Internal Organizing Director - SEIU Local 26

Internal Organizing Director - SEIU Local 26

Position: Internal Organizing Director - SEIU Local 26

Background: SEIU local 26 is a dynamic local of over 8000 janitors, security officers, and airport workers in Minnesota, the people who clean and protect some of largest corporate headquarters in the world and who have a proud history of militant fights for social and economic justice.

Local 26 members were some of the first security officers in the country to go on strike and engaged in acts of strategic civil disobedience to win their contracts, to raise standards within their industry across 2000 suburban and downtown officers.

The 4000 janitors of the union, a multilingual bargaining unit made up of Latin American, East African, and American-born workers, created an alliance in 2009 with environmentalist allies to win some of the first Green Cleaning language in the country, and later struck in February 2020 to reduce climate change emissions in our industry.

Local 26 in the past 10 years has led fights for racial justice that resulted in organizing over 1000 workers at MSP airport (raising pay for the mostly east African workforce from $9 to $15 over that time) and created the first retail store cleaners master contract in the country (raising pay from $9 to $14.50 over that period), and now are leading fights for residential workers and rideshare drivers.

Description: This position will manage the internal organizing department of 10 internal organizers and leads for our union. The position will coordinate and be responsible to develop strategy and program for the members within the Local, including enforcement of the existing contract and the fight for the next one. Will supervise leads, front line staff and brigades (members on short term leaves of absence). Extensive worksite organizing and campaigns with low wage workers, and supervisory experience with staff of diverse backgrounds, and strong computer skills are highly recommended. Bilingual language skills are a bonus, as significant majority of the membership speaks Spanish or Somali.

Duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Develop, implement, and evaluate a plan to achieve the objectives of the leadership assembly and the elected leadership of the local in the internal organizing department.
• Daily supervision of the leads of each sector within the internal organizing department.
• Leadership development and skills building of the other organizers in this area, including sector specific plans.
• Building an extensive and comprehensive network of worksite leaders, member-activists; developing a member leadership program, working with potential members to identify, train and develop rank and file leaders;
• Recruiting and mentoring of new stewards, leaders and activists; Engaging in one-on-one persuasion, assessment and motivation of workers at the worksite, in meetings, on the phone and on home visits as necessary.
• Designing, preparing, and distributing communications, including social media, meeting notices, flyers, newsletters, and other literature;
• Maintaining organizing lists and databases, and using them to drive the work, and coordinate with other departments.
• Planning and coordinating grievances, meetings and public actions to enforce contract language and win new contracts;
• Mobilizing membership and ensuring turn-out for community, political and union events;
• Leading the development of campaigns to further the interests of the members and the power of our union.
• Working collaboratively with other union staff in other skill areas

Pay and Benefits: This is a position beginning summer 2026. Pay is on a scale commensurate with a union of low-wage members. This position has generous Healthcare, Retirement and other Benefits included. A car and valid driver's license are required. Location: Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Area, Minnesota. Local 26 is an equal opportunity employer and, given our diverse membership, we particularly encourage applications from women and people of color, and candidates from our own membership.