on who would win," said Rosemary Trump, who served as state council secretary treasurer for 26 years, and was former president of the former Local 585 in Pittsburgh.
"Our first per capita was five cents," Trump said. "It paid for meetings and from time to time we published a statewide newsletter, and we always had a 'meet and greet' the candidates," she added.
While the thrust of the state council was to function as a statewide coordinating body on political issues, the mission envisioned was also to act in a supportive administrative and communications capacity.
Eventually, the council's executive board hired its first Executive Director, Jane Perkins. Perkins later ran for a state Senate seat and eventually moved onto the International staff.
Trump, who served as secretary-treasurer for 16 years, said what impressed her most is that the council has never strayed from its political positions. "We have been the conscience of politics… through thick or thin."
The Pennsylvania State Council's original mission to function as a coordinating body on political issues with administrative support and communications has been realized with the recent addition of a communications coordinator, and east and west regional political directors, moving political action closer to where SEIU members live and work.