Chinese Members Grow Their Ranks and Political Muscle
Connection of work and social life has been a vital element in drawing workers to activism say delegates.
As New York City's garment trade shrinks and much of that workforce migrates to jobs in the homecare industry, 1199SEIU is becoming home to a unified force of Chinese workers.
Delegate Quing Hua Meng is among union’s growing number of Chinese activists. |
For many Chinese members, language and culture differences are no longer barriers to union involvement. |
As this group of Chinese members grows it is not only building considerable political strength, but also a social community that helps members forge bonds with the union and each other.
There are currently about 1,000 New York City-based Chinese members who participate in 1199SEIU’s political action and community outreach programs. Among them, 100 are delegates. A representative group can be found at most 1199SEIU demonstrations, rallies and marches. Often, they’re among those chanting the loudest and waving their banners the highest.
This wasn’t always so, says delegate Quing Hua Meng.“Before we were a small group and not a lot of people knew we were here,” says Quing, a home attendant with the Chinese American Planning Council in Manhattan. “But then we started to show up and show our culture. We showed that we were independent and that we have more power than people thought.”
Some Chinese members often feel separated from other union members by language barriers and social customs, says Nancy Fang, an LPN retired delegate from Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. The group has made great strides in building solidarity, she says, by expanding their social network.
Chinese members regularly gather at the union’s Manhattan headquarters to meet and discuss– in their native Mandarin or Cantonese –union issues and programs. They also share meals and recreational activities. That, says Fang, is vital in helping members feel a part of the larger union.
“In our culture we are not very open, but since people are in the same union they want to communicate with each other. They come here and socialize. They get to know each other,” says Fang. “Then we can bring that to the rest of the union and show them what kind of people we [Chinese] are.”
These Chinese 1199ers are also expanding the political work they do. In New York City’s last mayoral election, members organized a candidates’ forum in Chinatown. They have organized voter registration and citizenship drives. They are also expanding political outreach in predominantly Chinese communities in and outside of New York State. During the last presidential campaign, Quing was an 1199SEIU Hero in Ohio and worked to get out the vote in Chinese communities in that state.
“Before people didn’t get involved. Now they get out on Election Day,” says Quing. “We’re like other people, now that we’re citizens and we’re living here. We do it because that’s what we’re supposed to do.”
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